I was wondering if any of you have photos of connectors at each end of a lift bridge or panel that would allow access to the center of a layout. I am using Kato Unitrack. It would seem that the connectors would have to be opened up at both ends and that the bridge portion would have to be powered to avoid positioning disconnects. I know that this has been done many times, but I have never had the opportunity of seeing the details. Many thanks in advance. Steve Ervin
Steve, The lift bridge we use for our Ntrak setups has three tracks going across it. The tracks are aligned and slightly gaped. No track connectors are used at all. The power bus is feed to both stationary ends of the bridge. The lifting section of the bridge is also feed power from the bus on the hinged end.
Big Al Mayo has one of the best ideas: [video=youtube;OkYCDz2a7XI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkYCDz2a7XI[/video] Love him or hate him, it's good model railroading stuff. Part of the brilliance is having the bridge connect about a 1' of track before the gap, so trains automatically stop before plummetting to the floor. And the recently-departed, always-missed Wulfgang Dudler has a few photos of his swing-out on his Westport Terminal website. Hope this helps.
RBrodzinsky uses the Unitrack Expansion Track to span the gap his. It works simple and efficiently. I'm sure Rick will come along shortly and post ya some more info
Connectors for a lift bridge. Hi all. Thanks for the intro, George! Yes, I use the Unitrack expansion pieces at the connections for the lift out bridge, plus, I have the track on the bridge, plus about one foot of the leads to it, isolated and powered from the bus under the bridge, so that if bridge isn't there, locos can't run off. Of course, I could always back a train over the cliff. LOL. Similar to the video MC posts, though I had never seen that. To isolate the bridge and leads, I just use isolated unijoiners back sufficiently from the bridge. I run the bus wires up to it, and using Molex connectors, connect to the bus. That same connector also loops back to bus wires that are for the lead tracks. On the other side, it is simply a bus extension from the bridge up a couple sections. I am not on my main PC right now, with easy access to the proper pictures, but will post them here tomorrow. Shows how I modify the unijoiners on the expansion track so they slide in and out easily. Edit: ooh, remembered I had posted in BarstowRick's thread some photos. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showpost.php?p=872924
NTrak Bridge Our NTrak group has been using a lift gate module quite successfully for several years now. I built it after I realized I just couldn't do the "crawl under" any longer due to arthritis in my legs. I'm not sure this is what you are looking for, but it utilizes a buss system that runs under the module floor and powers the tracks through relays which are switched through contact switches on the bridges. Lift the bridges and power is cut to the tracks. Power is only restored after the bridges are lowered and locked back into place. NCDaveD
Here are some more photos showing how I've used the Kato Expansion track. My bridge is a full lift out, rather than a hinged "swing up" bridge This shows how I modify the unijoiner, to allow it slide on and off the fixed tracks easily This is the end of the bridge where the three tracks converge from under the mountains Here, you can see the tracks "pulled back"
