After labouriously sawing and cutting several pieces of Unitrack to join up with my Atlas track, I suddenly thought, "Why am I cutting through the Unitrack when Atlas track is cheap like borscht?"

If I could carve Unitrack, surely working with the Atlas track would be much easier. In any event, I found that Atlas joiners are somewhat loose when attached to Unitrack. The inference, therefore, would be that Unijoiners would hold Atlas track more tightly.

When I stopped to reason it through, the whole procedure is dirt simple and much faster than method 1. All you need is two Unijoiners and a knife.

• Cut the tabs off one end of a Unijoiner using a knife. You could use a razor saw, but it's just PVC and some pressure with a craft knife will shave it right off. This isn't technically required, but it will look better and be easier to ballast.

•  Cut your Atlas track to the desired length using a razor saw, if required.

•  At the joining end of the Atlas track, cut off the the first tie or the Unijoiner  will hit it and leave a gap in the rail.

Cutting a Unijoiner. Do this on both sides.

• Slide Atlas track into the Unijoiner.

 

Slide your Snap-track into the Unijoiner. Remove the paint off the rail before using . . .

Here's an example using a Kato bridge, but the principle applies to regular track as well.

Assuming you have a foam or cork track bed, everything should be nice and aligned, and you saved yourself a few dollars by not buying the Kato to Atlas adapters. You'll be able to make a terminal here if you solder feeder wires to the Unijoiner (unless you feel like taking the easy way out and soldering it to the Atlas track). If you're wondering how to solder a Unijoiner, you'll have to return when I document my method.

As for the more complicated  Method 1? Sometimes you need to cut the Unitrack rather than the Atlas, strictly for practical reasons.