I just started working on the under table staging for my layout, and was wondering how low you guys have made yours?
Right now I have mine set at 12" from the bottom of the plywood of the layout top, which comes out to 9" from the bottom of the frame of the layout top. Do you think 9" is enough to reach in and re-rail or adjust anything that may happen? I want enough room to fix problems yet not so much that I need to make a large helix to get there.
I think it depends on the scale involved. Our hands are pretty much a fixed size, thus N-scale clearances (ie. lifting up a car that is on a track behind other cars) will be easier than with HO sized equipment. My staging is 1’ 6" deep and clears the upper deck 1x4 gridwork by almost 9 inches… I think that is bare minimum for me.
I’m in N scale.
That sounds right. I don’t see why even 4" of clearance would be a bad thing in HO or in N, provided it was a staging yard about 3" deep with only one track, and you only had to bend at the waist to get at it. Once you add a second track, though, now your whole hand has to get over the cars on the first track to get at what rests, or is derailed, on the one beyond it. Also, if you have to get on your knees to get the elbows lined up, maybe a greater separation between levels is called for.
However, the lower you go, the longer your access ramp will have to be, or the steeper if length is a problem. It’s all about compromises. Personally, I would try to get close to 12", but keep it a bit under that if possible to control the spiral or grade length down to it. If the ramp is more than a certain proportion of the nether reaches of the main surface, it will cause you to have to make staging tracks that are not straight, but curved to get around to the other side of the benchwork. I would favour straight staging, or perhaps a diamond ladder with approaches from both ends.
Last year we added an under-layout 7-track storage yard to our HO scale club layout. We allowed 7 inches clearance between the shelf and bottom of the layout deck, and this has proven to be just barely adequate to reach derailed equipment.
No matter how well you design and build under-layout storage, derailments are going to happen so you need to allow for reaching over storage tracks to retrieve or re-rail items. We sometimes have fairly large lizards get into the clubhouse and derail items, which is something that we had not considered.
I recently finished the lower portion of my layout that will be the staging area. Since my staging area is 4 1/2’ wide (I can reach in from both sides) I found that if I wanted to reach a car in the middle of the staging area I needed more than 9" in height to remove / replace it without disrupting other cars on the other tracks.
I ended up dropping the lower bench another 12". What I ended up with was 21" between the upper and lower levels which actually gave me approximately 17 1/2" clearance. With this much space I can reach in without disturbing anything else other than the car I want.
The down side is that I have to go 1100" to achieve a 2% grade. To do this I’m running the connecting track around the entire layout. Luckily one time around is 1150".
I think the clearance needed depends on the depth and the height of the main level. If the main level is 24" wide and 60" from the floor then it should be fairly easy to reach the cars on a second level that is 12" lower.
If the main level is 30" wide and 40" from the floor a 12" clearance may be a challenge.
Just some food for thought.
Bill
Our HO club has about 18" over the staging yard. Back when we were actually using it, 18" wasn’t quite enough. People were always banging their knuckles on the benchwork overhead and knocking cars over. We had the tracks spaced out for wide fingers too. The less overhead clearance the more space is needed between tracks. We also put lights in, it was way too dark hidden under everything else.
Thanks for the replies!
I should have mentioned I’m in HO. It seems that 9-12" is the about minimum usable clearance. My main level is 3’ deep with access to only one side. The cross braces for the main level run perpendicular to the staging track so there is some room to lift up into the bracing. I will have to throw some cars on tracks and try to grab them at various places to see if I should go a little lower.
Good point! I never would have thought of that. [tup]
I have never really had a staging yard but almost all layouts have some kind of hidden trackage which requires access. HO (freight) cars are approximately 2¼ inches high; if you are only going to have to reach with your fingers and wrist then I would go for a minimum of five inches. If the depth of your staging yard/hidden trackage would require you to reach in up to your elbow I would add at least another two inches.