steinjr richhotrain: That's the fly in the ointment. Power remains ON to the tracks leading from the mainline turnouts to the lift out. Gotta remember to keep the turnout points straight not divergent when lift out is not in place. So you out a micro on-off switch somewhere where it gets depressed when you put in your bridge, and then feed power to your brass plate and the closest section of track on the fixed part of your layout through the micro switch. Here is an example of a micro switch (this particular one is used for deciding which of two inputs get fed to the output, and can be used to feed power to the frog on a turnout): (picture linked from the web page of Tam Valley Depot, which is just one of many companies that sell micro switches) The longer metal piece depresses a button when you press down on it. For just on/off, you only need one with two legs - in and out. Smile,Stein
richhotrain: That's the fly in the ointment. Power remains ON to the tracks leading from the mainline turnouts to the lift out. Gotta remember to keep the turnout points straight not divergent when lift out is not in place.
That's the fly in the ointment. Power remains ON to the tracks leading from the mainline turnouts to the lift out. Gotta remember to keep the turnout points straight not divergent when lift out is not in place.
So you out a micro on-off switch somewhere where it gets depressed when you put in your bridge, and then feed power to your brass plate and the closest section of track on the fixed part of your layout through the micro switch.
Here is an example of a micro switch (this particular one is used for deciding which of two inputs get fed to the output, and can be used to feed power to the frog on a turnout):
(picture linked from the web page of Tam Valley Depot, which is just one of many companies that sell micro switches)
The longer metal piece depresses a button when you press down on it. For just on/off, you only need one with two legs - in and out.
Smile,Stein
Stein,
That is a very elegant solution. I may just give it a try. Thanks.
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrain That's the fly in the ointment. Power remains ON to the tracks leading from the mainline turnouts to the lift out. Gotta remember to keep the turnout points straight not divergent when lift out is not in place.
cowman Interesting. You must store it very close to your opening. Sort of a swing, but you only swing on the wires. Is the power shut off to each side of the opening when you open it? Have fun, Richard
Interesting. You must store it very close to your opening. Sort of a swing, but you only swing on the wires.
Is the power shut off to each side of the opening when you open it?
Have fun,
Richard
cowman Welcome to the forums. The lift out is the only one that you will have to totally disconnect the wiring, but a simple electrical plug will work as will any number of automotive and electronic equipment plugs.
Welcome to the forums.
The lift out is the only one that you will have to totally disconnect the wiring, but a simple electrical plug will work as will any number of automotive and electronic equipment plugs.
Not on my lift out, as described earlier. I don't have to disconnect anything and there are no loose or hanging wires.
As stated there are many ways of doing this. In doing a search of the forums go down the right column to Search Our Community, part way down the page. MR has also just restarted their Magazine Index, which you can get to by going to the light gray line at the top of the page, find RESOURCES. It refers you to many magazines, not just MR.
One thing you want to be sure to do is have your wiring done so that when your gate is open that your track each side of the opening is also dead for some distance. This prevents your trains from taking a dive to the floor below.
Good luck,
You will find here that there are a lot of ways in doing a door span, lift up, set inplace, swing out. I decided for my application a swing up works best for me. Its quick to use and depenadble.
Here is my rendition of a swing up, when lifted it stays up, beinging that it is hinged over center in the up position. The lower one is a bit on the overbuilt account of people intering from outside. Incleasing the back set beond the heinge, can give you more ceiling height if needed in the up position
The lower is set at an angle and has a double crossover on it. Note 45 degree back cuts on lift up and layout side, makes a tight fit of rail gap. wireing has been cleaned up when I went to DCC, Used test lead wire from Radio Shack for flexable buss wire to spans
Top span, used screw inserts to set track height, setting side to side elevation in a and b rails. The cubbord latch sets the side to side and the up and down elevation.
lower span has the same setup but mounted under the swing up
Use a long straight edge past both sides so all track will be straight. All can be on a grade. Actuall have four of these, All have been in place for seven years without much problems and were fun to build.
Hope this gives you and idea of a swing up, Im sure you will have other input on your progect.
Take care...John
You can also do a search of the forums. There have been several threads on it and some very good posts with pictures.
Springfield PA
woodman I am in the planning process of my layout and I am going to be incorporating a lift out or lift up section approx 36" long. How does one go about doing this? Is one end hinged or do you lift out the section completely? How do you keep the tracks in alignment and how do you keep power going to the tracks? Is any of this discussed in a any recent publications? I would greatly appreciate any help in this matter. scale is HO.
I am in the planning process of my layout and I am going to be incorporating a lift out or lift up section approx 36" long. How does one go about doing this? Is one end hinged or do you lift out the section completely? How do you keep the tracks in alignment and how do you keep power going to the tracks? Is any of this discussed in a any recent publications? I would greatly appreciate any help in this matter. scale is HO.
As Stein indicated, there are a number of ways to deal with the placement of a section of track over an aisle or entryway including a hinged lift up, a hinged drop down, a fixed duckunder, and a removeable lift out.
In my case, I wanted to construct a removeable lift out since the relevant track section would only be used on occasion, My removeable track section spans a 3 foot aisle, but it is over 4 feet long because it runs diagonally from one side of the main layout to the other side. Also, the removeable track section is a reversing section, but the requirements are still similar to a non-reversing section.
My first objective was to simplfy the wiring so that I would not need to connect and disconnect the feeder wires every time the lift out was removed or replaced on the layout. To accomplish this objective, I added a thin wood ledge on either side of the layout for the lift out section to rest on, and I installed "mending plates" (thin, small brass plates) on top of the ledges and on the underside of the lift out. Then, I ran feeders from the main bus wires to the mending plates to provide power. When the lift out is placed on the ledges, power is transferrred to the lift out where feeder wires run to the rails on the lift out section from the mending plates on the underside of the lift out section. In other words, the mending plates make contact and power is transferred onto the lift out.
My second objective was to provide an arrangement where the tracks would quickly and easily align between the lift out section and the main layout. To accomplish this onjective, I simply secured the rails at each end of the main layout sections and the lift out section. Then, I placed small wood blocks on the wood ledges so that the placement of the lift out could only occur in a fixed postion, ensuring that the rails would perfectly align.
It takes me seconds to remove or replace the lift out, and the lift out only weighs a few pounds as it is constructed of 1/2" plywood on a 1" x 2" frame.
Many ways of doing it. Here is a couple of decent video from youtube on building liftouts:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvInjBVhxLI
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkJLc4JmuFQ