Loop track Access Hatch

[freeway3]

SeeYou190

This is a brilliant idea!

I wish I could give credit where due, but this is one of the many things I picked up on this or another forum years ago.

SeeYou190

Of course, I have never actually seen a hockey puck.

Come on, man! The 2020 Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning are practically in your back yard! But there's a first time for everthing - I had never drilled a hole thru a hockey puck before this.

I suppose this could also work with low-profile casters on different floor surfaces.

[BigDaddy]

freeway3

Since you are building this in two modules or sections, I wonder if an access hatch is necessary at all?

I hadn't intended to ever move the modules apart, once assembled, but I'll give that idea some thought.  It would be easier than crawling under the layout.

Larry Puckett showed some adjustable feet on one of Youtube videos.  He has expanded away from just DCC topics

[SeeYou190]

freeway3

For this to work, your sections need to be able to slide easily on your floor. Mine is laminate, and the "feet" on my legs (4 feet total on each section) are actually hockey pucks with felt glued to the bottom. Kind of like the furniture sliders sold at the big box stores.

This is a brilliant idea!

I have often thought about what would make decent heavy duty feet for a layout, and those look perfect!

Of course, I have never actually seen a hockey puck.

-Kevin

[freeway3]

BigDaddy

I'm thinking the narrow part will be one module and the turn around section will be another.

Since you are building this in two modules or sections, I wonder if an access hatch is necessary at all?

I have a similar setup on my HOn3 layout under construction, with almost the same dimensions. I seperate the sections, and slide the "loop" section out from the wall as I'm working on the back side. It easily slides back into place when I just want to run trains. The sections are doweled and bolted together from underneath, and I use automotive trailer plugs to connect the wiring.

 

For this to work, your sections need to be able to slide easily on your floor. Mine is laminate, and the "feet" on my legs (4 feet total on each section) are actually hockey pucks with felt glued to the bottom. Kind of like the furniture sliders sold at the big box stores.

[RR_Mel]

Brent:

Great roundhouse/turntable lift out!!!  That is the only way to install a roundhouse/turntable!  Easily removable for maintenance down the road.

Henry:

I make my goodies that will or might need maintenance easily removable, much easier to work on at the bench.



I installed my indexing system easily on the bench.
 


This module has a motor moving the elevator lifting cable between the wench/generator building and the mine that makes the pulleys turn.

My Mabry Mill has an 8 RPM motor turning the water wheel.

I agree with Dave, make the lift out sized for an object that disguises the access.  


Mel



 
My Model Railroad   
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
 
Bakersfield, California
 
I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

[mbinsewi]

BigDaddy

A nail and a circular saw to cut a curve is one I didn't see coming.

Same here, the circular saw part, jig saw or sawzall I could see, but a circular saw?

Mike.

[BigDaddy]

Thanks for the ideas.  A nail and a circular saw to cut a curve is one I didn't see coming.

Howard Zane has a building on top a hatch, and he reached as delicately as you would grab a beer out of the cooler and pulled everything straight up.

[Track fiddler]

Nice-looking framing Brent.

Your visual already exceeded my thoughts but give me a little slack that I didn't dust off the saw horses and have a go of it yet

 

 

TF

[BATMAN]

ATLANTIC CENTRAL

but I assure you there will be no track mounted on foam........

I have track mounted on foam and while it is just fine for sidings and spurs, for future layouts the mainline will be mounted on something more solid. I experimented with foam and spline and I am sold on spline for roadbed. 

I find foam ideal for terrain for many reasons and would certainly use it in that application again.

[ATLANTIC CENTRAL]

BigDaddy

I have two modules total 12' long, I want to turn the corner and build a loop.  It's box construction with 2-3" of foam on 1/8 plywood. 

Previously I built L-girder and cookie cutter plywood.  It had square corners. In the days before the Internet, my cardboard webbing had hydrocal dipped paper towels filled in the space but did not provide a level surface for structures. 

I realize radius in of itself is a controversial topic. My longest car will be a Roundhouse Harriman coach and my longest engine will be a GP-7.  I will settle for 28" radius curves.

My questions are:

How do I build it, using open grid and foam to have a curved fascia?  I'm thinking the narrow part will be one module and the turn around section will be another.

Assuming I want a station or an engine house or some other track work within the turn around, how to scenic the space I won't be able to reach?  The red line is a wall.

I'm thinking I need an access hatch to complete construction, how big does it need to be for an average size American?  6' 200#, maybe less than average

 

 

I don't know that I want to comment on "how to build it", I'm not a foam user and my bias there would control my opinions.

But I will offer some basic thoughts.

