I’m one of untold millions who do not have room in his home to do a layout, and have a place to put it. Then it popped in my head. Why not build a custome dining room table, whose ‘lid’ can come off to reveal your layout? All the wiring would be underneath, the cab jacks could fold up underneath when not needed, and the lid and tablecloth would hid it all. Not sure if this would be practical with HO scale, but N-scale users would probably get this to work. I suppose if you kept your scenary ‘short’ then HO scale could make do. The trick is having the space to hold a 4x8 or 4x8+ table. 
V.
Due to that nasty “D” word I’m stuck in a smallish 2nd floor apartment…no more garden to have amy garden railroad in. My dear (ex)wife decided I should have custody of the crappy old dining room table (seems she never liked it anyway)…It was too small to be truly useful, but a sheet and a half of plywood and some 1x3s later I built a 5’ x 8’ overlay and now at least have a loop of track to play trains on.
Now if I can just break myself of flat filing stuff on it.
I believe you have an idea that would work. There have been more than a few layouts built into coffee tables, so why not a dining room table. N scale would be the scale I would use, HO could be sqweezed in there. Use a glass top and you could watch trains while dining. Also, if you ever meet a RR minded lady and the layout was lit up, you could have a nice RR light romantic dinner. [}:)][(-D] Ken
Sure that would work, N scale or better yet, Z scale would be the way to go.
Years ago when I was living in a apartment I would set my N Scale hollow core door up on the dinning room table and would operate for 3-4 hours-my record was 7 hours due to a snow storm and nothing else to do till the snow stop so I could start the snow removal operation on my walkway,drive way and sidewalk.This dinning room table was also my work bench…I would cover the table with a cheap plastic table cloth and use a plastic cutting board…What did my wive say about this? Nothing…It was her idea.[:O][:D][tup]
Dave, I used to work for Ontario Northland a few years ago…ON Telcom to be exact…used to watch the trains from the 5th floor in North Bay.
The 5th floor would give a great view. [:)]
This is a variation on that theme. The DRT is the base for the layout and is very stable. The layout has everything attached and all rolling stock is removed for storage. There is a lid with small/short sides that latches securly to the layout and now the layout can be turned on its side. It is turned on it’s side and stored against the wall behind the table. She has a dinning room table and I have a model train layout. When “Moma’s” not happy nobodys happy. P.S. use a cusioned blanket to protect her table’s top from scratches etc. etc.
…and if all went well, she would give you a ‘clear signal’ [;)]
I LIKE IT! That would be an awesome dining room table. [swg] All the little street lights…With a slow moving passenger train going around an outside loop, its cars all lit up with red marker lights on the observation. The dining room lights set on a dim glow…Man, that would be awesome.
But the problem isn’t building the table…It’s meeting a RR minded lady…They ain’t so common. [(-D]
I think this is a great idea. Build a dinning room table with a glass top that can be removed. Have your layout inside the table and if your ladies does not like to look at it, then you can alway put a table cloth over it. [}:)]
But besure to build your table to fit a table cloth. Nothing looks worse then having a table coth that does not fit. [swg]
I think I will use this idea when I buy a house!
I am building a Coffee table with a N scale layout in it starting in about february! I am just not sure what I am going to put in it just yet. It is still in the plaining stage.
Thanks for the Idea
Baker
I like the idea, but you’d best make sure that a spilled drink wouldn’t cause a flood of biblical proportions!
My kitchen table is generally seen with a structure under construction. Earlier this year is was the New River Mining kit. Now it is the Cornerstone Diesel House being built. My wife has been forgiving, so far but I think she is only wanting me to roll the second half of my layout back against the wall and out of the middle of the basement floor.