Show me your walk thru bridges

I would be interested also as our club has the same type of issue.

Quick to latch / unlatch and it pulls the sides together. Could be better disguised and someday maybe.....

 

Cars,trains and pedestrians.

Piano-hinged and Transom Catch fastened to adjustable keepers.

Jim Barrett's idea.

 

I control the gaps by controlling the humidity. Although the lumber is recycled from a 1997 layout and should have a low moisture content it expands upon high humidity. I try to keep the humidity around 50-55%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

I don't have a close-up a spring loaded Transom Catch but you can see them fairly well on the drop section backside in some '90s photos. It also shows the homemade manual release arrangement made up of stuff from Lowes's and a bike shop brake cable[won't stretch]. The catches come from old line hardware stores or specialty furniture hardware distributors.

 

The adjustable door strike plate keepers show up pretty well.

 

Jim Barrett did an OGR Magazine article on the "Dropgate" or Drop Section many years ago. A few years ago he did Backshop #11 DVD illustrating how to build it.

A couple year ago I saw a walk thru module that eliminated the issue.

It has a 1 X 6 crossing the gap on the floor and a 2 X 4 across the top at 6' 6"

Yes, It's A door frame. The Lift bridge stays in it and they never have any trouble.

Dewey,

Thats what I was looking for!

 

Mike

Excellent solution to the problem!

We have a 4 foot walk-through section on our modular club setup, we used 3/8" Lexan and an Atlas bridge on hinges with large pins to align the track when the bridge is down.  For a modular setup, you need a very rigid structure, we have 3/4" plywood on the front and back in one piece to maintain the dimensions.  A microswitch with a 15A relay and some creative wiring disconnects the adjacent module power when the bridge is up to prevent any accidents.  It requires no latches or special alignment, we just lift the bridge to walk under, and lower it when we're through, the alignment of the tracks is right on when the bridge is back down.

 

I'll try to get some pictures when we unload the modules, right now it's buried in the back of the trailer.

Here is a picture of our walk thru module.

 

any update?

I'm not sure this is exactly what you have in mind but I will offer it up.  The entire scenery below is a removable "pallet"- the motel and the restaurant to its left are 36" long and this entire 36 inch wide by 32 inch deep section lifts out: you can see a seam running down the wall behind it: that is a door into the storage space of my attic.  It takes me about 15 minutes to remove this, though.  I have to take up die-cast cars and motorcycles and other loose things, un-clip ten wires (there are three tracks and two lanes of 'Streets that cross this) and remove six screws that keep it in place. 

 

 

 

Still waiting for the weather to give us a break so we can unload.  It better happen soon, as we have an open house on the 22nd and we need to get everything together!

 

Yeah, weather or not, we've got to unload the mod sections this weekend, including the new lift-up bridge.

You could also get some "casket locks".  All that is visible is a small hole on the top.

 

They are the type of latch used on the LCCA Fastrack modules.  Available from a variety of sources, you can see what they look like at the LCCA Fastrack module website.

 

They draw the sides together as you tighten them with an allen wrench.

 

Ed

This is an angled lift-out bridge in front of my train room door.  It is positioned by two support blocks and they are "height" adjustable.  Power plugs are on either side of lift out bridge.  I cut my Lionel FasTrack on an angle to match bridge.  When in place, the tether plugs are hidden under bridge.  I run TMCC and have no power drops in bridge area.

 

Steve, Lady and Tex