Boat Winch

That's your answer to a one person ability to raise and lower your layout. If you're going to make an investment, make an investment. Half measures lead to trouble each and every time. Something to consider. . . .

Did Same

Did something similar years and years ago with a 5'x16' slot car layout. Used an electric winch taken from the front of my old muddin' pickup truck when I scrapped it. Garage door steel rope and garage door pulleys completed the assembly. Back then we had a scrap dealer that would allow you to walk the yard. Old garage door tracks, springs, rope were plentiful in the piles. Bought it all for next to nothing. I am sure the lawyers have by now shut down common folk picking through scrap yards. Took some fiddling to get all the ropes even but once adjusted it worked great. Slot car racing on Saturday nights, up to the ceiling, car parked underneath Sunday - Friday. Sorry, don't have pictures. Way before the advent of digital cameras.

The weight

The weight (Title used with apologies to "The Band") is what caused me to terminate my suspended layout.

I used a boat winch, rope and pulleys, which worked well.  SInce the crank handle stuck out in the garage aisle, I left the nut hand-tight so I could remove the handle instead of having it poke me whenever I wasn't looking.

As I added to the layout, especially scenery plaster, the weight became a discouragement to lowering it just for short work sessions.  I finally abandoned the layout.  The frame is now used for flat material storage.

Thanks for the ideas

I'm not terribly concerned about weight, to be honest.  The plan is to get the track done in the garage where I can get at it easily.  Scenery and other heavy bits will wait until after the layout is installed.  If I can sort out the pulleys, lifting it with one hand should be easy.

Cheap pullys not the answer.

I would avoid the pulleys that do not roll on bearings.  I would spend the money to get good pulleys made for sailboat rigging as most are high quality and roll on ball bearing for silky smooth operation.  Won't be cheap but in the long run well worth it.  As for $5 dollar pulleys, there is a reason that they are only 5 dollars! 

rope is the problem!

I have a 6' x 8' n scale layout suspended from my garage ceiling. When I built it I used nylon rope aka parachute cord. It worked great the first two times. Then it would constantly bind and jam. I got bigger pulleys to prevent the jams. Not. I then bit the bullet and bought 1/8" cable at the local Lowes. Bingo! Two lines on a hand operated boat winch connect to 4 lines to each corner of the layout. Pictures at " photobucket.com/bob76casey". look for "lift mechanism" (22 photos).

Bob Casey

Watch the weight also

Ceiling rafters are not designed to carry a lot of additional weight. Abusing them will cause them to bow down. In extreme cases could cause roof structure failure (the whole roof will cave), Jose,

You may be right!

I think you may be absolutely right: perhaps if I had rope that couldn't slip off the pulleys and fall between the block and the pulley it would work better.  Will talk to the boat guys and see what they say.

Checked out sailboat blocks

So, I went to check out sailboat pulleys today.  The smallest they make is $14, but can support a silly amount of weight.  Unfortunately, 7 blocks at $14 will be over $100 after tax, which doesn't make any sense for a temporary measure.  If I were planning to make a suspended layout for the long term, I'd certainly consider it.  So, for now, I will try a different rope, and possibly modify the pulleys I got.

Simplified rigging and better rope works much better