Roughly 20"x20" should be a good hatch, bigger if possible, 24"x24".

28" radius is more than acceptable for the equipment you mentioned, but I would go larger for appearance alone if you have room. I'm the guy who runs mostly 72' passenger cars on 36" minimum radius.......

I am considering some curved fascia on my new layout for the first time, I was never a fan of the "free flowing" thing, and even if I use some curved fascia, I will still have my "straight" areas. I would say go for the curved fascia in your case.

Make the hatch, or multiple hatches, as liftouts with scenery on them. The Severna Park Club layout has several, they work fine.

On my new layout I plan to have a number of access hatches with most scenery being 3'-4' deep, and one section over 5' deep. In that spot I plan to have a 20" aisle behind the main benchwork and cover the aisle with lift out panels of urban scenery.

And yes, these liftouts might be my first "experiments" with foam.........

but I assure you there will be no track mounted on foam........

Sheldon

[BATMAN]

Mine is foam on open grid except for the round end where I put a square sheet of ply for strength. To cut the plywood to round I tapped a nail in the plywood and tied a string from the nail to the circular saw and cut a perfect half-circle cutting through the 1" x 4"s as well. It will be an easy matter to attach the hardboard facia at some point.

I used 2" foam on the open grid and 1-1/2" foam on the 1/2" ply so they matched up.

 

I have a hatch I rarely use but it does come in handy and I sometimes need to stand on a stool under the hatch on the floor. I have kept the piece of foam I cut out and it fits right in. Once I get the track ballasted in that part of the layout I will likely never need to use the hatch again. I will make a pond for cattle to water at with bushes around to hide the crack and it will lift out as one unit if need be.

 

I made my TT/RH on a removable piece so I could take it to my desk to work on it.

 

 

[Track fiddler]

I went to the drawing board and made a quick freehand drawing on how I would frame it out.

You could get by with 4 posts and 45 degree cantilever supports from the legs

There is always more than one way to do anything and I can always appreciate more than one way.

 

P.S.  That's a really impressive building Dave  Such a great idea.  My railroad host Gary had hatches on his layout that popped out and popped back in and you didn't even know they were there viewing after they were back in.

 

 

TF

[hon30critter]

I would suggest considering a different approach to determining the hatch size, shape and exact location. I would first decide what structure(s) that you want to have in the area where the hatch will be, and build the hatch to accomodate the buildings and the scene. In other words, the structure(s) would not be sitting half on and half off of the hatch. We did this at my old club. The hatch was a bit bigger than the size of a locomotive/machine shop which sat on top of it. This is the shop:

The hatch was made large enough that the bigger guys in the club could use it comfortably. The structure was not going to be permanently attached to the hatch. The plan was to hold the structure in place with magnets so that it could be removed before the hatch was lifted. The theory was that there was less likely to be catastrophic damage to the structure if it was handled separately, and the hatch would be much easier to handle too. If someone forgot to remove the structure before lifting the hatch it would be less likely to be damaged as well.

Dave

[SeeYou190]

BigDaddy

I'm thinking I need an access hatch to complete construction, how big does it need to be for an average size American?  6' 200#, maybe less than average

My access to my attic (actually truss space) on the far side of the house is a hatch 18 by 22 inches. I can squeeze my 6'7" 300 pound body through it, but it is not pretty.

I would use that size as my minimum. You might be able to get by with something a bit smaller.

-Kevin

[Track fiddler]

Hi Henry

Without giving it a lot of thought right away, I dug up an old drawing that applied to something like you're talking about that gives the concept of it.

No matter how you frame it with one by fours supported.  If you wrap 1/8 inch Luan or 1/8 inch Masonite around the ends of your framing, that always works good in construction.  The support does not have to be round and can have much less of an overhang as this one does

 

 

TF

[BigDaddy]

I have two modules total 12' long, I want to turn the corner and build a loop.  It's box construction with 2-3" of foam on 1/8 plywood. 

Previously I built L-girder and cookie cutter plywood.  It had square corners. In the days before the Internet, my cardboard webbing had hydrocal dipped paper towels filled in the space but did not provide a level surface for structures. 

I realize radius in of itself is a controversial topic. My longest car will be a Roundhouse Harriman coach and my longest engine will be a GP-7.  I will settle for 28" radius curves.

My questions are:

How do I build it, using open grid and foam to have a curved fascia?  I'm thinking the narrow part will be one module and the turn around section will be another.

Assuming I want a station or an engine house or some other track work within the turn around, how to scenic the space I won't be able to reach?  The red line is a wall.

I'm thinking I need an access hatch to complete construction, how big does it need to be for an average size American?  6' 200#, maybe less than average