Moving to a new house: Pros, Cons and Advice.

[NWsteam]

Pros: I'll get a fresh start at a layout. Things that are terribly frustrating with the current layout can be corrected.

Cons: I'll have to start from square one. That's a lot of work, time, money, etc.

Of course everything that can be saved from the current layout will be. My main question is, what is the best way to pack equipment?

Thanks for the input,
Brad

[NarrowMinded]

I ship a lot of stuff I sell on eBay, if I don't have the original box I always place each item in a plastic bag, this seems to prevent paint rubs form travel vibration.
I then wrap it in news paper and tape it closed, next place it in a box and put a layer of crumpled news paper around/between items. the big thing is to make sure each item is prevented from moving/sliding around, if there are things like smoke stacks and whistles I will remove them wrap them and place them in the bag before packing.

NM
P.S. since you are moving your stuff you may consider placing some of your bath towels on the bottom of boxes and on top and between layers to help absorb some of the shock from a dropped box.

[Doneldon]

NW-

Congrats on the new house, I hope. But you're right, moving is a lot of work.

I suppose the best way to move trains depends on how far you'll be moving and your own ability to move them yourself. A move across town is easy  -- just pack 'em carefully, handle 'em gently, and move them yourself. A longer move will require more work and attention.

When I've moved, I've always put as many things in their original packing and boxes as possible and then wrapped the other pieces individually. Combine items of similar size, put packing between them if necessary and then pack them firmly in larger boxes. You want boxes large enough to be worth your while, too big to carry with other boxes, yet small enough that no one will have to struggle to carry it. The idea is to have a box which won't be manhandled with several others and won't be put down roughly due to its weight.

This is all pretty easy with locomotives and rolling stock. It's more complicated with scenery and, especially, buildings. With these your goal is the same but you'll have two added challenges: First, these things can be broken just by the act of packing them. Second, they have awkward, dissimilar shapes and light weight which means they demand lots more packing between items and many, many larger boxes. Don't be daunted by that and attempt to jam things into fewer boxes just to keep the volume down. The trick is to pack things so they are tight enough not to shake around or rub against one another but not so tight that you break them just in packing.

Label your boxes and keep a detailed inventory of what's in each box. That will make unpacking easy as you'll be able to find what you need without going through everything.

I can't make any good suggestions about moving your layout, if that's your intent, because I haven't done that. But I have moved several times, including across the country, and I've never had a single broken item. Good luck with this process and remember that it does come to an end. That can seem far away when you're in the middle of it.
                                                                                                                                              -- D

[Jim Banner]

Last time I moved, my employer paid for professional packing.  At one point, I wandered into the train room to see how it was going.  The packer was taking three or four cars at a time and wrapping them together in large sheets of newsprint.  Then she happened to pick up a locomotive in its original box.  She stared at the price tag for a few moments and immediately started unpacking the cars she had already wrapped.  When the boxes arrived at my new home, every car, every building, every little piece was individually wrapped.  All without a word from me.

When shipping locomotives and occasionally cars, I use the foam sold as underlay for click flooring.  Like plastic bags, it prevents paint scuff and you can wrap as many turns as it takes to pad the detail parts.  Best of all, it is light weight and cheap.

Jim

[rogertra]

I scrapped my GER about a year ago and believe me, it was NOT a con it was a Pro.  Once I made that first cut, which is as they say, "The deepest" there was no going back and it was the best thing I ever did.

It's great to have a new space to create a whole new world and to find out about a whole load of new mistakes I can make.

Moving is a positive, not a negative.  It gives you a chance to become creative all over again.

Best of luck with the new railroad.

[jward]

i always try to save the original boxes and pack the trains in it. buildings are another story as once you build them they don't fit in the box anymore.

for equipment i don't have boxes for, i wrap them in newspaper and pack them on their sides in a box.

good luck in the new place.

[ebtnut]

Wrapping rolling stock in foam or plastic, then in newspaper or paper towels (and in original boxes if you have them) is generally fine.  For structures, you might be better off going to FedEx or a UPS store and have them help pack them in styrofoam "peanuts".  That may be the best way to deal with the odd shapes of the buildings.

[terry2foot]

I found it useful to try to standardize on box sizes, as this helps when packing the vehicle and stabileses the load.

I used the boxes that 5 packs of copy paper comes in for the stuff I moved myself. These are relatively thin but can be stacked two or three high in a normal car without problems.

For the stuff the removal company moved, I used some three ply special card boxes that my then employer used to ship their products, these were approximately 15"x12" x8" and had very solid walls (three thicknesses of three ply) and could be stacked at least five boxes high. The outside boxes that toys and stuff gets shipped in from China are very suitable to be re-used, particularly those used for 2 sets of inline skates as an alternative.     

Pack books and magazines in boxes separate from models and mark the boxes heavy. 


Have fun with your move and look on the positive side,

Terry2foot

[jward]

how big of an area will you have for a layout?

[Joe323]

Its Expensive but I used bubble wrap from costco to wrap my stuff.

[NWsteam]

Thanks for all the replies. I do have most of the original boxes and will be relyling on them for transportation. What I was most worried about are the scratchbuild building and kits that will most definitely find a home on the new layout. As to distance it's only 15 minutes up the road. As to space, I will nearly double current space. Which is an extremely exciting prospect! Nothing is official yet. In fact this move might not even happen at all. I would just like to be prepared if everything falls into place.

I scrapped my GER about a year ago and believe me, it was NOT a con it was a Pro.  Once I made that first cut, which is as they say, "The deepest" there was no going back and it was the best thing I ever did.

I read the article Tony Koester did (What timing) in the April 2011 and your situation is mentioned. I would agree that overall, a new house/new railroad is a good thing. But there are some cons and one would be quite foolish not to recognize that. The amount of money that must be sunk into a new railroad is pretty large. I'm also not a very big fan of being an armchair modeler. Finally had space to run equipment...
Like I said, for the most part I'm excited about it, just thinking out loud about some of the negative aspects.

-Brad

[Doneldon]

NW-

Oh, 15 minutes. Then I'd pack buildings loosely and
move them myself in my car (on the seats, not in the
trunk). You should be able to move everything
without any problems.
                                               -- D

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

I used the boxes that 5 packs of copy paper comes in for the stuff I moved myself. These are relatively thin but can be stacked two or three high in a normal car without problems.

Even though I have no plans to move, virtually all my rolling stock that isn't currently in use is stored in computer paper boxes that I brought home from work. (Periodically, whenever a huge pile of empty boxes accumulates, my employer lets us take as many as we want, rather than put them in the trash or recycling.)  Of course whenever possible I keep the original boxes for the locomotives and cars, which makes it easy to pack them in the computer paper boxes. I love these boxes for packing/storing just about anything. Because they aren't too big, they never get too heavy, even when packed full.

[rogertra]

I also used one ream paper boxes as they are ideal for freight and passenger cars.

I don't however save original freight car boxes as the fully assembled freight cars rarely fit back into their boxes once the couplers etc., are added.  Besides, who wants to keep a couple of hundred boxes around just in case you move?  Easier just to use print paper boxes.

Generally speaking, my locos were repaced into their original boxes with modifications made to the foam packing inserts to allow couplers and other added details to fit and also to accommodate the various kitbashes made to the original locomotives and tenders.

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Besides, who wants to keep a couple of hundred boxes around just in case you move? 

Well, after you've gone to the Big Roundhouse in the Sky, when your heirs have to sell your rolling stock, the cars will be worth more in their original boxes. ...