From the very beginning I was not totally convinced I could live with a lift out section as part of my railroad. My concerns grew more as I made the decision to make the lift out section semi-permanent (See Previous Post). My thought a month ago was to "live with it" as a fixed lift out section and just duck under it to move around the layout. This past weekend, I decided I had had enough and completely dismantled the lift out section and re-built it as a true lift out.
The idea of using magnets to secure the ends of the section didn't work out like I had hoped. The magnets are gone and have been replaced with two 1x3's that have been notched to form bridge seats. I have further stabilized the section with two small dead bolts at each end. The section will not move and should be capable of holding the proper alignment, but will be easy to remove and store away when I am working on the railroad. This much is done!
I then laid the track back on the lift out section and thoroughly tested it. I have secured the rails on the tangent end of the lift out section using CA and spikes. The end that falls in the middle of the curve will take a bit more work. I did some research and found a link to a website. The website gives an idea to use a printed circuit board cut into "railroad ties" and mounted to the roadbed. The rail is then soldered to the circuit board. Click HERE to view the page. I am in the process of completing this process and hope to finish in the next couple of days. Once things are complete, I will post some pictures of the project.
That's it!
Scott
Looks like a good plan. A duck under is rough going for some of us!
ReplyDeleteTom