What do folks consider to be the minimum clearance for hidden track? I have a two track loop under a stairway, with a 5 track staging yard underneath. Neither will have any scenery, they are just hidden tracks and storage. How much clearance overhead?
Have enough room to get your hand in there in case there are derailments. If there are going to be switches make sure that you have room for the motors and cars to pass through. If there are going to be switches you might consider using devices to move the motor to an accessible area using some type of linkage. I have 10 inches between levels and can get get my head in the space to do any work on the bottom of the upper level ( and I have a small head).
Ach… LIONS are getting old in their old age. Him has 12" clearance between the bottom deck and the middle deck. As designed, this was supposed to be storage and was built before the middle deck was installed.
Then LION changed his mind and pulled out all of the storage in favor of a four track mane lion. It was difficult even with the LION seated in a chair in the isle. Some stretches he had to solder the tracks together and slide them in. Even now they are not nailed down. Him cannot get in there to nail them, but they work ok.
Bottom LION: Give yourself as much space as you possibly can. Unless of course your cat is qualified in railroad maintenance.
In our church the heating pipes were laid on the ground and a floor built over them. Repairing them was north of impossible and a pain in the posterior regions. When we renovated the church we brought in back hoes and dug six foot deep trenches for the plumbing. You cannot stand up in the pipe chase, but you can crawl in there and work on the pipes if you have to. BTW: Asbestos abatement was impressive.
ROAR
I have two hidden tracks on my layout. I access them from below through some access holes if I need too. We used a NMRA gauge to check the clearances while laying out the track plan, If you don’t have a NMRA gauge you should get one. (very useful tool)
Thayne,
I presume that you won’t be trying to reach in to get stuff unless there is a derailment?? I use 7.5" clearance and it works fine.
Guy
On a fairly important piece of my netherworld the clearance is 75mm - about 1mm short of the height of an NMRA HO standards gauge. (I model in 1:80, but the NMRA clearances are a bit generous for my prototype.) This isn’t just a length of single track, it’s the passenger staging area. And just to add another knot to the bind, it’s actually BETWEEN the main `C act like L’ girders.
So, how is it accessed? In the event of an [oops] the entire yard, 400mm wide and three meters long, can be lowered, level like an elevator, far enough to give plenty of `reach in and fix it’ room. If more serious track maintenance is required, the yard can be removed from the vertical slides and taken to a worktop.
If you can’t raise the bridge, lower the river.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - unconventionally)