I am a collector of 1940s and 1950s cardstock, metal and wood HO gage cars. Most of my collection has been obtained from swap meets and usually the cars are minus boxes for their storage. I am in need of hundreds of boxes and have never been able to locate a reasonably priced source. I would prefer the two part, bottom and top, boxes like the ones Athearn uses. Preferably the boxes would be broken down to save space and as a result shipping costs. Does anyone have any ideas?
You could try asking for surplus boxes from your LHS. One that I used to frequent often sold used rolling stock “loose”, and had a lot of leftover boxes in their basement. I got them free for the asking.
Check for baseball card boxes. You may have to stand the car “up” versus on its side. I think the one that holds 200 would be the right size if I remember right.
I use the boxes my checks come in to protect some of the cars that I’ve picked up without boxes. Some are a little shallow for finished box cars, but most are OK.