Hey, I just wanted to pass along something that I picked up recently.
Over Christmas I decided to purchase and try out a couple of cardboard model train storage boxes to house my extra rolling stock and locomotives in. Well, they showed up on my doorstep this afternoon and I had a chance to try them out this evening:
These are made by Axian Technology, who specializes in machining and tooling for the aerospace, medical, electronics, annnnd…MRR industry. [%-)] (I guess the president or CEO must be a MRRer?) Although the 28 x 12-1/2" containers aren’t inexpensive (~$22 each), they do appear to be well constructed, cradle and support their contents securely, and come in both N- and HO-scales.
From the 2nd picture, you can see that they’ll hold up to 16 - 40’ boxcars. They also come with extra pieces of foam strip for filler, if you need it. Having not found a very satisfactory way of carting my locos and rolling stock around, I thought I’d give these a try.
My main concern is whether or not the cardboard “ears” on the lid (that slip into the front slots) will hold up. (Velcro would probably work well if that happened.) All in all, I think I’ll be pretty happy with them.
With that said, I would still be very interested in hearing from those of you who have come up with you own, more economical creations for either storing or carting your stuff to and from the MRR club. If you have, would some of you be willing to
I use something similar for my N-Scale rolling stock but I keep my locomotives in their original manufacturers boxes in a large plastic carrying case. I also keep my DT400R in there as well. I need to carry this stuff with me since I use my trains on the club layout. My layout isn’t ready to run anything on yet.
I’ve seen those boxes and they work very well. I still prefer to keep my rolling stock and locomotives in their original boxes when they are stored or being transported to a show. I use Photocopy paper boxes to carry my stuff to shows. They easily hold around 20 original boxes in them. At home I store my extra rolling stock and engines that are only used on my layout in those plastic drawer towers you see at Home Depot or Canadian Tire. They slide right under the layout, are on wheels so they can be moved anywhere and keep everything inside clean.
I don’t like the price of those things so I make my own from appliance boxes that I scrounge from the stores. Same design just scrounged (recycled) cardboard. BILL
Storage?? Easy ! I just back the 4 engines in the locomotive shed and the box and log cars stay outside where they belong, the more dust, the better the weathering.
If you click on the third pic to enlarge it, you’ll see that the foam base inside has four horizontal cradles shaped like " ____/ ", along with vertical strips of foam on the underside of the lid that keep everything from shifting - either vertically or horizontally. The additional foam strips that come with the box can also be added for cushioning heavier or more delicate items.
The one thing I noticed with the “pre-50’s” 40’ box cars is that it’s important to keep the delicate vertical brake wheels on the top side when you lay it in the cradle. Otherwise, you run the risk of breaking the wheel off the vertical brake rod.
I built trays that fit into a computer paper box to carry my equipment to train shows. Each tray will hold 10 40’ and 4 50’ cars. They are made of foamcore board that I buy at the framing shop. Each box will hold 3 trays. A tray will hold 6 85’ passenger cars with 2 shorter baggage or RPO cars.
These are inexpensive and the outer boxes are relatively easy to obtain. I assemble the trays with white glue. I have been using these for several years and they seem to be holding up pretty well.
around Christmas time Home Depot had some “husky” brand aluminum suitcase looking boxes. I think they are called “technician boxes”? anyways at 20$ea mine lock and are really nice for travelling to the club layout. I just cut out foam to fit my engines into. It even has a little pouch for tools like a tiny screwdriver, and the other stuff you need as soon as you leave home!
Since all my rolling stock and most all of my loco’s are Athern and still in the original box’s, I store them in those large plastic totes with lids. Water,dust, rodent and pet-proof, I can fit around 75 into each one with no problem. I have 3 just full of cars and 1 of loco’s, with a 4th for plastic buildings and hand-built items. Each tote has a listing of the items within, and if I want a specific piece, I just pop the lid look at the list and go from there.
I guess I took a cheaper way out of this problem. Since I’m in a club, I’ve made “carry boxes” from several different, but common type boxes. A good source is the box that computer keyboards are shipped in. The depth is about right for HO rolling stock. I cut two sheets of bubble wrap (small bubble) and attach them to the inside of the lid and the bottom of the box. Next, I take some medium density foam (used as a packing material, it looks like styrofoam but is somewhat flexible) the one inch thick stuff seems to be best for HO. I cut the foam to fit inside the box, then trace the outline of locomotives on the foam and cut it out with an X-Acto knife, giving me custom slots for each locomotive. If the box is a bit too deep for the foam and bubble wrap to hold them securely, add a layer or more of corrugated cardboard to the bottom or top before the bubble wrap.
Some computer cables, such as IEEE’s come in a similar box that can work just as well. Any shallow, flip top box is a good candidate. Remember, free material is always good. Just add a little effort.
It’s funny you should mention that, Tom. I was standing in my office cubicle just this past afternoon. On top of one of my cubicle bookshelves is a DELL computer keyboard box that contains the keyboard, mouse, and cabling for my new computer. I looked at it and thought to myself, “Ya know? That’s about the same shape and size as the Axian boxes that I just bought. I bet that would work pretty well as a storage unit, too.” (And, the actual keyboard boxes themselves should be just the right size for N-scale rolling stock and locos.)
Now, after reading of your solution - and the fact that we have 8 new computers sitting around waiting to get set up here at work, I may have to abscond with a few of the extra keyboard boxes. (Minus the keyboards, that is.)
Tom, for the ear flaps that concern you: when I was in the Canadian Tank Corps we used to plasticize our maps by covering them with a pastic, pealing, sheet. The stuff was made by 3-M or something like that, and came in rolls about 3’ long. I think it was called Map Tack, or something like that. You would measure and cut borders about an inch long on all sides of the object (map in this case), then begin to peal off the backing. We would align the map edge with the one edge of the product, and then continue to press the product to the map face while pealing away the backing from underneath, trying to avoid bubbles. I don’t know if something of that nature can be had near you, but it would add years of life to your dog-ears. Failing that, try cheapo packing tape. Whatever that adds a slippery and robust, durable, skin to those flaps is sure to help. I would do the corners of each box as well.
