Model Railway Forum

My rebuilding of my layout with additional baseboards has reached the door. I’m at a bit of a loss as to how to connect the two ends. It’s made more complicated by the door being inward opening against the adjacent wall.One way would be to remove the door completely and build a lifting or lift out section (like many of us my days of comfortably ducking under are over). On the other hand, keeping the door means building something L shaped to meet the 2ft wide baseboard at one angle and the 1ft wide at the other. I hope the pictures explain. Thoughts welcome as are appropriately ate web pages and YouTube vpreferences.

Hi Richard. I had the same challenge a couple of years back. I made a lift out bridge by screwing two support pieces to each sides and a small plank fits across.
Metcalfe bridge sides etc. added to make it look like a bridge. It does lift off, but not often.

Glencairn

Richard, a common problem with a number of solutions but made more complex by the corner location. I have the same issue in my shed.
First step, imho, is to establish what the trackplan is over the gap, ie one or multiple tracks and exactly where they will run. In practice they will form an arc so a curved board may be better than an L shape which would be bigger and heavier as a result.
Perhaps answer the track layout question first and then we can make some more suggestions. A trackplan would help.
Also consider whether you want it with scenery or not (something that I have included in the past).

I was going suggest that rather than remove the door a stable door might be an option. However, looking at your photo I think even the lower half of that would be to high.

Change the door to open outwards.

There isn’t really a track plan. The right hand board will contain a double ended ladder fiddle yard. No scenery. The other board is a townscape scenic section which will have a single track running parallel to the back of the board

The connecting line to be supported across the gap will be more or less a curve. There will not be any scenery or landscaping here either. Hopefully the picture helps.

Why cant you just have lift up flap the size of the corner. It will be larger than a normal lifting flap but the same as normal except the exit for the track will be on the side of the flap instead of the end which is more usual. The large flap will be suported by framework fitted to the wall next to it, and the end of the other base board. The base boards will be held steady by fixing them to the walls keeping everything nice and solid.
But I think the other idea of making the door open outwards is the easiest of the two options. I would have done that to mine but for the fact it was next to the kitchen door and I thought an accident could happen involving something hot being carried out of the kitchen. God forbid,,, Not only that, my new carpets getting covered in gravy

The biggest issue - and this was the subject of much debate on another thread - is that of safety.
With the door in the current position and the hinged baseboard in the down position, the door cannot be opened from outside. Should the occupant of the room suffer an accident or illness this could, in the extreme, be life threatening.

Re-hanging the door would solve that problem but there may be another way.

If the tracks leading across the gap could be arranged at the front of the two existing boards, it may be possible to have the 'bridge' on a diagonal that still allows the door to open. A crude sketch below may help to explain.

Thanks for your help. It’s given me lots to think about and a plan is forming. I’ll be doing a mock-up over the next few days and I’ll post some pictures here to show my solution.

Quite right Steve ........To be honest I had not even thought about that point. So, the door opening outwards is the way to do it or the room could be a death trap.