CRITICAL layout design tip: An Alternative to the Duck-Under: Swing-Section

TIP: Layout Design: Swing-Section: No duck-unders! There are two kinds of duck-unders: Operational and Access. An operational means every single time you operate the railroad you have to duck-under. An access duck-under is for once every blue moon. My advice: NEVER design an operational duck-under. It is a bad idea period. The reality is for those with larger areas and broader curvature, there will be places you wlll have to have access duck-unders. Minimize these as best as possible. In either case, if it is possible to use a swing-section, lift-out section or some kind of hinges that eliminate the need for you to crawl on your hands and knees all the better! What I'm showing in this video is detailed in the book: Model Railroad Custom Designer. Please check out my other videos here or read the book about the many tips and tricks of how to properly design a model railroad. Unfortunately, about 90% of what you see, read or hear about are track arrangement suggestions. That is only one part of the Design Process. You cannot figure out a track plan until you know what is it you are doing. Arranging track prior to design is like creating a wiring diagram for a house that doesn't exist. You need to learn about the formal model railroad Design Process to help you build a layout, whether you are building a toy layout or a replica of reality.