Coffee Table Railway

Gauge: 009 Peco 009
Power Control: DC only - Might be configured for automatic running
Status: Work in progress


The Plan

Deep Coffee TableA while a go, I read an article on a FaceBook group about a model railway that was created under the lid of a 9 drawer cupboard. The lid hinged up, buildings placed on the layout, and away it went. I have the same sort of furniture, but realised that my coffee table had a considerable height between the bottom and the lid as it had a small drawer in the middle. I thought that I could sink the railway into the space between, and that way most (if not all) of the scenery could stay in place.

What Scale?

Second-hand Jouef HO-Scale LocoN-gauge track would give me the ability to have a loop but I was thinking that N-scale would be a bit fiddly for me. I looked on ebay for some second hand N-gauge locos and bought an 0-6-0 diesel shunter to play about with.
I then came across this little steam loco. Not knowing anything about it other that it was N-gauge and “a good runner” I bought it. It is apparently a Jouef HO-Scale Narrow "Decauville" I found it to be HO-scale running on N-gauge track creating a HOe loco. I fell in love with the loco and the scale, so this is the direction I am heading.

Magic Mountain

The Mountain as it stands So after some measuring up, I found some 3D mountain scans on thingiverse.com and managed to adapt (by scaling and chopping) a mountain so it would fit within the layout with the lid closed. Then by using TinkerCad.com I was able to Insert a tunnel through the mountain. Without spoiling the shape of the mountain, I had to cut the design up into 4 parts to fit on my 3D printer. Off went the printer for the next few days. Because I included some inner structure, it is a bit visible from the outside, but I’m hoping that some filler or clay skimmed over the top will hide that a bit.

Initial Designs

Overhead of initial setup designWith “Magic Mountain” set up in the corner, that means that there can only be single-line-working on the left of the layout, however this is room to fit in 2 passing loops before the end curve.
The first will have a turn-table mid-way (opening up access to the engineering works/sidings), the second will have a goods shed, leaving the original end curve to be the main station.

There might be an additional 3 points set into the main loop, creating short sidings at the ends of the 2 straight sections. (The mountain covers where the 4th might have been). The front 2 of these sidings might allow for a “shuttle service” DMU to operate between the 2 stations, and the third might provide for an engine shed for the main-line diesel loco. They would also enable other modular layout boards to join in on the left or right in the future.

Hunslet Quarry Style

My Hunslet inspired designAfter searching ebay a bit more, I found these small Japanese motorised chassis. Known as “TU-KOPPEL A”, they are 0-4-0 empty chassis. I love the Hunslet quarry locos, so I set about designing and 3D printing a body-shell to go on top of them. The design hides the tallest part (the motor) inside the firebox. You can see photos of the chassis and body-shell in the photos below. The body isn’t truly “to scale” as it would over-hang the chassis and make the whole thing look silly, so it is shortened. But this way there are moving parts and the loco doesn’t need a side skirt to hide the motion.


Photos from testing

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Please note: the rights to any photos displayed remain with the owner of the photo, and if not my own, then they are used purely as examples and I take no credit for them.