Hi Dave -- I should stay limber for a long time then. I rarely put the drop bridges down that allow one to duck and walk into the layout. It does help that I have plush carpet throughout the trainroom (protected by throw rugs or other things in areas where I do work). I have had to crawl under other layouts with hard surface floors, and that is hard on the knees. I can recommend that anyone with a crawl under put down some nice plush carpet with good padding underneath. It should extend beyond the crawl space far enough that you can be clear of benchwork before and after going through and still be on the carpet. It also helps if there is some sort of grab to help one get up again!
Have fun! Bill Winans ---------------------------------------- For those who don’t know, to operate Frank’s layout, you had to crawl under a section of the layout. When I first met Frank, he said if he couldn’t get in there it was time to stop model railroading. BTW, he did widen the section you had to crawl under later, but what’s a few more inches when you’re already down on your hands and knees. And those track planning gurus complain about liftouts. I think you stay more limber if you crawl under your layout regularly. Dave Heine If I may add one other thought regarding Frank...when I started to unpack my gear and crawl around under the layout I was having some back/muscle issues, but Frank, who must be 20+ years older, was having no problems moving around under and around his layout--he stayed healthy for a long time even while his working life wasn't a cake walk. Bob
