I got started in N scale railroad because it was smaller than HO gage and I really didn't have much room to work with.  I just jumped into it not knowing the difference between track by Kato, Bachmann, Life Style and others.  I ordered some track from eBay, one lot was Bachmann and another lot was something else.  I decided to go with "something else" track since it was less expensive and I sold the Bachmann.  Now I'm sorry I did.    Question 1:  Will equipment labeled as Bachmann work on Kato track?  Question 2: Is there any way to get a train moving on Bachmann track to move on Kato track and back?  My locomotive tenders derail a lot when moving across Kato switches.  I can see were the problem is but I just don't know how to fix it.  Question 3: Do trains derail when moving across a Bachmann switch or is the Bachmann switch more stable?

I will convert to all Bachmann if the Bachmann is more stable than the Kato, but I don't want to spend the money if there is little or no difference between the Bachmann and Kato switches.