Since I model a short line I park the engine next to the office,shut it down and go "home". In other words everything stays on the layout except the cars on the interchange track..These gets removed and placed in a storage box and I then replace them with new "inbound" cars...
Hello! It's a hot question! It's worth to leave it in layout, but layout must have a big hidden station for different trains, because regular placing and removing trains with a lot of cars - is too fiddly and dangerous (probability for car's crack) procedure. I m also making my layout, and already progected some hidden and opened ways, depots and shedds for these trains. ---- Vadim
i always put them back in the boxes , then into a drawer, drawer filled to the top with bubble wrap. why ? simple. as you all know the earth is round and it spins. so at a certain point in time during the night your layout is head over heels causing your engines to fall of the track towards the ceiling. of course in the morning they fall back on the track so you'll not notice anything.... *lol*...
I never really thought about wheels down. Mine are stored in a drawer in their jewel cases but they are on their side. I'm going to move them right now.
Most of mine are put in there jewel boxes and then in plastic "shoe boxes" which I will only buy on sale. Those I run a lot are either on the layout (when I have one), or on their sides on a foam "cafeteria tray" which can be stacked 2 or so deep in a drawer. I acquired the trays by saving mine from the cafe at a company I was temping for some time ago.
I have some plastic pistol cases lined with foam I got for about $2 each at a rummage sale. I keep them in their original boxes in the pistol cases oriented so the wheels are down when the case is sitting handle up. Nice and secure ahnd dust free but easy to move around or take with me.
In their Jewel cases, in a plastic rollaway cabinet. Safe dust free and away from the Pups whom have the run of the house.:tb-wink:
Under my layout I have a rolling 11 drawer tool chest with shallow drawers. Seperate drawers for DCC and analog locos, others for home road cars, Canadian interchange, US interchange cars, caboose and MOW, 2 for PAX cars, 1 for tankers, 1 for autoracks and unit coal trains and the last for grain cars. the larger bottom two drawers are for tools and supplies. Using this kind of cart is a little overkill, but considering the fact that my kids are three and five and love playing under and on the undec parts of the layout, the lock has proven its worth several times over.
At the present time all of my cars and locos are off the layout because the layout is not finished. When finished, a few locos and engines will be on the layout; but, will be periodically removed and stored in display cabinets or in rolling file cabinets beneath the layout. As far as those items on the layout... since I won't leave them there very long, I do not plan on covering them while on the layout. I always keep most of the boxes for locos and rolling stock for safety and potential ease of resale. For any which I no longer have their boxes OR if I want to keep unit trains together... I buy the DeLuxe Innovations Unit Packs.
Mine stay on the layout. I have some long sidings on the third level that are hard to see through buildings and scenery. So some 60-car trains have been lost up there, one for more than two years, when I forgot the siding was even there.
While I occasionally leave some of them out too long, I divide them into two groups. 1. Stock locos can be left out indefinitely because I can brush the dust off once and a while, and then they can be disassembled and washed if need be. 2. Kitbashed, superdetailed and custom painted locos need to not stay out and get too dusty. Ron
