I have finally bit the bullet and started building the benchwork for my layout. One major problem though-how do I bridge a 24 inch gap? I created this gap to allow for movement into and out of the room, without bending or crawling. I would like ideas on how to bridge this gap. Should I get a couple of those motorized bascule bridges and bash them to cover the distance, or something else? Thanks for ideas and help.
What a friend of mine did in a 36" gap is he mounted a section of plywood with homasote on it to the top of a solid door cut off to the height of his layout. That was he had a opening that anybody could get through. He had a couple of those slide bolt door locks that alligned everything perfectly everytime. He made that section it's own block so he did not have to use rail joiners and section like most modular layouts do. It works very well. The only problem he ran up against is on the hinge side of the door he had to make sure there was room for the benchwork on the door to clear when the door was opened.
Something else - from experience I will tell you that it will be used as a duck under as much if not more than it is lifted out (whether a lift out section or a hinged section - you will end up ducking under frequently) - eventually the expensive motorized brigde will get bumped. If you build something designed to hinge up, remember that the pivot point needs to be above rail height. A lift out is the least complicated method.
There was an article in an old issue of MR that talked about creating a swinging gate style duck under. I am dealing with the same issue. How to cross the gap or how to get inside an around the room layout. By the way, what length is about the maximum for a lift out? Jeff Augsburg & Concord R.R. (a fictional shortline in Central Illinois) http://www.pegnsean.net/~revnjeff
Jeff- I wonder if that would depend on what you wanted to accomplish on the liftout, such as any scenery. Or how awkward the finished product might be. Consideration such as weight, how easy it is to remove and replace, how fragile the scenery, etc., on top is. You probably want this done so that you can do the remove/replace by yourself? One thought that I had, is you'd probably want to make the liftout wider than the doorway. So you'd have a little less chance of bumping into the layout ends when moving in and out of the room. I had a friend who did one of these door spans. On either end, the last 18" or so of track approaching the liftout was wired to a micro-switch. Thus when the bridge is out, the circuit is broken, and nothing can possibly hit the floor.... BoxcabE50
