Model Railroading > 80 years old, time for the duckunder to go

Tips or links appreciated,TIA, Ed

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

Ed,

I got rid of my duckunder at 50, it was a good move. If you're wanting advice on how to go about it, I think we're going to need to see your trackplan along with all access points into the room. 
Good luck, post photos!

 Pilotblue, I may be rethinking to redo into a walk around or going through a wall without ducking under, p.s. when I did my tables I put them on wheels. (when my wife was around "we need to rearrange the furniture")

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

Ed:

If you look up model railroad lift gate, model railroad lift-up, model railroad swing gate, model railraod drop-down, etc.. there are plenty of how-to videos on the Y tube.

Victor

Mine is very simple, it is just a narrow piece of plywood with a section of flex track that rests on the framework of either side and connects to the track with regular rail joiners.  My layout is an "around the walls" in a spare bedroom in the basement.  Once I am in the room I simply attach one side of the track, set the "bridge" in place then attach the other side of the track, which is easy since I can just bend the flex track.  I have no issues with electrical continuity since it is not quite 3 feet long.  Not fancy but effective.

My previous layout in a Town House 10x18' basement was a duckunder but the layout was 2 feed wide where the duckunder was, so a lift out bridge was not possible.  Forunately my current layout I could design fully with no duckunder.  But you have to design a layout such that a lift bridge would work from the start.

Cheers,
Jim

I'm 79 and had the same issue. I found an office chair with rollers with a height adjustment and just scoot myself under the framework.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/25 13:08 by Cupolau.

Cupolau Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm 79 and had the same issue. I found an office
> chair with rollers with a height adjustment and
> just scoot myself under the framework.

Shop chairs like mechanics use would work too and you can find them in places like a NAPA Auto Parts store.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cupolau Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'm 79 and had the same issue. I found an
> office
> > chair with rollers with a height adjustment and
> > just scoot myself under the framework.
>
> Shop chairs like mechanics use would work too and
> you can find them in places like a NAPA Auto Parts
> store.  

My wife got me one of those off of Amazon.  I use it a lot.

When I must work on my 58” high layout’s underside I use Cupolau’s recommendation. Twenty years ago when I began building my current and final layout I knew it must not have a duck under. I thought about how I most enjoy my layout and that just watching trains in moving repetition was not for me. So no ovals. Mine is a double ended yard with one end going around the wall of my railroad room and into a loop return and back to the yard. The opposite end of the yard forms a switching lead and more.

Cupolau Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm 79 and had the same issue. I found an office
> chair with rollers with a height adjustment and
> just scoot myself under the framework.

I'm 80 and was thinking of getting rid of the duckunder too.  My physical limitations have improved to the point I can crawl in and get up again, but not as easily as just a couple years ago.  A mechanic's chair with casters sound like a good option.  I hate the idea of a lift section because it would change the layout and scenery so much.  
Still enjoying old age.

Gerry

This is a 36" "Duck Beater" as boilingman calls it on my Fubar Flats layout. 

When down there is a 1/16 to 1/8" gap in the rail ends.

There are no issues of picking a rail end, even in the Wye switch at the top right.

---

SP4360 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is a 36" "Duck Beater" as boilingman calls it
> on my Fubar Flats layout. 
>
> When down there is a 1/16 to 1/8" gap in the rail
> ends.
>
> There are no issues of picking a rail end, even in
> the Wye switch at the top right.

This is sorta what I need, maybe 24 inches wide though.

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

I am working on a 33 in. long by 20 in. wide drop-down gate right now. I couldn't do a lift-up gate, because it is on the bottom level of a two-deck railroad. Like SP4360, I will have some turnouts on it but also two parallel railroads on different grades!

I've had plans of motorizing the decks up and down with telescopic, metal, square tubing and a hoist, but that is on hold right now. (Motorized hoists are affordable now at $200 or less, but make sure everything is safe before hoisting things above your head and leaving them there!.)  As of right now, my top deck is a  nod-under.

A disadvantage of a drop-down gate is that, unless you can move it more than 90 degrees when open, any scenery lessens the width of the opening. Another disadvantage can be the weight. You could potentially drop it. I may get some shocks for mine. But the hinges can easily be put on the bottom side without using cabinet latches or any other special work. I am going to use two paino hinges.

I couldn't do a swing-out gate either, because of clearance problems on both sides of the layout. If I didn't have turnouts on the movable section, I could have built a lift-up gate that splits in the middle (yes, three joints, but I'm confident of my work.) 

Victor Baird



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/25 15:35 by wabash2800.

Duck under?  Depends on the height maybe. My N scale is 53 inches high. At 84 I am not planning on a liftout.
RB

It's getting late in the game for me, but because my nod-under is used to access the washer and dryer, I have been known to joke that if I hook up, it's going to be a petite, Asian women that can walk under the layout there to do the laundry.  But are Asian women quite docile like often characterized? Not necessarily. I worked with a number of them in a warehouse, and I noted they were quite bossy with their husbands. 

Victor Baird