I’m looking for advice about building a layout with pulleys, stored at the ceiling, then lowered for use. My home has no attic, a basement devoted to a rental apartment and limited space elsewhere for achieving a simple plan with broad curves for HO passenger equipment. But there is a room with a high (112”) ceiling and space for, say, a 6X10 table. I have built a somewhat smaller layout with 2” foam board and wood frame that can be taken down (based on a January-February 2001 MR article), but it takes some effort and more than one person to do it. I have read general references to the concept, but nothing very specific. I would think such a small, lightweight structure without a motor, that could be raised and lowered by one person, would work. Can anyone give advice about this, including warnings of disaster, detail about how best to hang it from a ceiling, lowering the platform safely, etc.?
I’d imagine you’d have to find a way to keep it level during operation and storage - which can be tricky with pulleys. You’d basically have to set up each pulley so that they have to wind and unwind uniformly at the same rate at the same time and their stops would have to be set up to stop with the layout exactly level.
Considering the effort, it might be easier to make a lightweight layout that fits on the back of a closet door, and build it from the beginning to hang there when not in use (or something similar).
Welcome to the forum. This has been discussed many times here. Using the “Search our Community” box at the lower right for “pulley” will yield many threads. Be sure to select (Entire Community) in the drop down box below where you enter the word.
Here’s a couple for starters, which include suggestions, photos, and published references.
For raising and lowering the table I would get a old ratchet crank that came off an old boat trailer. They can be found at wreckers and boat repair shops.
As far as the table, I would put together a table with 1" x 4"s and foam. Use lap joints to put the 1" x 4"s together and the flex of the table will be kept to a minimum. Use eye bolts on the corners and/or sides so the cable can be unclipped when lowered. A very thin cable is all that is needed and it is inexpensive at Home Depot or other stores.
This table in the foreground is 18’ x 6’. Two of us carried it around and into the house with no difficulty. A table of this size could be lifted quite easily with a hoist and I would use cables attached at six points.
I had considered that concept at one point but also considered building a layout that folds up to a wall like a Murphy bed. If you used the short dimension for the hinge end you would still be able to access the two long sides of the layout. I subsiquently moved to a larger house and did not have to use either concept but think they could both be workable.
John Armstrong’s `Murphy Bed and Credenza’ (Creative Layout Design) dealt with a way to have your fold-up, plus a yard that stays level (and a way to cover the yard that won’t allow junk to accumulate on the cover.)
As for a suspended layout, there is a simple hoist arrangement that allows elevating the entire thing level. The best places for attaching the hoist cables are the same places that are best for legs under an L-girder framework - 1/5 in from the ends and edges. With four hoist points, six pulleys (one a double) and counterweight you can raise the layout to the ceiling (spaced off with a couple of tall smokestacks, hilltops or multi-story buildings) or lower it it a convenient height - waist high for tracklaying and scenery work, chest high for operation, head clearance while seated or standing for wiring and subterranean mechanical linkages. During tracklaying and operation it would be a good idea to have the weight of the layout resting on legs. If it is free-hanging, an accidental hip-nudge would register about eight on the (model) Richter scale.
The suspension is based on T-shaped cable connections. First, two main hoist cables, parallel to each other, each connect two hoist points through two pulleys (each) directly above the hoist points. Then, two additional cables are connected to the main hoist cables at the center point between the hoist pulleys. One (the winch cable) runs from the farther hoist
I used to have a 6’ by 6’ layout suspended from the ceiling of an occupied bedroom. The compact size was necessary to clear the bedroom furniture when the layout was lowered. A central control pit was used both to place the operator within easy reach of the entire layout as well as clear a ceiling fan. My suspension system went through a few evolutions before I got it dead nuts reliable. I first tried a hand cranked trailer winch but it took waaaayyyy too many turns on the crank to drop the layout from just beneath the 8’ ceiling down to a height of about 40". I eventually replaced the hand cranked winch with a 440 pound rated electric winch from Harbor Freight Tools. The electric winch could raise or lower the layout in about 20 seconds. I mounted the winch low on one wall of the room. The single winch cable attached to the center of a horizontal aluminum bar about 4’ long. Two smaller cables attached to each end of this bar and ran up to pulleys attached to the ceiling and down to the corners of the layout. I first ran the cables from one end of the aluminum bar directly to the corners on the same side of the layout. However, I ran into several problems keeping the layout level. I eventually discovered that criss-crossing two of the cables so that each pair of lift cables running to diagonally opposite corners of the layout completely solved all leveling problems. The final suspension system worked well enough that I could leave all rolling stock on the tracks and none would derail during raising or lowering of the layout. The biggest drawback to this layout was the need to install removable legs everytime I wanted to work on or operate the layout (it would swing around too much without the legs, especially during work sessions). While I would now recommend permanently attached folding legs, my layout had removable legs that slipped into wooden sockets and were pinned in place using a large nail.
Oh, I forgot to mention that suspended layouts are very easy to wire. Just set the layout to a comfortable height (either sitting or standing) and go to it. However, this is probably the ONLY aspect of a suspended layout I miss.
If you still want to suspend your layout, I’d like to suggest a really slick way to attach your lift cables to the layout frame. I used an open grid frame with 2" by 2" blocks glued into the corners where the cables would attach. I drilled vertical holes straight through these blocks to thread the cables through. I then fought with various methods of anchoring the cables (all of which required repeated adjusting due to slippage) until I discovered these little spring loaded cones. You thread the cable through the cone in one direction then slide the cone up the cable until it hits the underside of the mounting block (with the layout at its operating height). These cones would not slip back down the cables no matter how hard I pulled. A special tool must be inserted into the cone should you ever need to release the cable. The packaging these cones came in stated “not for overhead use” but not only did they support my fully scenicked layout but could also handle the added 205 pound weight of myself hanging from the open grid frame. I wish I could remember what these things were called but I do remember finding them with the cables and pulleys at OSH.
