Tips For Storing Your Model Trains
If you are a train hobbyist, chances are good that you have a number of model trains that you have spent hours collecting. Because of the time and the money that you have invested into collecting these trains, you are going to want to store these trains in a safe location. Here are some tips for storing your model trains so that they are not damaged later on.
1. Store the Trains in Their Boxes
When you get the model train, you are going to want to make sure that you store it in the box that it came in. That box was strong enough to protect the train while it was in transit to the store where it was sold and even strong enough to protect it when it got shipped to your home if you ordered it online. This is a clear indication that the box that the train originally came in is definitely strong enough to store your train.
In order to make sure that you don't have to worry about moisture getting inside the box, throw in some silica packets that will absorb any errant moisture and make sure that you store the boxes out of direct sunlight so that they don't heat up. You don't want there to be much humidity or else the parts of your train are going to rust.
If you have painted your trains or if the trains are finely painted, you need to add colorless packing material to prevent the trains from rolling around in their boxes. Make sure that the packing material that you use doesn't have any dyes or else the dyes will rub off onto the trains. Stay away from using newspaper as a packing material due to the dye. Stay away from bubble wrap as a packing material because the bubbles could press indentations into the paint. Use alkaline tissue paper instead.
2. Store Trains With the Wheels Down
Your model trains are designed to have most of their stress on the wheels, rather than on any other part of the train. They should be stored in this manner. Make sure that you mark which end is up on the box that you store the train in and be sure to put the train in the box so that your markings are accurate.
3. Wrap Flat Cars Separately
A box of flat cars might have had many flat cars inside of it. You want to reuse this box, but you want to be sure that all of your flat cars have been wrapped in alkaline tissue paper separately to keep them from inadvertently scratching each other.
For more information, talk to a company like Ann's Hobby Center that specializes in model trains.