Lift out or duck under?

[soo]

Here is the current lift out on Jeff's layout.







  Works great. I used printed PC board ties for the joints available from American Tie and Timber. You will want the GM008. They come in sets of four,,so you can solder two ties to each side of the gap. I think they work great.

http://www.americantieandtimber.com/index.html

 So there ya have it. I personally had a duck under on my last layout. Dont know how many times I stood up too early. Your mileage may vary.

Adios Wyatt

[Scottl]

This last example is what I plan to use.  I will probably leave it in place semi-permanently, but having the ability to remove for work sessions is a good solution for my needs.

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

Just looked back through the thread and no one asked this question, what is it blocking? Is this just an entrance into the room? Is this something operators will have to navigate a lot?

Phil

I covered that in my original post. It is the entrance to the layout. You can see it bottem left of this layout plan.



I do like the ideas I will look them all over and see what I can use on my own. The piston video made me laugh, that is a little over kill for N-Scale but is fine for those "Horrible Oversized" layouts  .

[conrail98]

Ok, I know you had said entrance but wasn't sure if that was just entrance to the room, layout, both, everyone gets inside to operate, etc. The funny part is during ops sessions, we don't always use the piston bridge, except for a few guys. Of course, I've left it up to switch the next town up the line only to have someone lower it and me not realize it and run the loco right into the peg stops and then I wonder why the coupler isn't working anymore,  ,

Phil

[randgust]

I have a duckunder, with 48" x 48" w. clear, and it's tight when you get in there.

It's a pain.   I'm 57, no back problems.   But I'll admit that the low-rolling office chair is a godsend, because my main workbench is in there too.  Instead of crawling in there and sitting in the workbench chair, I just roll out of the entire layout, no problem.     So if that's a hard floor I think that the way to go is a liftout AND the rolling chair, you'll take it out only when you need to, and there are times when you're in and out and in and out and you're not operating, that just taking it out and leaving it out would be a nice option.

[R L Smith]

I have a duck-under at the end of a "trapped" aisle that gives me easy access back to the main aisle.  I use it all the time as it saves steps.  It is 48" and the span is 18" deep (yes, I have stood up too soon once or twice).  I'm 53 and fairly tall, but there have been a couple of guests who are larger than me who couldn't use it without getting down on their hands and knees to crawl under.  Any future layout I build will be higher off the floor, and this is one of the reasons why.

I echo randgust's suggestion that a rolling chair for easier access during op sessions and a lift-out for occasional maintenance is a good compromise.

rls