Hi Guys, thanks for the feedback so far, here are the photos I should have posted int he first place!
Firstly the hand turned winch which is bolted through the garage wall and out the other side, this then leads up the wall and turns at the pulley to head towards the centre of the room, this then pulls on a rope section which is 2 ropes attached either side of the board that come um the walls and over another pullet each to meet in the centre.
I have also attached 4 safety chains which when raised the board can be hooked to meaning it has 8 attachment points and no danger of falling, this also helps it hold its square while up in the roof for longer periods.
The board itself is 12 by 8, with the central operating well.
As you can see no space either side but the far end can be accessed by opening the door.
To answer some of the questions from above.
This seems to be the logical solution to my issues and I think multi level is the only way I can fit it all in. I very much like the idea of a station one side being the focus, then the other side with the industry and the the passenger line being more background, hopefully disguising the generally circular format. I had thought about having the backscene on the garage door end much further in and sending the trains into this to then reappear at the the other end, effectively making it more of a horseshoe shape.
In terms of era, its not so much I don't care, I just don't know enough to get it right, I only want to run Steam and Diesel, so I suppose I have to push towards 50's 60's?
I'd love to make a more realistic layout in the future but as this is my first project, and also a rented house I just want something to get my trains on and learn the ropes as it were.
Originally the board was far too heavy duty, I could walk over any section of it which is massive overkill and made it very heavy, it has since been on a huge diet and I can lift it from either end myself, the system will cope with around half a ton, to be honest I don't really know what a layout ends up weighing but I assume I will be fine.
Ok so I forgot to mention this in the write up:
The board has to go up to a certain level so that when the garage door is opened it rolls inwards and comes just under the board, can't avoid this and the Mrs won't allow the garage to stay shut forever.
The whole board has a clearance of around 24cm as it is, but as you can see from the roof there are only beams running along certain points and the clearance for anything not directly under these can easily be another 30cm. I have also made the board narrow enough so the backscenes on the long edges will fall inside the roof beams and therefore can be the larger height, the end backscenes would have to have cutouts for the beams if they were to go above 24cm.
I'm all for off the wall suggestions, the current layout is off the roof so it seems apt.
So with the above are you suggesting all 4 lines run together round the layout or all 4 meet at the station and it becomes and passenger/goods station?
Thanks for the feedback, I really needed someone else to throw ideas at me.
Mike