How do you experienced folks store your rolling stock? I'm just getting to that part, storage that's organized, accessible, conserves space, etc. I'm leaning to making some portable wall rack sections but would like to see what experienced folks have come up with. Trying to head off that situation where by the time it's done, you know what you SHOULD have made.
I made a number of wall storage units. All have Plexiglas doors either sliding or hinged. After I filled those up I went to overflow storage. Currently, all my layout sidings are at max capacity so I'm going back to the old dresser under the layout for more storage. "Problem, No I don't have a problem.........." sigh. Brian
Store them in plastic tubs under the layout by type of car: Covered hoppers, boxcars, tanks, intermodal, etc.
I guess the answer depends on whether you want portable storage or fixed. If you are into Ntrak and portability is important then you might want to use the Plano compartmentalized trays that can be found in the fishing dept. at Walmart or other such stores. These can hold up to 32 forty foot cars each and six of the trays can fit into one of those plastic milk cases also sold at Walmart giving you about 200 cars in a nice compact travel case. I fit mine with foam and use bubble wrap in the bottom of the milk crate to absorb any jarring in transit.
I tried a similar drawer unit also. Mine had drawers all the same size. It had casters on it and could be rolled around on bare floors but not so much on carpeting. It too is available at Walmart. The problem with mine was that it was designed for light weight stuff like clothing. When anything heavier is used the drawers sag and do not readily open.
I have the small cheap book cases Walmart sells under my layout. Great for holding all my stuff. I currently have 4 of them. One for all my foamer flicks, another with books and the power supplies for my O guage stuff around the ceiling, 2 for rolling stock and engine boxes etc... Now I have a portable staging yard with shelves built in to hold all my excess rolling stock.
i use a couple of these : http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70053924/ all 500+ engines and 1800+ cars are in their original jewel cases.
I keep mine in flat boxes just over an inch deep, with homemade dividers. Cars on their side where I can see what they are, roadname, paint scheme, etc. Mostly in those boxes by car TYPE, so I fairly quickly pick out a boxcar, or hopper, or tank. Here is a shelf unit where I keep most of my car boxes. Three larger boxes on bottom right shelf are entire passenger consists. Box decorated in silver is the all-streamlined Texas Chief, box decorated with California fruit box labels is the California Special and the one in blueprint paper is the all heavyweight #5/6 mail express. Some other special boxes for my Navy blimp base cars and my old-time wild west used in movie-filming.
I think I know what I'm going to do and it was Kenneth Anthony's post that triggered the thought. Thanks Kenneth. I recently received a book from Amazon that came in a mailer. Fold up box, 2" deep inside, and as a fold up it's doubled sides and pretty rugged. It takes micro-trains boxes two deep perfectly, 28 short ones (or half can be mediums) to an 11 3/4" x 10 3/4" box, with a little extra room to get your fingers in to lift things out. Nice and compact, easy to handle, and will stack perfectly in a small space. Could even be put in a bookcase. The large micro-trains boxes will still fit nicely as will the Atlas and a few Bachmann that I have. And a bundle of 20 or 50 of those white mailer boxes is relatively cheap so even if they receive some wear and tear, not likely but possible, just fold up a new one. This should be enough to get me started and the more I look at it, may well be the final. And I'm sure I can use the same box for a bunch of other stuff and the whole mess will stack nicely. It seems like it was just what the doctor ordered without going nuts on it.
The boxes I used for N scale cars (and locos) are NOT pizza boxes. Sorry, they ar4e something probably unobtainable. I used to work in broadcast television, and state of the art for us, ca. 1990 was 1" wide videotape. Came in boxes 12x12" inside and just over an inch deep. We had lots of throw-away boxes they told me to throw out. I threw them out in my trunk. I think the 1" tape is pretty much obsolete and no more boxes. Sorry I can't help.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm....got me thinking. For those that need off layout storage...pizza boxes might just do the trick.... http://www.amazon.com/PACKAGING-WPP...F8&qid=1454861562&sr=8-4&keywords=pizza+boxes
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/mastercraft-33-drawer-metal-cabinet-0581036p.html#.Vrd7-Vmvh97 The small drawers hold 2 cars/locomotives up to around 60 scale feet in length. (The Atlas C630 *just* fits with the couplers being pushed to the side) The medium hold 4-5 of the same length. I use the large one for the few freight cars I have that don't fit in the other two. I'm in the process of moving my passenger cars into a wooden silverware case which I expect will be able to handle around 40, 85 foot cars.
I've had these for years but I think they are still available. There is a top formed foam piece that fits into the bottom section holding the cars secure. There is a similar product out on the market that has to be assembled and not worth a tinkers hoot in my opinion. Storage per box depends on car size. I can get 56 or 57 short cars per box. DSCN0079-2 by John Moore posted Jan 30, 2016 at 4:52 PM
If you are searching for this type box I found that the style of box we are after is called a corrugated "Mailer". That makes it the fold-up heavy duty style with a flap lid. I opted for the type of lid that just tucks IN to the bottom but NOT the type that fold over the outside lip with the little dog ears that slip in the ends to secure them. I felt those would not survive regular use. The style is much the same as many pizza boxes but the sizes available as "mailers" are extensive. I opted for a smaller footprint (nominally 12" x 10" x 2" inside) that will handle two deep so it's tuckable into smaller shelf spaces, transporting vehicle spaces. A broader footprint and shallower, literally a pizza box, might be ideal for someone else's situation. Then there's small, medium, and large pizza. Pay attention to the dimensions as given because many give outside dimensions while a few give inside dimensions. I found that 2" deep, INSIDE dimension, will handle two Micro-trains boxes stacked. 2 1/4" outside seems to leave 2" inside height and on the fold up sides it seems you lose 1/4" each end, 1/2" total width. Front to rear it's about 1/4", same as top to bottom. Some of the other train brands may not nest in the two deep fashion as nicely but will still fit in one of their planes, even if not two deep, and that's OK. By volume, it's Micro-trains that I'm dealing with. The labeling, sorting scheme can be varied but I'll probably use road name for the volume names, then style, then size, then... don't know yet. I'll be thinking this through and hopefully come up with something that makes sense, is easy to use, and is a little intuitive. Or maybe I should take a pill and put on some Matlock re-runs.
I have 6 boxes very much like those 'pizza' boxes. I got mine at the Hobby Smith in Portland, Oregon: http://www.hobbysmith.com/ A little pricey at $10.00 each but they do come with precut foam liners and it is worth it to me since I do Freemo-n and thus travel several times a year.
The pizza box idea is very clever. What if, after one filled up the box, he took a picture of the contents, printed it, and affixed it to the top of the box. Then you'd know whats inside without having to open it up. Brian
