wall cabinet?

PezMom wrote: Somewhere in my train travels, I saw a wall mounted cabinet that housed the train & track. It was deep enough for tunnels & all train cars fit onto shelving. The face of the cabinet dropped down for train usage & closed up to get it out of the way. The kids & I have decided it is time to finally tackle a layout but we are short on space. I am trying to find plans for this style cabinet or at least some basic dimensions so I have enough room for the tunnel when folded. Any help would be great. We are planning an 'n gauge set up.

------------------------------------------------ Perhaps you'll find something here:

A good inexpensive book: "Small, Smart & Practical Track Plans" by Iain Rice:

"Model Railroading in Small Spaces":

Good luck with your railroad! I'm sure it'll provide a lot of pleasure for you and the kids.

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

History of N Scale: Railroad Bookstore: 's Books and Toy Trains: to 1,000 sites:

I think what you're talking about is usually called a "Bookcase Layout"

- it's set up like a Murphy bed to fold up and out of the way when not in use.

A suggestion:

If you're unsure of your cabinetry skills (or just don't have the necessary tools to do large cabinetry work), use 3 hollow-core doors. A couple of 18" doors would make good sides, and a 36" door is a good size for a small layout. If you bolt it to the wall (so it doesn't fall on the kids) you could have it fold out longways if the space permits. Guides on the back of the layout door, hinged braces in the middle going to the bottom of the sides, and drop down legs at the free end would make it stable.

A completely different approach would be to build the layout out of T-Trak modules that are designed to be put together on table tops (hence, T-Trak). They use Kato Uni-Trak and just snap together, but are intended to be fully scenicked. See

for details. You probab;y won't want anything that elaborate for the kids to play with, but it should still give you some ideas. ;)

The T-trak modules could be stored in a _real_ bookcase, and assembled on any large flat surface to run.

I think that you are referring to the 'Murphy Bed & Credenza' layout.

It is featured on pages 4 to 8 in the book 'John Armstrong on Creative Layout Design' by Kalmbach Books, 1978, ISBN: 0-89024-538-X.

There are 2 plans in N-scale & H0n3-scale and is a 4' x 8' fold-up layout with a 1' x 6' shelf/stub terminal where you can store the locos & rolling stock when the layout is folded up.

I think the book is out of print, but you might find a used copy somewhere. Sorry, but I don't have a scanner, so I can't show you the plans, pics, etc.

HTH

Keith Laing

Still available at:

Great book!