Car Storage Boxes

[btrain]

In 2019, I was at Ohio N scale weekend in Columbus. There was a vendor who was selling white cardboard boxes with foam inserts. You could fit two tiers of railroad cars with foam wedges separating each row and a foam sheet separating the tiers. The box is 23 1/4" long, 18 1/4" wide by 3" tall. I can't find the vendor online and there isn't a name on the boxes. Would anyone know who sold these or if there is a similar design I could purchase that is currently available?

[C855B]

http://www.axiantech.com/ModelRR.html

[w neal]

I miss G&G Trains too. Especially those boxes!! I may have some in my stash. If so, I'll bring em. Loved their simple design and custom - ability.

[nickelplate759]

http://www.axiantech.com/ModelRR.html

I have 5 of these Axian boxes and like them a lot.    They are single layer though - so what you saw must have been different.

[John]

http://www.axiantech.com/ModelRR.html

30 bucks for a cardboard box with foam?   I have a bunch of Dell Keyboard boxes I got at work .. and some cheap foam, a glue gun --

[POVC]

In 2019, I was at Ohio N scale weekend in Columbus. There was a vendor who was selling white cardboard boxes with foam inserts. You could fit two tiers of railroad cars with foam wedges separating each row and a foam sheet separating the tiers. The box is 23 1/4" long, 18 1/4" wide by 3" tall. I can't find the vendor online and there isn't a name on the boxes. Would anyone know who sold these or if there is a similar design I could purchase that is currently available?

,

I suspect the dealer in question may have been Spring Mills Depot, who is a frequent vendor at Timonium shows.  Unfortunately it appears then have stopped selling boxes as of 2020; according to their website the increase in shipping costs eroded their sales to the point that it was no longer profitable.

Tim

[ridinshotgun]

,

I suspect the dealer in question may have been Spring Mills Depot, who is a frequent vendor at Timonium shows.  Unfortunately it appears then have stopped selling boxes as of 2020; according to their website the increase in shipping costs eroded their sales to the point that it was no longer profitable.

Tim

Spring Mills were single layer too.  They just used a double layer of foam to get the HO boxes to hold N scale but they still only held one layer of cars.  I had a set of them and traded them off for some axian boxes because no matter what I did to affix the little foam strips they would come loose and I ended up with a mess in the boxes every time I got to a show or home from a show

[Wolf N Works]

The folks that did train boxes plus are still there are at least last year when I reached out to them. David Gold replied to me request with info on their very nice boxes, but the cost was way to hi for me.  If I was close to them, then maybe but the cost of a single box plus add shipping.... I post for those that maybe interested.

trainboxesplus@icloud.com

Thank you for your interest I our train boxes.  We have two different boxes for N scale.  Each box is approximately 31 inches long, 14 inches wide, and either 6 or 12 inches tall. The 6 inch tall box will hold approximately 100 fifty foot boxcars. The 12 inch tall box holds about 200 fifty foot boxcars. The short box has three trays and the tall one has six trays.  Each tray is divided into three slots about 3 inches wide. Each slot holds a piece of foam with multiple slots cut into it for holding the cars. We have different cuts of foam, depending on what train cars are in your collection.  Wide cuts work well for auto racks, regular cut for boxcars, narrow cut for shorter cars. We have a 3 slot foam piece that works well for gondolas.
The three tray box is $65 and the 6 tray box is $115. Shipping will vary depending on exact address. We use Fed Ex Ground and they require exact address for pricing. I don’t have your address so found one in your zip code. The small box runs $30 and the large box runs $42 to ship to xxxxx using that address. Pay Pal is the preferred method of payment. Checks are accepted but will cause a delay in shipment, til processed. Let me know if you have any other questions or would like to order a box.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

30 bucks for a cardboard box with foam?   I have a bunch of Dell Keyboard boxes I got at work .. and some cheap foam, a glue gun --

Yep. But what is the value of your time?

[C855B]

Yep. But what is the value of your time?

That, and the challenge of acquiring the "proper" foam. Even Axian advises that their boxes are not advised for long-term storage. The problem with most foams is there is enough off-gassing of volatiles that they can soften paints used on models.

To wit, I have problems with Red Caboose mech reefers in the Axian cases, where the cars stick to the foam and lift with the lid if I haven't opened them for a few months. It's just these cars, too. In that instance it's all about the pressure from the wedge-style containment that makes them better for transport, things don't shift around. For level storage I would prefer straight bits of foam in rows where the rolling stock is stored on their wheels, the foam just keeping the car sides from banging into each other.

[Rivet Miscounter]

Yep. But what is the value of your time?

And also, the value of a consistent size, capability to be stacked, and the volume of cars within a single footprint.   Try stacking keyboard boxes 36" high.  (actually, don't.  lol)    I have access to keyboard boxes and any number of Dell boxes that are attractive for train storage...but you get what you pay for.   I do use them for some things...some thicker boxes are good for scenic items and assembled structures, etc.   But more and more that stuff goes in cheap dollar store clear plastic containers, so it's easy to see what's what.

I have the TrainboxesPlus boxes from waaaayyy back, and I cannot speak highly enough of them.  And I have seen a good variety of commercially made boxes over the years.   Having said that, they "rebooted" so I'm not exactly sure of their current offerings but if I were going down this path in search of boxes, they would be my first inquiry.  I will say their prices are much higher than before, but I would still probably buy them since you likely only need a few.

I did not have any foam issues with TrainboxesPlus and had cars in there for long term storage....10 years plus in some cases.   The old High Iron boxes, however...I had cars that stuck to their foam *hard* and did damage some paint in a few cases.   It only took a couple of instances where I opened the lid and cars were stuck to the foam on the lid that I dispatched those in a hurry.

I actually still have my N TrainboxesPlus boxes.   Now in Z, my plan is to cut them down so they are a correspondingly shorter (160/220ths shorter) with the same depth and height.   The short slots are about right for most Z cars, and the larger slots can hold the smaller jewel cases I think.

[John]

Yep. But what is the value of your time?

Once I retire - time will be plentiful   -- of course, I don't drag stuff around to ntrak shows either ..