Good day to all. Due to the nature of my job I will be deploying to the Middle East in a short while. My layout will be inactive for six months, if I leave the rolling stock and locos in place on the layout will the wheels flat spot? Or should I remove and store them. Also, are there any other things I should consider. Have a great day.
Scott
Well Babe, good luck on your deployment.
The first order of business on your return will be track cleaning. To minimze that, you should cover the whole layout with light weight plastic drop cloths. The rolling stock should all be removed first and boxed to keep them dust free.
You may have to clean and relube some engines, but test run them first.
I don’t think you’ll get flat spots. I’d be more worried about dust. Probably best to put them in a box for that long. I’d try and think of a light plastic cover for the layout too. Maybe some thin painting drop cloth plastic.(don’t mash your scenery down)
Good luck over there and stay safe!
There’s no danger of wheels developing flat spots from sitting idle for months on end unless your layout is in a location where it gets hot enough to melt plastic. If that’s the case, you’ll have far more to worry about than flattened wheels.
As others have recommended, I’d box up the engines and rolling stock and cover the layout with lightweight plastic drop cloths to keep dust off. Even so, you’ll probably need to clean the track after you return.
Good luck and keep your head down.
I, too, would recommend boxing up your rolling stock - but not necessarily in the original boxes. When I moved across the country 35 months ago, I packed everything in portable plastic file boxes, equipment separated by strips of thin foam plastic. Everything survived in good order, even items just unpacked for the first time last week (had to wait for track space on the new layout!)
When covering a finished or semi-finished layout, arrange to apply and remove the dust cover without dragging it across anything. The object is to prevent damage, not to cause it.
As for your deployment, good luck and good hunting.
Chuck (MSgt USAF retired, modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
You could leave us the keys to your train room and we’d take turns keeping everything ship-shape while you were gone. [:D] That withstanding… don’t be a hero… come home in one piece!
A lot of what you need to think of has to do with where in the house you layout is located, and if anyone is going to be home to check on things while you are gone.
When I worked overseas, we kept our stateside house in Maine [hi neighbor] with my layout in the cellar. The cellar was dry, so I did not have to worry much about corrosion, but we did have some mice and the occasional chipmunk get in. I got a lightweight plastic drop cloth used for painting and covered the layout to keep the dust off. After the first year, I discovered some mice or chippies were storing acorns and nuts in one of my forrests. I bought some mothballs and tossed them in the problem areas, and the smell kept the critters away.
I worked for an oil companny in the midddle east for 17 years. I suggest you take a bunch of Ziplock bags of various sizes. The dust over there is like talcum powder and is very abrasive. Store your tapes/CDs and the player in the bags when not in use. Larger bags are useful for your better clothes as long as you can keep them dry when you are storing them; damp humid weather breeds mold big time. If you are going to be near water like the gulf or major rivers, expect it to be hot and humid this time of year; if not near water hot and dry. Winter can bring heavy rains and snow in the mountains.
Best of luck over there!!
Okay, real animals living in your forest is taking the whole reality thing too far! [;)]
Scott,As others have said remove your locos and cars and cover your layout.That is the best route.
Good luck on your deployment and stay safe…
Remember the sayings in 'Nam…Ain’t nothing worth dying for and there ain’t no live heroes.It don’t mean nothing.
I box up my cars and loco’s or if I don’t have the box I put them in those plastic 5 drawer containers you see on sale at Canadian Tire all the time. I use plastic drop sheets as well. They are only a few bucks and are in the paint section.
At least they were nice furry, cute critters unlike the big spider mikesmowers has on his layout - see p2 of this weeks photo fun
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/2/1172927/ShowPost.aspx#1172927
Not that what others are saying needs my input or reinforcement, but…
If I were deploying for even two months, I would simply remove the finer items and place them in storage containers on shelves or tucked under the benchwork.
Also, when we were finishing the basement around my first layout (definitely don’t recommend it…do the basement first!!!), I built towers out of wood scraps to place around bare spots on the layout to support plastic sheeting. You can appreciate that drywall dust would not have been useful to a model railroad, neither cosmetically nor mechanically. Basically, I build towers in the shape of an inverted T. That way, whatever you use will be kept up off the trees, power poles, buildings, and so on, but still afford the protection it was meant to.
One other thing, if you don’t mind a psychologist’s approach to deployments, rituals, and homecoming: when you pack stuff away, and then return to it, unpacking things that were “ritualistically” placed in safe-keeping is a good way to put the rigours and the stresses of the deployment behind you. Opening boxes to find treasures, setting your eyes on them anew, is a joyous thing. Reversing the ritual is as important as implementing it. Returning from the deployment should have its own whole meaning, apart from simply ending it. Also, count on finding all these little gems as your reward for all the hard work and emotion that you will have endured.
-Crandell