Multi-level swing out section?

[FJ and G]

In designing a round-the-room layout; I'm now faced with a duckunder, first time ever. Welcome to the club, you say.

Question. Do you have a duckunder? If so, is it fixed, removable, or moveable (as in swing down or swing out).

Here's my dilemma: I'm building a multilevel layout (3 levels) and was considering making the top level either a duckunder, moveable, or removable section. Have any of you ever had (or have) a multilevel layout that required thru-the-layout access? If so, what solution did you use?

In theory (I don't think this ever has been done before), it would be nice to be able to move all 3 levels at once; perhaps tie them together and swing them all out at once? Any creative thoughts?

Dave Vergun

[cwclark]

permanent duckunders work the best..the problem with swinging or removable duck unders is that it must close or line -up precisely where the tracks meet...there was an article in last year's (or two years ago) MR that showed how to make a swinging gate duckunder, but to me it's almost impossible to get the rails lined up exactly together to avoid derailments...especially the hinged type of duckunders....Chuck

[FJ and G]

Chuck,

Agree about the advantages you cite but my multideck layout will have low shelving down to about 20" off the deck.

[ndbprr]

I've had duckunders and I will never have another one. My first was a high girder bridge probably 5'4" above ground level. I'm 6'5" and it was ok. I purposely made it from a cut down 2"x10" and it took it share of hits from people who were a lot shorter than me. My present home has limited space and so for years I had to get inside the doughnut to run trains at a 42" level. I'm getting too old for that stuff. A removable section technically isn't a duckunder and it should be doable. Picture shelves on a door and you have the concept. Put the "door" up first and the latching system then attach the various levels to it. It should be fine as long as the door isn't too flimsy..

[FJ and G]

ndbprr,

You just gave me an idea with your "Door" analogy. Build the walk-thru multi-level section as a SINGLE moving module, with wheels underneath, that can be pushed out of the way. Only trouble is that it seems a bit of a hassel every time you need to exit and enter the room.

Unless I can think of a solution, I'll likely just make the top section a permanent duckunder (non-moveable) and make the lower shelves simply end as Point-To-Point style.

Anyone else w/ideas?

thanks.

dav

[cwclark]

if duckunders can be done away with..try to build your layout in dogbone fashion...that way you won't have to duckunder anything, but walk thru your layout...Chuck

[FJ and G]

Chuck,

In my case, my room is rather smallish: 15X15 for O scale requiring minimum 072; and the return loops in the dogbone would be space eaters.

[orsonroy]

Duckunders suck. My last layout had 'em, and I vowed never again. And I'm only 34! Imagine what a duckunder means to people with 60 year old knees...

Since I prefer long mainlines, I designed a three level around the walls layout. At the entrance, there are really only two levels, so I only had to deal with figuring out how to get the two levels out of the way. I was planning a sort of door arrangement, with power cutoffs and a pretty positive keying system, when I remembered one of the best saying in engineering: "Keep it simple, stupid". The less you put into a design, the less there is to go wrong, and it's generally easier to fix what does go wrong.

I redesigned for two simple 3/4" plywood dropdowns, attached at one end of the entryway with heavy door hinges, and latching to the other with two throw bolts. The dropdowns lay flat against each side of the entryway (one drops to the right, one drops to the left), and they work great. I've got the track nailed to the plywood, so if warpage or other shifting happens (it hasn't in the year they've been in) it'll be quick & easy to move the track.

[Anonymous]

Instead of swing outs, try swing ups. hinge one side, grove the other so that when it's closed they fit perfectly. then you can add wires between the three sections, such that when you swing the top one up, they all come up. if you use a solid metal piece between the three sections, you can swing all three up by moving anyone of them.

In their full upright position you can easily access the room, drop them down back in place and eb running in no time.

Jay

[robengland]

I used to stress about hinged sections. A club I visit has a quarter-turn in the corner of the room hinged to lift up to get to the door. It is rough as guts, on a couple of light hinges, no latching, basic bit of wood to "key" it in when closed, with an electrical kill switch for the apporaches about a foot each way from it. Rails are aligned by grace and by God and I've never seen a derailment on it.

There are plenty of other examples on the web and in magazines, and I don't recall a single "horror story".

So now I'm planning a sideways hinged section with track on three levels, only one of them level as it goes through the section.

Good solid engineering and you can't go wrong .... I hope [;)]

[FJ and G]

Thanks, guys for the suggestions. You've given me a lot to think about. I may do what Ray has done, since his case is so similar to mine, and just make 2 levels cross the entrance and the 3rd level point-to-point, ending at both sides of the room entrance. That way, there would be just 2 swingouts to deal with.

In that case, I might raise the top level to about 5 feet so that a duckunder becomes much easier to duck under and the lower shelf make a swing down or swing out portion. Haven't decided yet, but there seems to be no shortage of options.

Appreciate all of your help.

Dave Vergun

[CBQ_Guy]

My proposed layout is single deck but a part of it may be double deck. The track in this area will pass in front of where I would need to access the furnace and HW heater. Access to the appliances would normally be only needed maybe twice per year.

I'm toying with the idea of building the two levels which would need to be removable on a sturdy, well braced framework of about 30-36" long and maybe 6-8 inches wide. This would be built to normally sit on one of those heavy duty, library carts. You know, the ones that your school uses/used to wheel AV equipment around on. These are well build and sturdy with large, locking casters. My thinking is the two level wood frame could sit on this and be wheeled in or out of the area when access is needed. The rest of the time the wheels would be locked and the frame would just be attached to the rest of the permanent layout benchwork with C-clamps on each end.

Of course, this wouldn't be practical for something which had to be moved in and out on a regular basis, but I've got one of those carts which my brother gave to me a few years back.