Hello all. When you folks are not running your trains, what do you all do with your engines. Do you: park in a roundhouse, remove from the track, and if you remove do you put them in a wall mounted display case or back in the original package, cover layout with a cover. Just curious what some of you do. As for me I am in the process of building my layout so mine are in the original package until I can find a nice wall mount display case.
Mine just stay on the layout or if no room they are stored in a tray in some storage units i have under the layout. Dave
Mine go back in my wall mounted display cases. Cuts down on the dust and cat hair that seems to be floating around everywhere. Also helps protect the precious from CatZilla as well.... Brian
I use to just take that really light plastic and drape it over the whole layout and leave everything in place. I don't have a layout now, just table setup... So I just take pieces of paper and fold them like a V and put them over all the cars and stuff, just to keep the dust off. Dust is the enemy of all collectibles. You can blow it off from a short period of time. But if you leave it too long, it eventually starts sticking on there. I think it probably starts combining with other stuff in the air and then it's just stuck on for good.
My rolling stock gets put back in the boxes (most of the time), put into a plastic storage drawers, but the layout isn't covered. It's pretty small and most of the track has been removed (lots of damage/problems when I installed it originally).
I've made shelving using chair railing from the local home improvement center. I just mount track on the 1 1/4" wide railing and attach it to the wall.
Hi, The locos and the cars that are on the layout stay there the others are stored in their boxes and shelved. Since the railroad is in its own building I turn off the lights and close the door. Gary
I have those plastic office supply storage drawers from Staples and place either bubble wrap or rubber shelf liner on the bottom so the cars and locos don't slide around. I originally bought it for my HO trains but after I sold them off I discovered I can use them for N-scale as well...and store even MORE of them! I also have them organized: one drawer for locos, one for boxcars/reefers, another for autoracks, another for doublestacks, passenger cars, etc.
I put mine back in their boxes. One day I hope to build a display case for all my trains so that I can see what I have and to make it easier to rotate stuff onto the layout.
My layout is in my attached garage - where three cats access their litter boxes through a kitty-door in the wall. So I have dust and kitty hair. I usually have a couple trains made up on the layout, including a passenger train - sometimes two. I usually keep rolling stock in recent use on the layout, but engines go in a safe that is under the layout, which is supposed to be fireproof. I use a small soft bristle paint brush to clear the dust off the cars, structures, etc. from time to time.
Have to many to put away and to many to put on the layout.. What to do.. See for yourself.. Todd Treaster, NY,S&A
Hi peradocsus, If you, like me, have more locomotives than track, the locomotives should be stored where they are reatively safe from harm and easy to find. I keep my off-track locomotives in their original boxes, wheels down. Wheels down is important, since you don't want any lubricants seeping down into unwanted places. Easy to find is another matter - I use tiny Post-Its on top of the jewel cases/boxes. have fun,
As an after thought considering those who store theirs...maybe the carrying cases in this thread would work in that regard... http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=114613 Just a thought. .
I try to keep all my cars and locos in the original package. But i often get lazy and leave them in the staging area.
All 60 of my display cases I made.. Some are a dozen or so are 6' long, most are 4' some are 3 and a few are 2'.. They are made to fit the space in most cases.. The large ones will hold 400 cars.. They are not hard to make a table saw and radial arm saw is the main tools that you need.. I use 3/8" x 1 3/8" door jam stock for the shelves and cut track groves with a Dremel table saw for the wheels.. Todd Treaster, NY,S&A
My trains are either put away in their cases, on display over my desk, or on the layout. I hope to get them all onto the layout at some point, but the layout is far too small to allow for that now. Generally, as I remove locomotives from boxes to put them on the layout, they stay there, inside the roundhouse, until it's time to move the layout to make way for guests. The switchers generally stay in the yard, and the loco/train I'm running stays on the mainline.
All of my engines and rolling stock have a storage box home, and are shelved when not in use, most of the engines are in their original foam packed plastic jewel boxes. I have found that this practice is a little more time consuming, but my oldest locos are in pristine condition and run like the day they were made. When I use them, I leave them on my layout which is in my living room, and swap them out regularly. Keeps 'em fresh and lively. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
