All good advice above. One other thing I did was take an Atlas rail joiner and solder some "wings" to it. I manually slide the rail joiner open and closed when I want the bridge open or closed. This ensures the rails line up perfectly. I painted them red for my visual reference, not for any real railroading reasons.
Have Fun!
Ron
P.S. You might want to edit your title from Access Hatch to Lift Bridge. I think of an access hatch as hole in the middle of a layout, that you must crawl under and pop up through. You might get some additional participation with really good lift bridge ideas.
