At the opposite end of my railway room from Newton Purcell there is the door.

I have 3 sets of lines to get across the door: the main circuits on base level, the descending line from Newton Purcell to those circuits and the branch from Newton Purcell climbing up to Brackley Road. So that's 3 different levels, on curves. The easiest way would be a simple duck-under. I have set the boards reasonably high, so it wouldn't be the end of the world. However the railway room is also the house store. Most people would call it a garage!! So I have to be able to get stuff in and out easily. The only answer is a lifting bridge.

I couldn't hinge it at the base level (which would be easiest) because the track beds for the upper levels would prevent it from lifting. The hinges have to be at the level of the highest track so there are two posts with the hinges at the top. The bridge has to close at the lowest level meaning the flap is L shaped. To take pressure off the right angle joint at the bottom of the posts I thought of adding two triangles of MDF. I decided to make the one nearest the door into a rectangle to also prevent any stock falling and dropping off the edge. It still holds the right angle firm. I was not able to use such a bracket on the other hinged post because I had to set it inboard from the edge of the baseboard to allow the curves. Originally I had planned it to be outboard to make it as stable as possible. The hinged post now sits between the circuit and falling gradient.

I have screwed a sheet of MDF below the framework of the flap to keep it square and present a nicer finish when the bridge is up.

I have put two brass pattern makers dowels onto the fixed closing edge support and sockets on the bottom closing edge of the bridge to securely locate that end in the horizontal plane. The vertical plane will be secured by two small shoot bolts. I will use them to make/break the common return to all tracks on the bridge and a couple of feet each side. This means that unless the two bolts are locking the bridge in place no train can run on or towards the bridge. I would hate to see a train run headlong into the void. Tracks will be soldered to copper clad strips on each side of the gaps at both ends of the bridge.

The outside trackbed is the branch and will be at the top level. The middle lines are the circuits at the base level. The inside lines are the lines from Newton Purcell to the right, falling down to the left.

I still have the rest of the boards from here round to the dumbbell board to build, but that should be straight forward. At last one of the hardest construction projects is built.

Rich