07-25-2009, 10:58 AM
Josh, by light strips, are you talking about the lighting strips sold at the home centers like they use to mark aisles in air planes? Unless you need to hide them behind a valance, those strips would only add 1/4 inch or so to the distance between the upper and lower levels. A one inch valence would probably be all that is needed to hide the lighting. If one light strip directly behind the valance would provide adequate light, you could use a valance as small as 1/2 inch to hide the lights.
On the elevator idea, train length would not need to be a consideration at all. The entire yard would be on the elevator with a yard lead on each level. You would raise the yard up to work the top level or lower it to work the lower level, and then make up the trains after you had decided which level to switch. Operationally, you could raise the elevator and work the upper level, then while your industries are loading/unloading cars, you go to the lower level and work those industries. The only restriction is that you would probably not be able to work both levels at the same time, but if you are operating the layout by yourself, you can't really focus on more than one train at a time anyway.
On the elevator idea, train length would not need to be a consideration at all. The entire yard would be on the elevator with a yard lead on each level. You would raise the yard up to work the top level or lower it to work the lower level, and then make up the trains after you had decided which level to switch. Operationally, you could raise the elevator and work the upper level, then while your industries are loading/unloading cars, you go to the lower level and work those industries. The only restriction is that you would probably not be able to work both levels at the same time, but if you are operating the layout by yourself, you can't really focus on more than one train at a time anyway.