dead zone

Your liftout is very similar to one I did some years back. One thing you don't mention is a safety "dead zone". I attended an open house some years back...the layout was low level account the owner was wheelchair bound. A hinged liftout  was opened to get in the room door way. Shortly after I had entered the layout, someone following left the liftout up. The result was an expensive engine on the deck.

When I built mine, the liftout bridge was powered by a jumper to the main track some three feet from the bridge. Two foot long approaches at each end of the bridge are dead, and must be powered by jumpers from the bridge itself. I used quarter inch stereo jacks to make connections and keyed to prevent mixing the jumpers up.  With the liftout bridge removed, there are no surprises.

Arthur I like the door river

Arthur I like the door river bridge better.

N-Trak hasn't used the

N-Trak hasn't used the Cinch-Jones plug for several years now - they've gone to the Anderson PowerPole. The CJs had several issues - poor conductivity with age, too reliant on soldering skills, limited availability,  and cost, to mention a few.

PowerPoles became a RP in 2005, and the Standard in 2011. Legacy modules with CJs are still permitted, but they must provide the CJ-PP adapter cables. That's really not an onerous requirement - till 2011 the PowerPole modules were required to do the same, so in many cases the PP owners just gave their adapter cables to CJ owners.

See standards document here: http://www.ntrak.org/Documents/NTK_2011_STDS_insertClr.pdf

The PowerPoles are self-cleaning, have crimp-on contacts, and can be keyed and color coded for polarity and function matching. They're also widely used in Ham Radio and Radio Control electric planes. 

Door river Bridge

That one is 68" off of floor. Done that way so i can walk under it.

Starting my version KISS lift out...

Thanks Arthur for starting this thread, it came it very useful!

I have finished the basic construction and now have to add the 1/2 Homasote and spike some rail down to span the last gap on the PC&N Ry.

Looking good so far.

Ross A

Hinged lift up

At 74 I knew I did not want to duck under, although 66" wouldn't be too bad. My layout is 48" at the hinged lift up. Protection from accidental trips to the floor is provided on onr side by the brige and on the other by switches attached to the non hinged side that activate the power when depressed by the weight of the bridge.  Power connections are through the hinged side and are permanently connected to the bridge.    

Finally Finished!

Well that didn't take too long....

I finally finished my KISS liftout for my HOn3 PC&N Ry. When I first built it I made sure that the final rail top would end up slightly below the level of the trackwork on either side, then I could install the proper shims to bring the rail tops into perfect alignment.

I also used some brass test points to make the electrical contact to the lift out section rails. Best part is it actually works!

Now on to the next project.

Ross A

Contact Materials

Contacts ready for assembly

 Contact ready for Soldering

Contact Assemblies installed

Lift out section contacts

Lift out installed

Brass Screws used to solder rail ends down to ensure alignment

Another Idea Source

Looking at different options for a section of a future layout to avoid a duck-under.  My section will have a truss bridge, so have to consider what would be best to avoid damage to the bridge.

Simple lift out may still be an option.  

Joe

Multiple liftouts

Joe,

I have be toying with the idea of making a second lift out section that I could swap out with the first one. A plan for a very cool swing bridge appeared in the NGSL Gazette a while back and I think it would make a fantastic model, but with no room left I kind of forgot about it. Then the thought occurred, build it into a second lift out section! 

TOMA liftout ???

Ross A

different options to avoid a duck under

How about a roll under  -  with at least 48" clearance, tether a small adjustable height rolling office chair (sans arms) tot he passage by a line or small chain - if the chair is on the other side, pull it to you, sit down, and roll under then stand up easily.

Geriatric Bridge v Duck Under

 I used to work in an office which was the upstairs of a converted 16thC pub.  Halfway along the passage there was a beam c4' off the floor. There was the alternative of stepping down some stairs and up the other side but we generally just bent at the waist. I say we because there were six people in the office three being over 6' tall.

I prefer a bridge. The wiring is simply flexible requiring no contacts and it can be counterbalanced. The section of the layout nearest, including five tracks on two levels, lifts counterbalanced by the sash cord.

Of course you need enough air draft above the layout but a similar bridge could swing, lift parallel or drop though the latter would be tricky to counterbalance.

The reason that the bridge should be left closed is safety and to avoid twisting. The counterbalance is arranged so that the bridge is stable in the open position as well as closed.

Archie

Just a comment...

Just a comment...

Cinch-Jones plugs are no longer standard on N-Trak, and haven't been for quite a while now (since around the Chantilly VA N Scale Convention in 2004). They've moved to Anderson PowerPoles. They're less expensive, self-cleaning, and can be assembled in polarized configuration. They also come in a wide variety of colors to eliminate the problem of losing the colored tape from the plugs. No soldering is required, and contacts are available to fit 12 AWG wire - which is also the N-Trak standard now.

Yes, there was a lot of complaining about making the switch. At first, those who converted were required to provide adapter cables. As time passed, the burden of providing the adapter cables was transferred to those that did not convert. Most clubs made bulk purchases and converted all their modules at once.