T-TRAK Update

I've been playing with two relatively new Kato products, a "generic" LRV that they market as Mytram, and a 4-5/8" radius curve in their Compact Unitrack line. The Mytram is loosely based on cars in Hiroshima, Japan. The earliest reference I can find to Mytram models is 2021, but they've become popular much more recently. The 4-5/8" radius curves seem to be newer.

As far as I can tell without disassembling the model, the truck under each section is a power truck driven by a coreless motor. There are several obstacles to DCC conversion, starting with the lack of space for a decoder, but continuing with the need for two decoders, one over each power truck, and this leaves out the question of lighting. However, the model will run on address 00 using a Digitrax controller (an NCE will not run a DC model on any address). On DCC, the car emits a slight whine. It's very smooth running on either DCC or DC.

The Mytram will take the Compact Unitrack 4-5/8"curve, and as one photo below shows, it will negotiate an S-curve with no intermediate straight section. This will allow a trolley-style balloon turnback loop within the depth of a single standard T-TRAK module and the width of a double wide.

I've mocked up a trolley-style balloon return loop that conforms to T-TRACK double track standards, so far just on a set of books stacked up to module height at the end of a T-TRAK module. I've ordered a pair of single-wide modules to connect together permanently for one balloon return loop to test the idea further. As it stands, the ability to run a barbell-shaped traction layout via interchangeable modules in a straight row seems to give more flexibility than a small roundy on a single baseboard.