I plan on scratch building a train shed out of hardboard (maybe covered with some other material) with an inner wood frame, and was wondering, if the train shed is made insulated enough, could it perhaps store trains for some periods of time (days/weeks) assuming the weather isn’t severe (occasional rain/no storms etc)?
Storing trains in a shed like that could save a lot of time between running sessions
Max…
Are you making a functional (big) shed to store trains on parallel tracks, against a snowfall?
And / or you trying to create a small prototypical snowshed?
I store my trains in my garage. It’s unheated with just the minimal insulation like a typical garage. Drive them in and out. Not sure what the difference would be?
I think it was Marty Cozad who had a huge outdoor train shed. Somehow Ric Golding was connected. Maybe the shed was named for him. Anyway, he made it weatherproof and the long gabled roof was hinged so he could access all the stored trains from above.
Storing outdoors should not be a problem so long as stuff stays dry.
@Stan_Ames stores all his locomotives outside during the summer in various train sheds around the layout.
I have a 4’ X 24’ shed alongside my house, been storing 7 trains in it for years with no problem. the roof has 3 sections of roof that are hinged.
I have 14 cars that stay out year round. In the Summer I leave them out on the sidings. I like to see them and think that a train will come round to collect them at any moment. The other day I sent a train round to grab all the cars and bring them to the side yard. It is a small yard next to my house and out of the sun for much of the day. The cars will stay there all Winter unless we have a nice day and a train is running.
I’d say that you can keep your cars outdoors, under cover is better but I’d still bring in anything with electronics in it as well as collectable pieces.
It is certainly a time saver to only have to bring out the power supply and a couple of engines when the cars are already sitting on the tracks.
All of my stock is in various types of sheds or an engine shed , all kept dry but mice and bugs do find their way in …
If a storm (snow) is coming I leave a plow train in my tunnel so the wheels are as cold as the rails…
As Sean says, the bugs get in. I had spider nests to clear, etc.
Sorry for the late reply, but the idea is to make a prototypical shed, wide enough for 2 tracks and 3-5 feet long.
I’m not intending to make it an actual storage solution but every now and again I imagine I might leave trains there if possible to save time, depending on weather conditions
I would think that would be ok, if its weatherproof. Like I said, @Stan_Ames stores his locos in train sheds, and a bunch of us leave rolling stock out all summer.
Humidity not an issue for rust?
Indeed. Stan has lots of tunnels, and parks locos in them as well.
Depending on your era / area, you might also consider snow sheds for the same storage purpose. E.g.,
https://www.donnersummithistoricalsociety.org/pages/exhibits/snowsheds.html
Folks;
One of our club members, Otto Hartenstein, had built a storage building (to scale) that looked along the side like the business district of on old western town. The building behind the facade held a siding that concealed a work train. It did protect the train, but mice got into the building, chewed through the heavy threads for the wrecking crane cables, and used the threads as nesting material. Otto decided not to use that idea again. Depending on how well you can seal the structure, your results may vary. I think that track was ballasted, but only on the ground. A sub floor may have kept the mice from digging into that structure.
Regards, David Meashey