Need advice on a folding section or movable section of a layout

Hinged down work,  if you add 2" to the side of the existing fixed table then you could hinge the support legs so the fold against the table to drop the leaf.  Aligning the tracks should be fairly easy.  You may need to cut two pieces if your not able to line up track joints with the seam of the drop leaf.  Add an extra tie to the cut piece to keep them inline

@AFrame posted:

Hinged down work,  if you add 2" to the side of the existing fixed table then you could hinge the support legs so the fold against the table to drop the leaf.  Aligning the tracks should be fairly easy.  You may need to cut two pieces if your not able to line up track joints with the seam of the drop leaf.  Add an extra tie to the cut piece to keep them inline

Thanks, any benefits to hinged down over hinged up? I was thinking I could use the walls as support if I hinge up and bolt 2x4's as cleats to the walls as a brace/shelf.

I have hinged up and they work well.  I think the trade off would be what works for your space.  My hinged up are really more like 2' wide bridges over center aisle.  There is a great description of hinged layout sections in the book Building a Layout available in the web store of the OGR here.  It has detailed descriptions of building both hinged up and hinged down sections.  May be helpful in decided how to go.

@samdjr74 posted:

Thanks, any benefits to hinged down over hinged up? I was thinking I could use the walls as support if I hinge up and bolt 2x4's as cleats to the walls as a brace/shelf.

If you hinge down there is always the chance of snagging scenery when passing through.

Thanks all, if anyone has some pictures they could post of their hinged sections that would be great!

@BobbyD there won't be much scenery so that shouldn't be an issue. Typical standard gauge layout for me, which is mostly flat, but you raise a great point, thanks!

@Robbin, thanks, I'll check out that book, I might even have a copy in my stash.

@samdjr74 posted:

Thanks all, if anyone has some pictures they could post of their hinged sections that would be great!

@BobbyD there won't be much scenery so that shouldn't be an issue. Typical standard gauge layout for me, which is mostly flat, but you raise a great point, thanks!

Even snagging on the track as you pass.

For fifteen years, I installed temporary Holiday O-gauge layout in the living/dining area of our house. In the later years, I moved the bigger and better layouts into our attached two-stall garage. But I had to "give back" the garage space after the holidays.

I designed and installed -- with lots of help from family members and train hobby friends -- four lift-up hinged layout platforms. I attached four platforms of 4x8 carpet-covered plywood hinged to 1-foot wide "shelves" mounted along the north and south walls of the garage. I used those shelf areas for structures and scenery - the south shelf for a downtown area and civic center and the north shelf for a farm and suburban area. I installed two trolley lines for bump-and-go trolley action on those two shelves. Those simple runs avoided derailments from an  attempt to connect the two shelf tracks to the large T-shaped platform at the center of the garage.

To operate the layout for holiday visitors, I lowered the four platforms, which were supported at their interior edges by fold-down legs. The transformation could be done in less than five minutes.  After the holiday operating sessions, the hinged platforms could be raised up and out of the way until the following holiday season.

Operating/storage tip:  If you make hinged fold-up layout platforms, make the fold-up angle greater than 90 degrees so that the platforms will stay against the wall by their weight and gravity -- and not fall back down.

At the center of the garage space, I installed a large T-shaped platform with two ramped-up levels and a subway level underneath. Lets of action, with up to five trains running simultaneously with TMCC.  Along the east wall of the garage, the previous owner of the house installed a dry bar with an 18-feet-long row of low-level cabinets. I used that cabinet top space for another trolley run along a busy  commercial district.

Subsequent medical issues wiped out the possibility of future Christmas layouts, so I dismantled and recycled those hinged platform into sections for a local club layout.  I enjoyed being Santa's helper for many years and serving as his ambassador to many visiting families and their kids.  Meanwhile, my wife Carol prepared a holiday spread of food and snacks for visitors. For them, a visit to Mottler Station was a memory-maker with food, fun, and fabulous trains!

Some photos attached.

Mike Mottler    LCCA 12394