I am curious about how you people take your engines, cars, ect. from your house to the club, friends house, ect. I have seen several guys bring their trains to the club in separate boxes, like the boxes they origionally came in. Now I can leave my train up there for a few weeks at a time but surely you want to bring up new equipment to show off. It takes them forever to unbox a 50 car train. I was thinking about building a wooden box, or maybe just a cardboard box. But how do you protect them?
I would think you could use foam of some sort. I just have visions of the Blues Brothers unlocking briefcases with handcuffs to reveal trains.
I use my Jeep.[:o)]
The July 2005 issue of MR has an article on building a carrier that looks somewhat like a toolbox for safely transporting models.
http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/005/885wwcay.asp
Bryan
Hi There;
This is the foam lined case I use. If you want dimensions email me.
Tom
If I were you i would go to the Walthers cataloge and order the HO carriers. there about $80 a piece but they carry a about 30 to 35 railcars in each and a few locomotives. They come in a very tough cardboard that has many layers to it and you can pack your cars and locomotives in one.
James
I put my engines in their boxes and transport the boxes in my Conrail Duffel bag.[8D]
Seems that the original carton is hard to beat. Just take care with grab-ons and stirrups that might get bent or broken.
I have refitted all my original boxes with styrofoam to keep the car from moving. I have some plastic “tote” boxes from Wal-Mart, but I also have some cardboard boxes with lids and hand holes that I got from the grocery store. They originally had chicken in them. (Of course I cleaned them out!) Since I’m not active in a club now, I don’t use the totes. I have other ways to store the cars I’m not using. For car that I acquired without the boxes, I use the boxes checks come in or boxes from greeting cards and anything else that comes along. I want to have an individual box for all cars and locos.
Original boxes- particularly for the new, fragile RTR stuff.
Ian
I went to a luggage store and bought a 19.5" x 14.5" x 5" rigid
rectangular attache case. Removed its interior folders.
Then bought Axian Technology foam rubber W inserts it uses in its
HO white box carriers. They will sell the foam only.
Made a double-decker box by using a thick piece of pasteboard as the
center shelf. The shelf is not attached to the case, but just made
to fit it. This exactly fits HO cars.
As long as at least three cars are on each level in the logical
spots, I can close the case and everything is firmly held in place.
I can carry about 12 50 ft cars on each level, but only four 85 ft
passenger cars. The case is better looking, easier to carry, and
less likely to open accidently than a white box, and the capacity
is almost the same. Been using it for about four years.
Hal
All my Athearn Genesis and Intermountain cars get transported in their original boxes. I then put them into photocopy paper boxes for the ride in the trunk. My locomotives get transported in their original boxes except for some Proto GP9’s, they are wrapped in blue paper towels and put into a plastic box. My Athearn and Atlas cars are also wrapped individually in blue paper towels and stacked in a box. They blue paper towels work great, they are called Shop Towels and sold at most automotive parts suppliers.
I use a foam pistol tote.
Like a lot of replies so far, I keep the original boxes, as long as they’re big enough for the car after it’s assembled, and line the top and bottom with bubble wrap (small bubbles) glued in place, then a spongy foam cutout of the car’s outline to hold it in place.
If you have cars or locos that you don’t have boxes for, or are too long for their original boxes, in HO scale, try to find some old computer keyboard boxes. The thin profile and flip top are just right for the rolling stock, or if too high, just add a layer or two of corrugated cardboard.
For locomotives, especially heavy ones, I use a more rigid packing foam. It’s sort of like styrofoam, but will flex a little. Still using the same assortment of boxes.
And if you’re REALLY lucky, I have received PC boards from Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix, Nicolet, etc in flip top boxes, and some are lined with an eggcrate cut spongy foam. I use these “as is” for just carrying around miscellaneous cars and locos, without having to do the cutouts.
N scale stock in original boxes fits rather well into army-surplus .50 calibre ammo boxes - I can get two complete 9-car expresses and assorted commuter stock into the ones I have, two hold my entire German N collection. Cost per box is about £8 from online army-surplus suppliers, and they’ll handle pretty much anything - they’re very strong and have a tight seal around the top that should keep out the occasional soaking (such as when you have to carry them from the far end of the show car park in a downpour!). They also don’t take up much space and look nothing like stock boxes!