Keeping Trains in Boxes

[jimhaleyscomet]

For a long time I had all my train boxes (including many sets) in the attic. I stored all my cars on tracks or shelves. Then I decided to store my train sets in the boxes so they would be more easily stackable in my closet. Now every time I open a a train set box from storage it feels like I just bought a new set!

For now on it is boxed train storage for me!

Jim H

[daan]

I also like to put the trains I'm not using directly in their boxes. After a while of running with others I can change the loco's and I can rejoy the "new" engines. If you see all engines every day, you get used to it and it gets boring. If you store them for a few months out of sight, you know you still have them, but forgot how they looked like precisely.. After a while they come out of the box, back on track, and it's like having a sort of birthday..

[prewardude]

Yep, I keep mine in boxes, too, when I'm not running them. I do this mainly to keep the dust off of them (I live in an old and very dusty farmhouse). It is sort of like opening up a new train, when you haven't seen them for a few months!

[Anonymous]

Can't wait to get them out and onto my new shelves where I can easily reach/run them.

[dougdagrump]

By boxing and un-boxing what is the possibility of trapping moisture, in the form of hi humidity, inside the box, especially if you reuse the plastic wrap that came with them. Could this lead to problems down the road? [:(]

[daan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dougdagrump

By boxing and un-boxing what is the possibility of trapping moisture, in the form of hi humidity, inside the box, especially if you reuse the plastic wrap that came with them. Could this lead to problems down the road? [:(]

I guess not. It's done in the factory too and if the house you live in is that moist that it could bring problems down the line you would have mushrooms growing on the walls.
You see it on ebay, the boxed items are mostly in far better condition as the ones that have been stored in a garage somewhere on a dusty shelf.
What IS a problem on the long term is direct sunlight. The weakeners start to evaporate after a long time in the sun making the shell very breakable and the colors fade.
Rust is something only excists when it's stored on a very moist place and the breaking apart of diecast (tinpest in dutch) has to do with a bad metal mixture and comes from inside the diecast. Nothing you can do about it.
Best is to store out of direct sunlight in a dry room with more or less constant temperature.. With or without box is not the big issue.

[Anonymous]

Most of my engines are stored in their boxes. Lionel engines are easy to remove from their packing and MTH as well. Atlas engines are another story. All of my atlas engines are stored out of their boxes because it is so hard to remove them. The newer atlas engines have fine truck details that are easily broken. I do agree that the best place to store engines is in a low humidity, and no sunlight location. A dehumidifier is the best purchase I have ever made. Ozone is also very destrutive to plastic. Keep this in mind if there are electric motors and electronics around your trains. My collection is large and on my layout I cannot have every railcar or engine I own on it. I rotate the rolling stock and engines on the layout. It is also a good idea to keep your boxes in case you move. I have a friend who had to move and he threw away all of the original boxes and packing. He had to buy packing materials and boxes to move his trains. My wife doesn't like me to keep the boxes. It does take up a lot of space to keep the boxes but it is worth it in case you move or (gasp)sell them.

[tschmidt]

I keep almost all my trains out on shelves. I bought those 6' aluminum shelves and they display the trins nicely. On one wall I put the shelves end to end for some 12' lengths. It is important that I dust them on a regular basis. I store all my boxes and packing materials in plastic bins out over the garage.

Now the problem is that I am running out of shelf room and room on the track. If I buy more trains I will have to decide what to do with them. I like the idea of keeping some items put away for awhile and getting them out at another time.

Tom

[lionelsoni]

I have 283.5 feet of K-Line O27 track mounted with corner braces to two walls, as a cheaper alternative to manufactured shelves. I also have an 8-track main yard on the layout with about 88 feet of track. So I am able to keep everything handy and out of boxes. I have saved a lot of boxes. But I have collapsed them and thrown away the foam inserts from the modern ones; so I suspect that they would have little value. I probably have no more than two or three boxes that would begin to be worth the hassle of saving them.