I'm going to build a small layout soon that is going to staging off the side but I don't have alot of room? I was thinking about having the staging tracks lined up on a shelf that moves back and forth like a keyboard tray on a computer desk and have single track that leads from those tracks up to the layout. I'm kind of wondering how a person would go building one that locks securly at every track. The only article I have seen on one was in the 1996 model railroad planing. They called it a transfer table staging. Thanks for any help. Joe
Here's an idea that might work. If you were to get a spring loaded peg (like what is used on sliding closet doors) And attach it to the stationary side and then on the moving side have a peice of wood with triangular shaped notches in it. The spring loaded peg would try and find the center of each notch stopping the table from stopping in between.
Here's an improved idea. instead of using the spring loaded peg you could use a spring loaded roller. You can probably find something from a cabinet door latch that would do the job. Here's a diagram of what I kind of mean.
That sort of thing is qute common on the small layouts that tend to appear at shows in the UK. The most common way I've seen of doing it is using a small sliding bolt-style door lock. The bolt is fixed to the non-moving side, and you have a "hole" for it between each track to line it up and then lock it there securely. It takes a little fiddling to get it set up to start with, but once it's built it's virtually fool proof, it's also pretty cheap! I do know folk who have also used the bolts to transmit power to the table as well, wiring it up so that only the "locked in" track has track power connected.
