At the RR Museum of Long Island we spend the winter working on new things to add to the Lionel Visitors Center Layout. We have a lot of return visitors so we want them to see some new things when they come back.
One of the projects this winter was adding Gabe to the layout but we didn't want Gabe to go up half way and get stranded when the kid hitting the button to let Gabe go up got bored. We decided to make it a one button operation. The kids young and old press a labeled button and Gabe goes up the ladder, the lights go on and Gabe comes back down the ladder and the lights go off waiting for the next guest to press the button and start the cycle all over again. We had a donor motor from an old Christmas display that we used to turn a rod under the layout. When the button is pressed the rod turns and and pulls the string that moves Gabe up. When Gabe hits the top the the rod hits a trigger and turns on the lights on. When Gabe hits the bottom the rod hits another trigger that shuts the lights and shuts the motor.
I attached 2 videos one above and one under the table.
I couldn't resist! Thanks for all you do for our hobby.
