fold up staging design quesiton

I just built two 30" fold-down single track shelves that attach to the sides of my layout - one to serve as a staging/interchange track, one to represent an offline industry.

I'm pleased with shelves themselves (they are actually level with the layout and aligned properly when folded up into place) and the hinge-and-support system I came up with (only have to deal with one screw to change position). This was achieved after much trial and error.

I haven't worked out exactly how I'm going to connect the shelf track to the permanent layout track, though. I don't want to use trial and error here because the layout is largely finished with ballast and scenery in place at the point where both shelves join the existing trackage.

I figured I'd better phone a friend, so to speak. If you've built/used a fold-down track on your layout, how did you handle the point of connection to the permanent track? Did you use a very short piece of track to bridge the gap? Did you widen/shorten a pair or rail joiners so that your fold-up track just kind of snugged into them? Did you lay track across the joint and then go back and gap it with a dremel cut-off wheel to fold down? Or maybe you used some other method I'm haven't thought of yet.

At any rate, I'd love to hear how others handled this issue and maybe even see pictures. I'm working in N scale with Atlas Code 55 track, not that this means a solution from another scale wouldn't work. Also, the folding sections will have their own power feed, so conducting power across the gap isn't a must for me.

Thanks. I'll try to post some photos to illustrate what I'm working with first thing tomorrow.

-Jeff

Edit: photos of the project -

 

So I answered my own question...

The answer that worked for me was to remove a couple of ties from the folding end of the new trackage and fit loose rail joiners onto said end. I just use a small screwdriver to push those track joiners clear of the joint when I want to fold down or push them onto the joint (and onto the fixed layout track) when I want to connect and use my folding trackage.