Swing Gate and Turntable Pit - photo intensive- New Pics June '09

Ver-ry nice!  It's a refreshing change to see the basic carpentry.  Your gate, especially, looks incredibly solid.

Also looking forward to seeing the finished product.  Please keep us posted.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

Good job on the gate.

The weak point will be the screws on the hinge. Glue will help that. You can do it now or later after they start to pull out. If you wait, replace the current screws with longer ones. Allow the glue to dry before you re-hang it.  

If you want to avoid the issue altogether, you can use machine screws with a nut, washer and lock washer. on the wood side.  

tomikawaTT wrote:

Ver-ry nice!  It's a refreshing change to see the basic carpentry.  Your gate, especially, looks incredibly solid.

I was thinking the same thing.  I also like the way you notched down the surface.  I presume that you're going to put that trestle up on piers, and the notch will be the ground level with the bridge above it.  Will it be water or a dry wash?

Some excellent carpentry and design. With bridge abutments and piers that low bridge section will be a diorama in itself.

One note, as Spacemouse found is the weak point at the hindges. The boxed swing gate is strong itself however, that weight could soon be a problem for misalignment as it droops. There is no provision for a swinging brace back to the benchwork leg. Also, is that unbraced leg solidly fixed to the floor? Standard door hindges do have play as you found just from mounting. Piano hindges have the least play and wear quite well.

You still can add a brace and hindge to the leg. I would provide a mounting that will allow for future adjustments to compensate for any sagging/ droop. You can also slightly bevel the bottom of the gate at the interlock shelf. This will stop you from having to lift the gate if even the slightest sag starts.

You have done one excellent job on this, I am only trying to head off any future troubles for operating this great work. I hang all my doors to hopefully last 20-30 years or 'til the thing is worn out.

The rest of that layout is fantastic.

bogp40 wrote:

Some excellent carpentry and design. With bridge abutments and piers that low bridge section will be a diorama in itself. One note, as Spacemouse found is the weak point at the hindges. The boxed swing gate is strong itself however, that weight could soon be a problem for misalignment as it droops. There is no provision for a swinging brace back to the benchwork leg. Also, is that unbraced leg solidly fixed to the floor? Standard door hindges do have play as you found just from mounting. Piano hindges have the least play and wear quite well. You still can add a brace and hindge to the leg. I would provide a mounting that will allow for future adjustments to compensate for any sagging/ droop. You can also slightly bevel the bottom of the gate at the interlock shelf. This will stop you from having to lift the gate if even the slightest sag starts. You have done one excellent job on this, I am only trying to head off any future troubles for operating this great work. I hang all my doors to hopefully last 20-30 years or 'til the thing is worn out. The rest of that layout is fantastic.

You and Chip bring up the points that had me worried.  The hinges are attached with very long screws.  They are ball bearing hinges.  I didn't glue anything because I want to be able to adjust and possibly redo the gate if it doesn't hold up. 

 Both sides of the gate have supports bolted into the concrete floor at the bottom and solidly attached to the walls on the ends.

The leverage factor on the end of the gate is an issue.  I was considering adding an angled brace if things start to move too much.  The gate comes back to the same spot exactly and the metal strike plates that the end rests on in the pocket should prevent too much wear alignmnet problems.  If the sag gets to be excessive, I will put in the brace.  As it is right now, I can still duck under it.  This is something I would rather not lose as an option.

In sum, it is an experiment. 

Guy

Guy,

Just curious what are the approx. dimensions of your swing gate and what thickness plywood did you use? 

I like the ledge you have the end of the gate resting on, I have a gate in the plans and always thought that was the way to keep the vertical alignment in check. 

Mr. B:  Underneath the trestle I probably will do a low lying river bottom look common to the central valley in CA.  No water if I can avoid it.

Mike,  The plans came from an Article in July 2007 RMC "Building a Model Railroad Gate" by Fred Headon.  My gate is approx 36" X 6" wide X 9" tall at the ends .  Plywood on the sides is 1/2", on the bottom is 3/4".  I would probably use 1/2" on the bottom if I had it to do over to save some weight.   There is a 2" x 4" in the gate at the hinge attachment point to provide a solid surface for the hinges.  The side frames are kiln dried, straight and true (expensive..) fir 2" X 4".  The fasica on the pocket side is 3/4" ply.

Guy

Added new material - see the top posting

Guy

loathar

That's an impressive tressel! I love all the bolt detail.

