"has anyone got any

  The easiest way to ensure reliability is make the span on a straight away,as short as possible, and solid connecting benchwork on both sides. If it done correctly it's as reliable as any other track gap. Here's a shot of a lift out I'm framing now. The double doors total 60 inches wide so I cantilevered the benchwork to cut the lift out down to 30 inches. The lift out is about 9 inches wide and will be made with a plywood top and stringers underneath like a deck girder bridge, probably will end up about 2.5 inches thick which will give 52.5 inches of duck under headroom(layout is 55 inches tall). I'll set it in some kind of saddles and wire up power contacts that feed it when it's in place. When not running trains it will be removed and hung on a hook near the door.....DaveB

two schools of thought on gates...

A) Solid and Stiff

B) Flexible and Self-aligning

I chose B for my 4 gates three swing, one drop down) and they all work reliably after 9 years in the same environment you face Marc.

md

I don't remember where but I

Lay track before cutting drawbridge

Hi MESimpson,

I'd recommend: aging the drawbridge lumber, building the drawbridge and roadbed, sealing it with polyurethane and making sure it works BEFORE laying track.

Then lay continuous track across the drawbridge, solder brass nails to the outside of the track at the edges of the drawbridge and layout to maintain alignment.

Then cut the track with a Dremel cutoff tool.

I built a curved drop down gate 10 years ago and it still carries four N scale tracks on two levels without difficulties.

DaveB backdrop question...

How did you paint your backdrop? I like how that looks.  

thanks

Randy

One way of doing a gate

My gate is swing style.  Here are the links to the construction:

https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/richlawn-rr-v2-swing-gate-track-installation-part-a-12195293

https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/richlawn-rr-v2-swing-gate-part-2-12194538

https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/richlawn-railroad-v2-benchwork-swing-gate-part-1-12194481

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/16416

If you have any question I'll be glad to answer them.

"How did you paint your

  Hi Randy,  It's masonite with a first coat of paint put on with small roller and foam pad. I'll refine it after I finalize the scale and the scenery. For the first coat I just went generic blue up high and white or light gray down low and rolled and dabbed them together a bit where they meet. Once I figure out the foreground I'll either add some photo backdrops down low or try to paint in the appropriate infrastructure images. I  like to get the rough backdrop up before the benchwork gets too far along so I don't have to reach so far to install and rough paint it. Here is a shot that shows it a bit more to the left heading around the end of room turnback curve. The shops area in the first photo were not framed in this last photo but they go on the old kitchen base cabinet...  ...DaveB

Thanks...

I am getting ready to paint some of my backdrop and I want to have it look a lot like yours. When I look at the horizon, I see white down low fading to a pale blue and I think you have captured that look well. Looks really good, thanks for the info.  

Randy

Lift bridge construction photos

At the Waterloo Regional Model Railway Club we had to build a bridge across the entrance to the layout and it had to be on a curve (we specialize in insane track work). The layout is in a rural Quonset hut and when we were building this section heat was by wood pellets in the Winter, so there were drastic changes in temp. and humidity (our landlord has since installed geothermal heat and air conditioning for which we are deeply grateful). We tried a swing bridge which never worked right, so we went to a lift bridge. We considered a drop bridge, but decided that a lift would be easier to build and maintain for operations. After careful planning these pictures show the construction. The pictures don't show it well, but the spline is cut on an angle so that track alignment is helped as the bridge comes into place. The spline on the low side extends beyond the bridge structure and drops below the track level into a space in the bench work as the bridge is opened. There are also adjusting screws for the track so we could cope with humidity related contraction and expansion--though now with climate control we don't use them much. In the last picture you see a button below the near side of the bridge. We decided to put in an electro-magnet to hold the bridge in place which is released by a button on each side. The bridge has been in place several years now and works great, even during open houses when it sees a lot of traffic.

http://sudburydivision.ca/construction42.html

http://sudburydivision.ca/construction50.html

http://sudburydivision.ca/construction43.html

http://sudburydivision.ca/construction47.html

Hey Marc,    Everyone has

Hey Marc,

Everyone has their methods, and there are different approaches for different situations, but here is what I did, which might give you some ideas.  I would echo Dave's advice in that you have solid benchwork on both ends (maybe even overdo it).  I would also echo Bruce's advice in that you get the straightest lumber for the bridge itself, age it (ie: store it in your layout room for a month, maybe more, before installing it), and build up the benchwork and bridge and everything before you lay track on it.  I didn't seal everything as Bruce mentioned (most if it was painted afterwards), but it is worth the time to seal everything before assembly. 

