Realigned the hinge post and then was able to install the piano hinge. It works! It's rigid and the wheels are in line perfectly.
With that out of the way, I was able to lay the curved subroadbed sections over the gate and trim them so they fit exactly in the space when the gate is clamped in the closed position. I then clamped some temporary supports to the fixed portions at both ends and clamped the curved piece to this. I used the outside curved piece for this part. I then installed the joists that would support everything. I wanted the joists to end in line with the curvature of the roadbed piece. I was running out of 1 X 3... AGAIN... so I used whatever was left laying around the shop. I will have to go to Home Depot for more since I'm going to need it for the bridge sections on the other end of the layout, but I didn't want to stop work today since I was on a roll.
I cut and installed the joists, and then working from the inside to the outside, again laid in the inside curved piece clamped at both ends and added the risers underneath until it was level and flat. BTW: I had to create another 10 risers and cleat assemblies... After the inner curve's risers were all settled in, I did the same for the outside curve. The curves are now ready to be permanently fixed. Once this is done, I'll finish up the engineering on the jamb end and install the latch. Here's a photo sequence showing a working swing gate which easily clears the lally column and gives a nice opening to access the insides of the layout. Sweet!
One more work session should finish up the swing gate and it will time to move onto the bridges. Rather than wait until I build the bridge kits which will be a significant effort, I think I'll install a temporary "gap filler" so I run trains while I'm building the bridges and it's associated terrain. It could be several months before the bridges are actually complete.
