Barbara, might help if you post your city or location. A good hobby shop could probably help.

My neighbor has an autistic child and he is infatuated with just a small o gauge layout they have on a board they slide under his bed. Just train running on an oval of track.

 

Welcome aboard, Barbara. You may also wish to consider an around-the-room "layout", that is suspended from the ceiling or mounted to the walls.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

 

I don’t know if this is a option, but would a lego train work? I only mention this because they are robust, fixable, and work good...also easy to reconfigure the track plan. Yes they are pricey, but last along time

The idea of a table that rolls back and forth is workable, but has technical challenges...cheers

 

Excellent idea!

 

under the bed

Yes, you can build a layout to fit under the bed and roll out.
The power could be connected and have a ON-OFF switch.
A safer way is to unplug it from the wall outlet each time it goes back under the bed.

There are some issues to consider for this.
1. When the layout rolls, the train cars will fall over and need to be set onto the train rails. Who would do this, you or your son?
2. The bed sheets can 'remove' some detail if they drag along the layout when rolled out.
3. Train cars sometimes fall over or derail by gremlins, can your son turn off the power, reattach (rerail) the train cars, attach the cars together, turn the power back on, re-apply the throttle to get them running again?
4. It is dusty under the bed, how does the layout get cleaned?

 

How about a simple cover of 1/4" plywood or Masonite to drop on when it gets rolled under the bed. Keeps it clean and solves the problem of knocking the cars over.

 

Barbara, welcome! What you're envisioning for your son is definitely doable. It will, to a large extent, depend on your available time and budget, as well as your skill with tools, wiring, etc.

First of all, how old is your son? Whether or not he is capable of operating the layout unassisted is something that will need to be considered. My nephew is 8 and is also autistic; he is capable of some amazing levels of concentration, but he has difficulty with impulse control. He loved my son's layout when he was here last, but he had to be supervised, because if he gets frustrated, he can get angry and damage things.

The other issue is one of size. For something to fit under a bed, it would need to be in one of the smaller scales. Unfortunately, ready-to-run animated items are rare in those scales; that usually requires stepping up to the larger O scale (see this thread for a discussion of scales: https://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=15015 ) which you would have difficulty using in a layout small enough to fit the space. So when you say "detailed", can you be more specific about what your vision is? Take crossing gates: making flashing signals in N or HO scale isn't too hard if your wiring skills are up to the task; but animated crossing gates would require significantly more effort, because you would have to build them yourself.

Let us know; there is plenty of information right here in this forum to answer most if not all of your questions.

 

Welcome!

If you have an amazon prime membership, this video is free to watch. There may be a slight fee if you aren't a member, but it explains how to build a small O gauge rollaway layout similar to what you seem to be looking for. You can probably expand upon it as much or as little as you want, but the video covers most of the basics.

https://www.amazon.com/Build-Gauge-Rollaway-Train-Layout/dp/B01MUUN3HI

 

My idea is something that can fit under his bed and be pulled out and pushed back in. Is that possible? Or does it need to be fixed to a power source?

you mean like the set in the original "Day the Earth Stood Still" movie

3/4" plywood sized for under the bed, or 1/2" plywood and a layer of homasote on a pair of sanded runners that provide some space for wiring and keep the sheet off the floor.

power pack attached in the corner will need to be plugged in.