This is off topic, but involves model trains, so I’m sharing…
We’re getting new carpet in our offices. Great. Except for the fact that all office furniture (and their contents) will need to be removed from my office to make way for said new carpet. That means my desk, file cabinets, and the problem child, my book shelf.
Here’s a photo of said problem child:
This bookshelf holds:
bound volumes of Model Railroader for research purposes
copies of many Model Railroader and Kalmbach Books books
copies of Great Model Railroads, Model Railroad planning, and other special issues from MR
a variety of model railroading projects that I’ve completed over the past several years and would rather have on display for motivational purposes as opposed to sitting in a box in my basement while I’m between layouts.
Here’s a close-up of the top two selves, containing the mix of model railroading goodies:
It holds locomotives I’ve superdetailed, freight cars, semi models, “Jimmy’s Barbershop,” a “kitmingle” from the late, great model railroader Art Curren (who I had to pleasure of working with for several years when I was ad sale manager of MR).
I’m doomed. I know the date is coming, yet each day around lunchtime I look over to that book shelf and wonder “what in the world I’m going to do with those models?” Yes, they provide us big, multi-level carts to put all your office contents on… perfect for the books and bound volumes, but not the ideal scenario for some of these delicate models. I’m doomed. Better start looking for the boxes for some of these models.
Yuck! I hate this! Can’t I keep my well-worn carpet? It has character!
Maybe it’s time for that long awaited vacation you’ve been meaning to take…That way, they’ll have to hire someone else to move you out of the office. Just take the trains and leave everything else for the temp…[;)] chuck
FWIW I think my bosses would have made some comment a long time ago if I had that much train related stuff taking up space in my office/cubicle. I have a display track where sometimes I’ll have like one engine or a passenger car or something, but not half a layout!! [:D]
Hmmmm… not a bad idea. But I’m afraid you have a lot more faith in someone else touching your trains than I do. I’m sure you’re well aware of how easily a handrail or grab iron can be broken.
I just completed the ‘umteenth’ move at work. In my 30 years at IBM, I have lost count of all the ‘moves’ I have been in. I know how you feel. I now keep my office very clean(less to pack or dust off). With only a little over 3 years until retirement, I cannot not imagine what moves I still have to look forward to.
Hey Erik, can’t some of those trains become temporary leased power on a MRR mag layout? That way they have a safe place, they might even get the cobwebs blown out of them, and you get to keep them.
Aren’t you going to put the shelf back up after the carpets installed?? That only looks like 3-4 large plastic tubs worth of stuff. It’s not like you have to pack them for a cross country move.
You could donate it to the Local MR&T layout or the local kids hospital layout… Or you could do what the majority of us Pack-Rats do. Build another closet in the Basement and stencil. Keepout! Ancient Antiquities.
Gawd only knows the mass of "back burner stuff I have in reserve for when the Layout reaches that stage.
Personally I like the Kids Hospital idea myself as the one in Halifax is a real crowd pleaser with the sick kids.
What I would do is remove everything except the contents of those two shelves, and then board up those two shelves with 1/4" ply… I say this because the image suggests the cabinet is recessed into the wall. If it is flush, or nearly so, then the carpet layers can work around the little that protrudes.
Can you get someone over to have a look? Get approval from the person responsible to Kalmbach for this project? Is the book shelf actually recessed?
Quick, liberate one of those plastic boxes used to pack files for shipment or storage - the ones with the snap-on lids and built-in handles. Line with extruded foam (I used fan-fold underlayment left over from a vinyl siding installation.) Carefully insert models, separated with suitable padding. When the lowest deck is full, add another layer of foam and continue.
Your models just have to survive movement for re-carpeting. Mine had to survive a 1700 mile road trip in the back of a Toyota pickup. They came through undamaged, and are currently in operation on the layout I couldn’t build until now.
Actually, it kind of reminds me of what happened at the high school a couple of years ago. Dave, my Department Chair was having his office re-done, so he came over to my office with–guess what?–his N-scale California Zephyr and asked if I’d baby sit it for him. I asked him why he just didn’t keep it at home, he said, “No, I like to have it around to look at.”
Lunchtime for a week consisted of Dave and myself, a Jesuit Priest and a couple of students setting it up and running it on the long table in my office. The other faculty members just smiled and shook their heads. We sure had fun, though.
Bergie, could the models survive the trip to your house, because you could just store them there until ya’ll get new carpets. Just put them on a book shelf there. Of course, you’ve thought of that, right?
Yeah, I’ve considered all of the moving options. It’s the “packing it all up, safe and sound” phase that I’m dreading. Every time I think I have a little time to work on the process, something distracts me.
Plus, in terms of the locomotives, most won’t fit back into their original boxes because detail parts (antenas, etc.) have been added that may break off (or keep them from going back in the box at all).
Art Curren did a really cool kitbash with that farmhouse. As you can see in the photo, Jimmy’s Barbershop is attached to the front corner, with full barbshop details inside.
However, the coolest part is a hidden feature: Art added a toilet vent to the roof of the house, made out of brass tube. When you push the toilet vent/brass tube down, it turns on the lights in the barbershop. It’s pretty slick how Art wired it up.
Maybe I’m missing something butI just dont get what the calamity is?[%-)]
As someone whos had to pull up, bubblewrap and box ALL my train stuff and my entire indoor and outdoor layouts twice in the last 3 years, I just dont see what the crisis is?
Heres what I would do:
Go to Office Depot, by a value 3-pack of records boxes w/ lids, a thing of shipping bubble wrap, and scotch tape.
Put each engine or car in wrap, placed in bottom of box, place lighter structures on top of engines, use wrap to cushion everything.
Take boxes out to car to take home or store them somewhere safe on site till carpet is done.
Complain loudly that instead of getting new carpet, I could really use a workdesk that isnt older than me, and who’s going to do anything about it?[banghead]
Hey… I said this is what I would do…[:-^]
BTW…the 2 layouts and mess of trains I stored were LARGE SCALE trains, these cheeky little HO thingies shouldnt be any trouble at all. [:O][swg]
