Budget Model Railroading Freebie. Pizza Box Rolling Stock Storage!

For the budget model railroader effective storage is an interesting issue.   It is not difficult to cheaply store ones trains, but the issue is finding a method that makes best use of space, achieves easy accessibility and allows for quick assembly of consists. 

I've tried a number of methods.  Originally I stored all my rolling stock in individual boxes, either originals or tuck flap boxes I purchased for them.  It worked fine for a while but it was not space efficient and putting together a consist required locating and opening ALOT of boxes. 

As I moved away from individual boxes, one of my favorite methods has become drawers and I have acquired an architects drawing cabinet for much of my assorted rolling stock. 

It's very convenient and attractive but it's not particularly affordable and it's a rather large piece of furniture.

I wanted to find some storage method that would be cheap, modular enough to be stored in a variety of spaces and similar to drawers for easy access to several cars at once. 

The answer was sitting in my grocery cart.  This is a medium-sized take-and-bake pizza box from Aldi.   

The large thin crust boxes are too thin, but these medium specialty pizza boxes are almost exactly the depth of a piece of rolling stock plus 2 layers of bubble wrap.   

The pizza arrives fully wrapped so if you take it out of the box first there' no grease or mess on the box.  It can be easily turned inside out to move the printing to the inside of the box.

It's about 12 inches on a side and each box will hold at lesat 5 Passenger coaches or 6 pieces of freight rolling stock in the 50'-60' range.    11-12 inches is a fairly standard shelf size and -best of all- it only takes up the width and height on a shelf of a bit more than 3 standard Athearn Blue Boxes.

Here's a similar box with 6 IHC coaches albeit no vista domes.

I haven't glued the bubble wrap in place but arranged to provide trenches for the cars it stays in place easily so far.   They even have a window so you can quickly tell what's in each box, though I will of course be labeling mine along the edge.

I really feel likeI've stumbled onto something great here.   We eat these pizza's with some regularity and I have plenty of bubble wrap from various online purchases so this storage method is essentially free!  It's the most efficient use of space I've seen so far has a nice orderly look on the shelf.  I've been putting rolling stock in these boxes by line and type so on a small layout like mine one only has to pull a few of boxes at a time to put together a consist.  

One final note.  Some rolling stock is not well suited for being laid on one side and will not do well in these type of boxes.  Examples might include such things as diesel locomotives with plastic railings and rounded canadian-style grain hoppers whose curved walls put pressure on stirrups when laid on their sides.   These are best stored upright and I will be posting about my methods for this in the future.

-Karl