Large Scale Central

Storage

General Discussion
#1

Any of you that have operated on the IPP&W, know that Fred and Co store their rolling stock between sessions in bread trays. They have a couple of sheds with racks. At the end of each session, the cars are put in the trays based on location, and pulled out again at the start of the next session. Nifty idea! So, last year, a local nursery went out of business, and they had, literally, hundreds of bread trays for sale for $1 a piece. I bought a bunch. Over the last week, using a bunch of scrap 1x stock, I built me some racks!

Three sets of 7 racks a piece. I can fit 3-4 pieces of rolling stock in each tray. Now I can clear out some workshop space!

#2

Thats a great idea and easy to move from the storage to the layout. You can even take a wagon and build two racks that will allow you to put two or three of those trays onto. All you need to do is wheel it to the layout.

#3

Yea, when I first went to the IPP&W and saw them, I said “Damn, why didnt I think of that?” its so simple and elegant. I plan on making location name placecards that will fit over the rack, to identify what racks go to what town.

#4

This is a nice implementation of a really good idea. Personally my operation isn’t large enough to bother with that much storage.

I’m connected to the inside where I have storage yards and shelving. Part of the fun is running staging trains to set up the layout for an operating session. I’m not sure if I got that idea from Ric or I just started doing it and then realized we used a similar method.

I still keep toying around the idea of a vertical transfer table to load stacked storage shelves. It sounds neat, but moving only one or two cars at a time might get old fast.

#5

never said this to a dood before----Nice “Rack”

#6

Cale,

How did that work for you saying it to a female?

Great work, Bob. I’m always amazed how each location, operations, railroad is different and unique. Should prove great for fun and space. I’ve looke dyears for bread racks and finally got one this year. Skip MacEwen is looking at some plastic shelving at a nursery for building a live steam track. There are lots of things in the retail world that can be used for more than one thing.

#7

So that’s what bread trays are? Nice rack!

(http://www.lscdata.com/users/jebouck/bobsrack.jpg)

#8

Cool, I have plans for something like that under my layout, where I pulled out a old shorty refrigerator that no longer worked, I can get 4 shelfs in there but I was going to use fixed 1x’s & plywood, but if I could make or find sliders like these…Hmmmm :wink:

Bob, How wide are these trays?

#9

That is cool. Right now, I’m in Jon’s boat–not enough rolling stock to worry about it, but at the same time, carrying the cars out from the workshop (up a flight of stairs) two or three at a time gets tedious, too. If I could fit four or five cars per tray, that would make life much simpler.

Later,

K

#10

These trays are 24" x 20" inside measurement. Not quite big enough to fit a 40 foot car with couplers, but the rest of my rolling stock will fit.

There are larger trays, and I have a couple but I really wanted trays all the same, and this is what I could find.

Once I get the rest of that part of the shed organized, I can get some better pictures.

#11

Neat Idea, Bob…
Do we get a picture of the full shelves??

#12

I’ve had a couple requests for photos of the racks with cars in them. Here’s a typical one for me.

(http://zbd.com/photos/OnePoint20/IMGP7278.JPG)

and these with the slightly longer cars going the other way

(http://zbd.com/photos/OnePoint20/IMGP7279.JPG)

I intend on making cardboard separators with thin foam on them, and have a bunch of 3" square blocks of foam available to keep the cars from banging around when I move the racks. They dont have to be “Shipped by UPS” tight, just enough to not roll around a lot.

#13

We use a sheet of thin foam on the bottom of our trays. The foam used is the stuff they sell in rolls for use under floating flooring. We just tape it in using good old “Duct Tape”