HEY GEORGE,
no need to 'shout', good buddy; I'm 'blind', not deaf!
Sorry, but we have very few basements out here; I,ve lived in only one home in my entire 30 years in California that had one, and it was 'ground floor', actually. (It did flood in Feb. '86, but I'd move back in a flash if I could.
Any way, I will require a barn or at least a three car garage for our next place, you betcha.
As for your 'trap door' problem:
I'm new to this, but have been doing a lot of study re: layout/track planning...Would it be possible for you to re-design your pike a bit to allow for a "gorge", a..ah.. 'Grand Canyon' effect that could 'fade' into a narrow gap in the layout/scenery (where you left the gap in your bench work for the 'gate section') that you could kinda side step through to get into your central control space? Having no pics of your layout to reference, I have no idea if that could work.
By the way, I'm now working on the design phase of the first leg of the "J.W. Kesling Memorial RR", on the drawing board. I'm going to use one of our two bedrooms for the layout; my shop is in the garage, and trying to figure out how to fit both in that limited space has been a real hinderence. It's just me, my Wife and our Malamute, so I think it'll work, with some major re-arrangments; the room is kinda an extra large walk-in closet at present!
Well, that's enough for now. Good luck, hope you get some ideas that will help.
VGN
(ah, the sunshine, the warm breezes!...
)