Car Carrier
Safe HO Train Car Transport
Over the last year or so most of the rolling stock I have been using on the layout has been damaged in one way or another. Not having a sufficient way of packing them to take to shows has resulted in lots of little damage. Brake wheels seem to be the biggest victim.
I have just been setting them all side by side in a cardboard box with cardboard on top for a second layer. Needless to say this hasn’t been very good for the models.
I haven’t been too concerned about it as I plan on building a fleet of highly detailed equipment for the terminal, for now I am using the cars left over from my Port Kelsey layout.
After seeing what Rich Chrysler was using to transport his very detailed models I thought I would use something similer. What Rich uses is a Plano plastic box that seems to have been designed to fit a 40′ train car nicely (I think they are designed for fishing tackle and crafty trinkets). Unfortunatly I could not find one, so I figured why not make on out of wood with the laser.
Since I was making my own, I could design it exactly the way I wanted. To get it to fit on the laser, I needed to keep it under 12″ long. This would allow me a box that would fit 6 cars, which is good enough. I’ll just make a bunch of them. 6 to start with.
Each section is the right size for a 40′ car and bubble wrap. What Rich does is create a little cradle out of a sheet of bubble wrap. This can be used to lift the car in and out of the box.
I cut the bubble wrap on the laser too.
There is just enough space for the car and the bubble wrap in each section, this keeps the cars from sliding around in the box.
Time for a torture test….
They passed the test well, nary a broken brake wheel.
Five more getting a finish. This gives me a total of 6 boxes, enough storage for 36 cars which will be enough for now. Eventually I will need another 6 or 7 boxes.
These should do well for the 500 1000 mile trip to Springfield this weekend…
Obligatory dog picture. Bath night.
-T.
About the Author:
I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!
Posted by: Tim | 01-18-2009 | 11:01 PM
Posted in: Latest Posts | Comments (4)
