If you need one, it might reduce your stress too.
I will now share my experience which illustrates the importance, if necessary, of having some form of an access hatch.
If my memory serves me correctly, I built most of my layout in or about 1998. Assuming that is accurate, my layout is now about 24 years old.
For the 1st 23 years, I needed no access hatch. That is because I had an around the walls layout between 3 to 4 feet wide, enabling me to reach everything with the help of a foot stool and an approximately 6 foot long grabber. And, where the layout is 4 feet wide, I left 9 inches of space between the back of the plywood board and the wall, so I could crawl under the table and squeeze through that 9 inches of space. [Fortunately, I am relatively flexible and not overweight.]
However, last year I went boat and barge crazy, water modeling crazy and Plasticville crazy. In doing so, I added a substantial layout addition/extension to accommodate this craziness. What used to be an aisle has become what I thought would be a removable river. I needed the river to be removable so I could reach otherwise impossible to reach places on the layout.
In essence, my plan was a good one because the removableness of the river was going to be my access hatch.
For about 10 to 12 months, there was no urgent need to remove the removable river, but in the back of my mind, I was thinking that with all the scenicking and decorating I have done on the river, it was going to be a big PIA to remove it.
Today, I found out I was right about that.
Although my plan or idea of a removable river was good, the execution of that idea was not so good.
The photos I will share in a few minutes will illustrate the above.
The good news is I managed, after a couple of hours of hard work under the train table. to move the river enough to create a workable access hatch. The bad news is I created a huge mess in doing so, and to move that river was, indeed, one big PIA!
Next, I will post a few photos, after which I will continue this saga. LOL, Arnold