As Bruce mentioned, it is very important to secure the rails of the track to keep everything aligned (this was a failure with a liftout a family member put together).  Bruce's method has been used successfully by others.  I went a step further, and used a method I saw on an N-Track module with a lift up gate: I secured copper PC board to the wood, and soldered the rails to them.  Don't forget to cut a path in the PC board between rails so that you don't short things out. 

Above you see another trick that I picked up, I staggered the rail joints, so that only one wheel is over the gap at the same time, which smoothed things out very nicely.  Please excuse the sloppy look of the solder (it was cleaned up).  Later, guard rails were added (one step smaller in rail, IE use code 83 guardrail for code 100 main rail), and I topped the PC board off with some diamond plate patterned styrene to give it a more industrial look.  In between the tracks on the bridge, you see a small metal plate.  When the bridge is raised, a cabinet magnet, which is mounted to a block, which is then mounted on the ceiling, locks onto this magnet, and keeps it up.  I do not use the magnet to "hold" the bridge up.  The bridge is balanced so that it will stay up on it's own, but the magnet keeps it from being bumped down easily. 

For alignment, I used the tried-and-true V-block method for aligning the bridge.  Here the bridge is up:

And here the bridge is down.  You can see the MDF V-block that snuggly fits into the groove:

I also added a cabinet magnet and plate to keep the bridge secure in the down position.  This and the up-position magnets provides for one-handed operation up and down.  Plus, I added a micro-switch that is wired to a relay.  Most people will turn off power to the tracks approaching the bridge when the bridge is up, in order to stop trains from running off the edge, but for a consist of 3 sd40-2s in HO, your looking at 3 feet "buffer tracks", which I really couldn't do.  Instead, I isolated a foot (in one case only 6 inches) of buffer tracks, and wired up the relay so that it reverses the feed when the bridge is up.  That way, as soon as a loco enters the buffer zone, it causes a short, power is turned off to all of the tracks, and it really gets your attention.

On the hinge end, I used cabinet hinges, which allows a thick board to butt up flush and snug against the frame when closed.  This saves a lot of space for me, and made construction easier.  Here it is in the up position:

And here it is in the down position:

You can see how the bridge tracks clear the base tracks when the bridge is up, and line up nice and flush when the bridge is down.

Good luck!

Jon, ---jps

Instead of soldering

An option to solding track to nails or PC boards is to run rerailers (e.g. Atlas) across the future gap and gluing those down to the sub-roadbed.  You then cut through the rerailer and lightly file the cut ends to get a very slight bevel.

Dropgate

I posted something on this a few months ago but I notice that the number of postings is so vast that there'd be no way of finding it again.

I built the geriatric bridge on the club layout. It's really a section of layout in its own right in that it is about 18" wide, has 5 curved tracks on two levels and includes two bridges over a canal basin. The mainline has four parallel tracks and the branch is a few inches higher all on 4ft radius. In addition the bridge is counterbalanced with weights on the end of a rope which is at 45deg when the bridge is down which makes the bridge stable both in the vertical and horizontal positions as the point of equilibrium is halfway. The hinges are hidden in scenery so that the pin line is above the level of the branch rails.

You could describe it as solid and stiff PLUS being self aligning.

There are two joints of course. The end where the bridge lands has pattern makers dowels for location, a bolt for locking in position and a microswitch to cut track power for 8ft either side of the bridge. It was originally conceived with a locking lever frame with interlocks to lock out the signals when the bridge is unlocked but this was never implemented and the frame has been superseded. The tracks cross the track locally at right angles to the joint. This required cutting the joint at one end with a saw tooth pattern. I think that in future I'd welcome the angle rather like Jon's bridge except that I'd fit check rails to encourage the wheels away from the running rails at the joint. Having said that we have never had any running problems.

Incidentally the branch has about 6" fall over 25ft and it is a test of free running of stock to release a coach at the top, crossing the bridge at speed while rounding the 180deg 4' rad curve, continuing another 25ft back to the other end where it enters a tunnel with another 4' radius 180deg curve which dips under other tracks and the coach just appears at the tunnel exit. We've never had any derailments as a result of the bridge though I get nervous that a speeding coach could overturn.

Archie

JON, Great Post and Pics

Jon, really nice gate.  I was just working on my gate last night and it has a lot of the same elements as yours.  The one thing that you did, that I wish I did was to stagger the ends of the rails.  My gate drops down and can be found at the 4:38 mark in the following video.

