NO MORE DUCK UNDER!

I thought I might share my last project with you. Some of you may find it interesting if not useful. For some time now at operating sessions the club members and I have had to crawl under the layout to get in the room and once in, well we stayed as long as we could. Lets put it this way there was even talk about installing a toilet in the layout room. ( A NO! I THINK NOT! ) he he he After some careful thought I came up with a lifting bridge. The bridge is hinged on the bottom and its off center. This allows the longest part to swing up and the shorter back part to swing down. Because the hinge is off center the wait of a locomotive or 2 or 3 will not cause the bridge to lift. If you look in the pictures below you’ll see that the tracks that over hang are sectional 9” strait sections. They allow for adjustment by bending and keep there form. If you use flex track there label to move on you. The rigid ness of the snap track holds them in place. Also note that the snap track overhangs from the layout on to the bridge and off on the long end. Today was the first operating session and it was great! When someone left to use the restroom, and providing no trains where coming the bridge was lifted up and then closed. To our amazement we found that you can open and close it with out having to check the rail alignment. NO MORE DUCK UNDER!

 

Ok here are some shots of the bottom. But it may bring more questions then it answered. The hinges are from a home entertainment center. There designed to fit around the thickness of a door.

 

Excellent idea . How did you come to that 'hinge near the middle' principle (as opposed to hinging at one end)? I can see several advantages to it.

(I see you make the members take their shoes off when they come in )

 

Well I had been thinking for a long time on this one. See we had a bridge in there that opened and closed like a door. It was real reliable! You always depend on a train to DERAIL! So one afternoon I was sitting in my computer shop with no work at hand and was balancing a G scale 2x4x8 on my finger, for lack of something better to do. Or maybe the closer to the lack there of the will power to do something better. It hit me that a teeter totter type bridge would give me more clearance , especially with the plans for a G scale layout going in above the HO. Then I came to the thought that if the hinge was centered in the middle that the weight of the local might open the bridge. ( Not good) Unless a disappearing local act was needed.

As for the shoe pile. HHmmm . See the Moore federal government, which is comprised of My wife “Elsie” the president and my 4 year old daughter who’s position isn’t exactly clear to me but I know its higher then mine.J Have decaled such empty space under my layout as “ Free Storage space “. One corner on the out side wall needs a newspaper recycling plant, because there’s almost a 2 foot tall pile of newspapers building up there. A note a bought 4 year old daughters. If you go to any great lengths to clean up a space, it will be occupied by my 4 year old daughter in a flash! Weather it’s a new play cooking staion or Barbie head quarters that moves in, you can bet that the space is gone! No need to woerie a bought your plans, the space is just gone……