Tom,

Thanks for noticing the bolt detail.  I was going to build it without the Nut/bolt /Washer castings (NBW's).  Some of my modeling friends convinced me that the bolts were necessary.  So I did the math to find out that I would need around 1,000 NBWs to do boith sides of the trestle!!  I cheated and did only one side (facing the inside of the room) and the bents for a total of around 600!!  Didn't take as long as I thought it would.

Guy

Guy,

Beefy swing gate.  I like the idea that it is adjustable.

Sue

The wear plate under the free end of the swing bridge will be key to maintaining alignment.  Should the hinges allow future sag, just loosen the screws in the wear plate and slip some paper shims under it and retighten the screws.  To unload the hinges when the gate is open, another landing fitted for that position would serve the purpose.

Just a thought, Geohan

Geohan

 To unload the hinges when the gate is open, another landing fitted for that position would serve the purpose.

Just a thought, Geohan

Geohan,

That idea crossed my mind as well.  Unfortunately the gate contacts the opposite fascia (across the aisle) in the middle of a switch control panel (great model planing there).  So far I have been leaving the gate closed except when exiting or entering the room.  I may make a resting pocket for the gate in the open position someday, but it will necessitate moving the switch panel.....

Guy

That trestle is a bee-yew-tiful piece of work ! Excellent,sir - my best compliments.

Dennis 

Beautiful work, like the old radio show "Give that man a Mars bar".  Having not been modeling for sometime, I am very far behind.  I have a question.  I like to scratchbild but never heard of RMC.   Would appreciate more info about them.

Anxious to see how your layout progresses.

Tom in PA

Tom & Dennis, 

Thank you for the compliments. 

The magazine is Railroad Model Cratsman.  They tend to focus a little more on the "craftsman side" of the hobby.  Here's a link

http://www.rrmodelcraftsman.com/

Guy

Sorry for posting so late, but I had not seen this thread before.  This is impressive and so creative! A friend of mine is currently rebuilding his layout and is considering building a lift section.  I'm going to make certain that he see this.

Excellent work, thank you for posting this 

trainnut1250

Jan. 2009 - Thought you might enjoy an update on the projects-

 

Added a an arm to the gate and built a trestle on it:

 

Scratchbuilt trestle:

 

Another view:

 

Overview of scene:

 

Still more to do on the trestle underbrush.

 

 

Turntable update:

Scratch built the bridge from styrene based on the Sierra RWY Jamestown TT.  The cardboard engine house is based off of the Yosemite Valley roundhouse in Merced.  The pit is cast hydrocal.  Am currently truing up the bridge trucks to track accurately on the pit rail.

 

 

 

Scratchbuilt bridge

 

That's it for the update..For anyone who is interested contact me via PM for a PDF of current layout progress

 

Guy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thought you all might like to see another version of a swing gate.   I built it following plans in the recent RMC article on swing gates.  It will have a low SP trestle on it when I get a chance to get to the LHS for wood. (click on photos to enlarge)

 

 

View from outside the room 

 

 

 View from the layout side

 

 

Swinging at you

 

 

Swinging away

 

 

Detail of connection side

 

 

 

Next a quick look at a turntable project:

 

first cut a hole in the layout for the pit

 

 

now add the pit floor

 

 

now add the ring rail level

 

 

now add the pit wall layer

 

 

detail of the layers. 

 

 

Lots of fill and cutting still to do.  Pit wall will be faced with a styrene strip to give an even face to the wall.  The bridge will be scratchbuilt and the drive is a hand crank set up from Diamond Scale.  Prototype is the Sierra Railroad turntable at Jamestown CA.  I made it about 20 scale feet longer than the original.

 

Guy

Added new material for those of you following along

Guy

One question I have here, the swing gate looks like the gate I will need in my Man Cave for my entrance/exit door, but how do you facilitate the connection of the rails when the gate is closed?

One thing you want to be sure of is that when your gate opens the power shuts off to a section of track each side of the gate making it impossible for a loco to take a dive into  space.

If you go to the right side of this page, scroll down to Search This Community, search for the term "gate"  you should get many, many ideas and photos.

Good luck,

RobertB.

One question I have here, the swing gate looks like the gate I will need in my Man Cave for my entrance/exit door, but how do you facilitate the connection of the rails when the gate is closed?

Robert,

I have a wire going to the gate from the hinge side that powers the track on the gate.  It flexes with the gate as it opens and closes.  The rails themselves do not make electrical contact on either side.  They are powered from the gate itself. (hopefully that is not confusing)

I have not put in safety sections (dead zones) that prevent trains running into the void on either side yet, but it would be a good idea.

Guy