I plan to do a longer video with more details of the finished gate.  A secure way to align the end when closed is key.  A power shut-off good.  Soldering the track to copper ties or a plate is good practice as well.

I incorporated a shock, like the ones found in vehicles to hold up the hood or hatch, to assist the bridge into place.

drawer slide lift gate

One layout with the drawer slide gate as described is Jim Provideza's Santa Cruz Northern. The gate is really slick and operates flawlessly! John Colley, Sonoma

Great stuff

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, some really helpful suggestions and examples of really nice work.  I should have better described the reasoning behind a drop gate instead of a swing or lift gate.  I will have an upper level crossing above the drop gate which will be a nod under (at least for me) that I think will interfere with a lift gate design at this location.  I am leaning toward having the upper level as a lift gate, and seeing what Jon has done with his lift gate makes me think his design will work extremely well on the upper deck. 

A swing gate might work but it would make a very tight space to enter the layout room.  Perhaps I'll get a local engineer I know with swing gate building experience on his layout to show me how it would work in that space.  The lower deck gate likely will stay open except during operating sessions when the main traffic will be ore trains from the South Main Mine to the smelter and back, as well as traffic to the thaw shed.  Both are discussed in my blog: South Main - https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/south-main-mine-mock-up-12199152 and Thaw Shed - https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/coming-at-it-from-another-direction-12199047 .  During operating sessions there would be no through traffic as this is internal trackage to the smelter.  I will use the continuous running feature for breaking in new locomotives as well as for visitors to "play trains". 

The rerailer idea is good except that I am using Code 70 rail so no rerailers available that I know of.  I am planning to use a similar method to Jon's gate for the track at the ends of the gate to ensure the track stays in alignment.  I think a fair bit of tweaking will be required to get it right. 

I'll take some photos tonight to show where I am at with the drop gate.  My main concern is alignment at both ends and having some kind of physical barrier in place when the gate is open to prevent a train from attempting to cross the open space - I have young kids and I know that will be done if I don't have something in place to prevent it from happening...

Marc Simpson 

Dropgate thus far

I took a few photos of the current version of the dropgate. Simple design and not too many parts to fail (hopefully).  I got this idea from Gary Hoover's article in the 2015 Great Model Railroads, so not too much original here, just an interpretation of an existing idea.  Now I have to figure out how to keep the trains from driving into the abyss if the gate is down. 

Overview of the gate, please excuse the mess in the background

 Latch mechanism to secure the gate in place

 Drop gate locked in place.  It should be easily adjusted if required.  

falling into the abyss

"Now I have to figure out how to keep the trains from driving into the abyss if the gate is down. "

You just need one or two sections of isolated track (actually one rail is sufficient) on either side of the drop gate (assuming 2 directional traffic). Two microswitches activated by the gate, provide power (or not) to the isolated sections.

I wish

I wish that this blog post had happened before I built a couple of failed bridges.. and finally put in a permanent one.

Still, I can look at it and think about possible future ideas.

Lift and drop gate article is in MR May 2014 pg 58...........

..........just now happened to leave the morning "office" and the mag I browsed was this one.  I had to read it a few times to understand how it works but finally did.  Seems a good idea if a bit complex.  I am pondering a gate situation on my own layout and have gone from an electrically powered slide up section with 4 drawer slides and wires and pulleys to a simple swing out gate.  Still pondering....................but will have to decide as the track laying gang is approaching the abyss!

Peter

Dropgate Video

I posted a much more detailed video on how I constructed my liftgate:

Muskoka Central drop bridge

Wow Steve, that is a great bridge and how to video.  I am not sure if I have enough room for a piston as I have my lower level staging tracks below the drop bridge, but will see if the clearances allow it.  I like the switch idea you have set up for both sides of the bridge.  I plan on running 3 unit consists for my road trains so a 3 foot dead zone would be appropriate when I have them orbiting the lower level.  Your system to keep everything aligned is much more elegant than mine, I used parts from the hardware store to get the same result.  I also have wood blocks at the end of the bridge and will be using PC board as well. 

I posted a blog entry about my interlocking system to keep trains from hitting the floor: https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/a-different-kind-of-interlocking-system-12199579 .  I like physical barriers.

Marc Simpson

Mount shock vertically

Marc, the shock absorber could be mounted vertically.  It could also be a little off to the side. If you have room for the bridge to drop over the staging tracks, you probably have room for the shock.  Looking at your blog post, I think your bridge is light enough that the gas strut is not needed.

Steve, that is a very clever use of over-center to keep the bridge open.