Train Storage

[Tony Galiani]

I am not sure where to put this so hope it is okay here.

I have quite a few surplus N scale and HO Scale items I have accumulated and I need to get them out of my small modelling area as I find myself spending too much time moving stuff around as opposed to modelling.

I would like to pack the stuff to keep it safe until I can figure out the best way to get rid of it.  My concern is that, living in the southeastern US, my attic gets very hot (with a couple of months of relatively cold weather in the winter).  There is also the possibility of a move to the Great White North (as my wife is Canadian) though not likely in the near future.  So I need to keep the stuff in good condition in variable conditions.

 

I am thinking I could use something like banker's boxes - those sturdy cardboard boxes with separate top - and maybe line them with plastic bags to keep out moisture.  But not sure this is a the best option. 

Maybe there are some sort of stackable containers that might be safe for storage but also good if we end up having to transport them?  Web searches show me options but I would prefer to see what people have found out works well.

 

Does anyone have storage suggestions for model trains?  It is a real mash of items - plastic trains, plastic kits, some wooden kits, some books and magazines and so forth.

 

Cheers,

Tony Galiani

[cteno4]

Toni,

 

I would not store plastic or magazines in your attic, you are just asking for rapid aging no matter how you pack it up. Short of a hermetic seal you will get humidity in/out of there eventually sitting there and higher temps just make standard modeling plastics brittle and yellow. Acid in magazine paper and even books will also accelerate yellowing with heat. If there is much value there, then best to get a partially climate controlled storage place and store it there.

 

for just packing up to store stuff for longer term bankers boxes do hold up well i have some like 30 years+ old now. Plastic also is nice to see in but if long term storage then just labeling box is easier and cheaper. Bankers boxes give the best bang for the buck and volume. Plastic boxes have all sorts of curves to help strengthen them, but eats up space inside. While some have nice features to help hold one box bottom on the top of the one below, some don’t so so well and are slippery and can easily get knocked over after 3 or 4 high. Plastic is good for basements or places water could ever get.

 

ive slowly been getting out of the bankers boxes to the clear file boxes (about the same size) that I can sometimes pickup for $5 each as it’s nice to see inside and a little more sturdy, but I’ll always have a pile in bankers boxes in the basement! It’s the George Carlin routine, stuff and stuff to store your stuff in...
 

cheers

 

jeff

[brill27mcb]

I've always used the corrugated cardboard boxes that printer/copier paper comes in - the wide ones that hold two stacks of reams. They tend to have a nice cover with stronger edges than the covers for banker's boxes, so they hold their shape and stack more firmly, and for me they were free. My place of employment went through cartons of paper a day, so there was a ready supply. I just had to put the word in or grab them before they got flattened for recycling. Carrying them home on the train was the hardest part!

 

Rich K.

[Cat]

Yes, paper rem boxes work great, and can often be had for the asking at your local copy shop.

[gavino200]

Honestly, since discovering the Japanese style book cases, I couldn't look at any other storage method the same way. Some day I'll get around to getting casco cases for all my trains that don't currently have a case. 

[Ochanomizu]

Hello Tony,

 

My garage door is open ..................

[Tony Galiani]

Thanks for all the info.  I was wondering if there was something more high tech than cardboard boxes but I guess not.  I have a good supply back from the days I used to go to the office and we used to print things!

I think I will just repack more carefully and leave everything in my work area.

Ochanomizu - if your garage was in my neighborhood .....

Gavino - I realize I have a lot of loose items picked up at train shows - those book cases might work for me to at least get my loose stuff organized.

Cheers,

Tony Galiani

[Tony Galiani]

I just had a thought - lately I am living the retro life - my car (which has a manual transmission), my bass guitars, my tee shirts, my pre-cataract surgery eyeglasses are all retro.  So cardboard boxes fit right in!

I feel better now.

Tony

[cteno4]

Yep as long as they don’t get damp the live on and on and on! The thing I like about bankers boxes is the bottoms are put together in a way I’ve never had one fail, even when they have gotten damp at outdoor shows and box on grass that ends up transpiring a lot of moisture along the day. If you put too much weight (like books) the handles can fail though, usually when dragging the box horizontally off a shelf or stack. They sell fancy ones at like 3x the cost but I’ve found the plain old cheaper ones you get in 5 or 10 bundles from the big box store work like champs.

 

old xerox boxes are still champs as well. Newer ones though seem to be now just sturdy enough to get the box to your door. Last one at home here from a 10 ream box I put in the garage to use for some misc stuff and it came a part in a few months of light duty. Combination of some heat and humidity and just really thin cardboard and very little glue made it come apart a the seams. But I’ve got enough boxes...

 

jeff

 

ps now I have this great picture of rich on the train with the xerox paper box on his lap! I did a similar thing in grad schools with xerox boxes for most all my storage but I had to carry them home form the lab sort of wedged between my knees on my Honda scooter! A couple caught wind and ended up flying away — I’m sure to the surprise of the car behind me!

[brill27mcb]

Actually, Jeff, I would cart home 2 boxes at a time. I learned to put the tops on the top and bottom of one box, then drop that vertically into the second box. Luckily, the whole thing would fit on the overhead luggage racks of the train. But I was always the only person carting empty boxes past our lobby security desk when I said goodnight, and always the only person holding empty boxes on the crowded station platform. Rich C. in our East Penn club would also supply my copy paper box habit. Even today, my wife's pet rabbit, inside his enclosure in our back room, has 2 upside-down copy paper boxes where he can be cozy inside. I cut several large arched entrances in each one, plus he likes a small skylight cutout in the "roof." After I cut these openings, he improves on them by nibbling away at the edges until they are finished to his satisfaction.

 

I find that the copy paper boxes are also a good height to hold Kato, shorter Tomytec, Modemo, Arnold, Bachmann and other tram boxes vertically on end in nice rows. That way I can see the end labels to know what's where, and pull just one box or "jewel case" out easily.

 

I have to agree with your comment that they just don't make 'em like they used to.

 

Rich K.

[cteno4]

Can’t beat them for the ultimate bang for density as well! 
 

I wonder if security was ever suspicious you were sneaking something one part a time in the empty boxes...

 

Jeff