Duckunders

[FJ and G]

Do any of you have these?

I'm designing (on paper) one that will be fixed (not moveable) at about 5 feet high, which, I think, will not be too much of a stoop. If it were any lower, I'd defintely have designed it to be swing-down or removable or even swing out.

dav

[Anonymous]

Taller visitors to your layout may have problems. I'm about 6'1" & I can certainly make it, but if you know anyone 6' 6" tall or taller, they may not be so comfortable.

On the other hand, if you're not expecting anyone that tall to visit frequently, 5' sounds OK to me.

Tony

[Big_Boy_4005]

5' sounds pretty safe, not much ducking, unless you are having Yao Ming and his friends over. Back at enterTRAINment there was a bridge that had a 7' clearence, and a few people had to bend slightly, but that was a public display. The bad duck unders are under 4', because most people have to crawl not duck.

[Anonymous]

Unless they are the only way to your dream layout, avoid them like the plague.
I have them just for that reason, but hopefully the need to duck under frequently can be avoided by reliable track and benchwork, etc., so the trains stay on track.
Unfortunately this is not always so and under you go (Sheer poetry)!
Don't forget that although time stands still in Lionelville, it does not wait for us, and the older one gets, the less enthusiastic one is to get involved in such gymnastics.

[cnw1995]

Boy Dav, I echo Brian - on the few layouts I've been priviledged to visit, the duck-unders are the bane of their owners. One went so far as to mention, if doing so again, he'd been happy to sacrifice some of the layout run to avoid it.

[Roger Bielen]

Some time in the future I'd like to redo my duckunders with swinglift bridges. Even when I know they are there I frequently stand up too soon and clip a bridge. I can lift mine out but it's a pain when I don't have a reason to, especially when I already have the trains running.

[FJ and G]

Roger,

One fellow ran a metal pipe below his duckunder bridge (real bridges often have such pipes). That way, damage was limited to his head instead of the bridge. It was in an issue of MR, I think in the 80s. Doesn't seem to smart, since the pipe makes the duckunder lower. With a fixed duckunder that's high, the logic goes, you don't have to worry about moving parts or electrical connections.

Dav

Doug,

Agree that low (below 4 or 5 feet) can be a headache or backache; puns intended. But, so can liftouts.

[Anonymous]

I never built a layout that had a duckunder; however, I've visited a few. All their owners claimed that if they had to do it over again the would do it sans the duckunder.
Bill
www.modeltrainjournal.com

[ChiefEagles]

Sorry but I have to have two. Once to get into the room and one to access a seldom used closet. They will also be liftouts but with only a narrow section at those points. Have tried to vision a fold down or something but not getting it. Suggestion. ?????

[IRONROOSTER]

I have a duckunder across the door into the train room (I rehung the door to swing out) The under side is 4'9" and I'm 5'11". Hasn't been a problem for several years now. So I say go for it.
Enjoy
Paul

[lionelsoni]

My layout is 45 inches high. I have had a lift-out section across the door; but my utopian plan is to replace it with a Lionel bascule bridge which I have had for some years now. The bridge does not raise enough to be useful, but I didn't have much trouble modifying it to go all the way to vertical. I intend also to lengthen it a bit and widen it for double track, which should be quite a project.

[daan]

You also could use a lift bridge, where 2 towers on each side of the bridge lift the section a feet or 2 up. The moving parts are quite simple, just a few ropes and a few wheels on top of the towers, and a motor-driven axle where you can wind the rope on. In holland we have a lot of these bridges from a small single track up to the bigger doubletrack bridges. The section which lifts is in the smaller bridges a solid beam and in the big ones a girder bridge. When you use steel rods on the edges of the bridge to guide it,you shouldn't have troubles with allignment when closing the bridge.
Could be interesting too, the train can be made to stop by a red signal when the bridge opens etc. I also have a duckunder at my layout, but that's where I have steep stairs to enter the room. You don't really have to duck there.

[FJ and G]

THanks, guys. Daan, nice idea. For now, I'll just insert a 2X4 or something to carry the track and later go back and do a bridge, possibly with a motor like you mention. Each time I get wacked in the head by the 2X4, will will then remind me to build the lift bridge.

dav

[Roger Bielen]

The lift bridge idea that daan mentions is used on the "Misty Mountain Rwy", a large layout open to the public, in Blairstown, GA. I had the opportunity to tour it with the local TCA chapter last summer. It was also featured in one of the mags. a year or two ago.

Their bridge is motorized and goes to 6' or more.

[daan]

I found a picture from an old "Hefbrug" at Alphen aan de rijn, a village near Utrecht. It is a single track lift bridge, but how it works is clear.

I'm sorry not to have a picture where the bridge is open..