Gate Revisited

 

Modeling the AT&SF - D&RGW Joint Line through Colorado Springs from Milepost 70 to Milepost 80 circa 1978-1979

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Post 24: Gate Revisited

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As I reported last time, mainline benchwork is now complete all the way around the layout room but I still needed to build a temporary bridge atop the swing gate. Doing that forced me to revisit the gate and finally resolve how to reliably align and secure it when operating yet make it easy to open and close for hassle free access in and out of the layout room.

I described building the swing gate in my second post to this blog way back in November of 2023. Back then I left unresolved how the gate would be opened and closed easily while ensuring that the track would be properly aligned each time and every time, kicking the can down the road 'til Later.

(click on images to enlarge)

Well, Later finally arrived: it was high time to figure it out and make it happen. And it proved easier than I had feared and just goes to show that if you cogitate on a problem long enough—not worry and fret about it, just cogitate on it while you're busy working on other things, sometimes necessity really can be the mother of invention.

Along the way I've contemplated various ways to install a simple slide bolt, but it had to have very little play and be accessible from both sides. There are garden gate latches that are dually accessible, but I didn't find them to be that reliable or accurate. Finally, I looked at using an ordinary passage hand set door knob—I had built the gate more or less as a hollow-core door, after all. Unfortunately the gate was way too thick, plus there was too much structure inside near the end where the knob would need to be.

Then it dawned on me that I might be able to sister in a block on the underside of the end to use to mount the hand set in. I even happened to have the perfect stock on hand for the job: a cut-off piece of 1 1/2 inch Beech butcher block countertop. After cutting the block to size and proper angle to fit the gate I drilled it to fit a standard hand set and latch bolt on the drill press and morticed it for the faceplate, just as on a standard door. Then it was clamped up and securely blocked and pocket screwed in place, and the handset installed.

The gate would be aligned when it was pressed firmly against the jamb, so all I needed was to install a block on the back side of the jamb with a hole to receive the latch bolt and add the striker plate. Locating the edge of the striker was critical: too far in and the latch bolt would not engage reliably, too far out and there would be too much play for reliable track alignment. I'm glad to say that I got it exactly right: the gate closes without needing to lean in on it, and there is no wiggle room once the latch extends and engages the striker plate, just as required for reliable train movement. Operation is smooth as silk with positive engagement every time.

Once the gate was fully operational a temporary bridge was easy enough to install using a length of 3/4 x 3 poplar trim board, with one end trimmed to a 9° angle for a keystone mate with the 3/4 plywood at the end of the staging yard baseboard. The angle allows clearance when swinging the gate open and closed, plus it crosses the track at more or less 90° where it curves onto the gate/bridge, meaning no sharp pointed rail ends.

Next step, lay cork roadbed and rail! 

Well, that and figure out reliable, automatic electrical connections for power and signals across the gate. And a fail-safe power kill-switch for the approaches.

There's always something more to do.

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