In the short time I have been in this hobby, I note that it takes up LOTS of room.
So do you save the boxes that all the train stuff comes in?
If not, what do you save and what do you throw?
An example…for a Lionel starter set…save or throw the box?
TMT
I save them. Never know what they might be worth one day. A starter set box is large enough to put other boxes inside to save space. I try to put smaller boxes inside of larger ones.
Yes, definitaly save the boxes. Notice how mint PW boxes on ebay for Hudson’s and Berks go for up to $50 each?
The good side is, you dont have to take as good of care to your modern boxes-they are made of solid cardboard instead of flimsy pasteboard, the the PW ones.
They take up a lot of space but I save them. Some can be flattened most can not. But if you want to sell or store the item its better to have the box.
I do. Why? It’s because I’m one of those “Eternal Optimists” who thinks that there “will” be a day when I can pack up my trains and move from an apartment to a new home with lots of space for a ‘real’ layout. [tup][zzz][:)]
I’m not big on boxes. If someting comes in a box, I’ll keep it. But I don’t pay extra just because it has a box.
Jim
I keep my boxes. In the event of repair or moving, the original box is a great way to pack your trains. When my layout is finished, I hope to have a skirt installed around the table and I will have all of my boxes under the layout, hidden from view. [:)]
Regards,
JO
For me the box is part of the train of train set. Throwing away the box would be like taking away a freight car or tender.
I save them for shipping or to sell the product they carried. I figure the new owner would like to have. Do like they said put boxes in side of boxes when possible to save space.
Yes, not sure why. The kids will probably junk the lot some day.
Guess. [:D]
These are in temporary exile while I reconfigure my train room and layout.
Well, my wife is sitting here watching Biggest Loser and just shook her head when I mentioned saving boxes [:)]
Of course I save mine. Many old boxes are worth more than the trains that came in them, how ever do not expect the same of your Polar Express set made today!!
I keep my new ZW new in the box as well as my TMCC (not using it right now). I never have enough room to display all my equipment so I save rolling stock, engine, building and set boxes. I pack the items into the boxes for storage. Things stack better when in square boxes. Also, when I open the box again it is almost like getting a new train item. I just put four entire sets back into boxes (used under the christmas tree). I discard separate track and switch boxes. They take too much room and track and switches seem to be fine just lumped into one plastic crate. I wish I had boxes for all my transformers.
Jim H
I usually don’t save them - just because they take up an enormous amount of space. And I’ll trade the space for the hit I might take on selling something without the box - everything’s used anyway.
Traindaddy, you’ll get there! I remember the first non-carpet-central layout I made to fold up and slide behind the couch…
I save all of my boxes for storing my trains. And, you never know when you may have to move also. Take Care.
That’s what I thought…about 50 years ago. Sooner or later someone if not us will be packing the stuff away for whatever reason.
If today’s mentality about train longevity and value holds, including the boxes, save them if you can. Many of the readers on this forum for whatever reason do not have a layout, and barely the space to store the trains, myself included. So if you get tired of seeing my posts…
The practical side of me is not the practical side of you. When my wife, an avid ebayist, sees the value of a particular train that I have surpassed by the value of the box it came in, she too is surprised. Or she asks why anyone would value a C7 train lower than a C5 with a box. She laughs. Isn’t it the diamond that has the value, not the ring box it came in? For some no.
Many of us older train guys live vicariously through train auctions, hobby shop consigment prices , and ebay insanity. We look at our stuff from childhood and commiserate, “If I just had that box. If only I hadn’t spent the millions of hours with my (Dad, son, granddaughter, friends, myself, insert people here) enjoying running the train for the past 50 years, it would be a C9 instead of C6-7 and be worth $1,500 instead of $300. If only my Dad bought the 736 Berkshire or the 773 Hudson instead of the 2046 Hudson that exact same day in 1950 when he strolled into the hobby shop, for about the same price!!!..Oh yeah, I forgot, I enjoyed it for a million hours, and it keeps on giving every day.” Your Berkshire is my Hudson. Commodity or not, I now value “mine” more. This statement makes about as much sense to some as the boxes discussion.
For some th
My father liked to run and display his trains, so when he died and I was helping my mother with selling his collection we were surprised to find boxes full of collapsed boxes in the attic. When all was said and done we had boxed about 80% of his collection. We had dozens of post war boxes that we no longer had trains for because he had traded off the trains or for whatever reason. When he would go to a T.C.A. meet he just wrapped some trains in newspaper and didn’t think about the boxes. It was simply amazing what some of those empty post war boxes brought on ebay.
My father may have kept the boxes because he was thinking about later resale value, but I suspect it was probably mainly because he was raised during The Great Depression and many of that generation learned to never throw things away that might be useful later. Part of their psychological development as teens and young adults. He also had dozens of coffee cans and jars filled with resuable screws, nuts, bolts, etc.
The modern sets like the Polar Express may achieve the price levels of some post war trains after time and attrition have reduced the number of such sets in circulation, but there are still plenty of post war trains that never made it to investment status.
YES!! I save all of my boxes. More for protecting the item than collectability. However, I like them crisp and in tact. Nothing upsets me more that by something new through the internet or mail order and when the item is unpacked the boxed is severly, dented mangled or the corners are pushed in so much that they are rounded.
Joe
Depends [not Buckeye’s diapers [:-^]]. If they are engine boxes, yes. Might have to ship back for repairs. Collectables, yes. Rare items, yes. Regular rolling stock, NO. I’m an operator and not a collector. If I saved all the boxes, my house and barn would not hold them all.
I’m with traindaddy1 on this one…while I have a house, I know that I will be moving someday and it’ll be a heck of a lot easier to pack my stuff up in its original, marked Lionel boxes!