Recently retired, decided to get back to my trains. Building a layout in a U shape 12x12x12 4 ft wide. I am building an 18 inch wide bridge on the open end for access and operating. Very proud of myself so far getting it to fit perfectly. Used a piano style hinge for swing up. Then reality set in. On the hinge side to lift the gate open you can’t mount the tracks close enough for operation. If you put the track ends close they clash when going up. What am I missing? Can anyone help? Thanks, Lane
Move the hinge pivot point to a position a few inches above the rail running level.
As Rob says. Pivot point at least as high as the top of the rails. You’ll probably have to modify the piano hinge to accommodate the change or change out with different hinges all together…
Bruce
Another possibility is to open the bridge by swinging down instead of up. This gets the hinge out of sight but requires some sort of bolt to hold the bridge up when it is closed.
I would suggest these hinges, I installed them on my layout in '06, and they have worked flawlessly since. Have subsequently referred and/or installed on 4 other layouts. And they are inexpensive.
http://www.hardwaresource.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=6630
