38 replies to this topic

[TheBrickster]

Over the past few weeks, as I've been taking many trains out of their storage boxes and building them, I realized that I'd like to leave these great sets out for some time in the distant future.  My dilema is that I want to destroy my Train Town which will displace the shunting yard where I have these trains now.

So, that brings me to my question, how do you display your trains?

Bookshelves?
Curio Cabinets?
Work Tables?

Do any of you have a favorite place or method for displaying and/or storing your trains?  I'd be very curious as to how you train fans display your great sets.

[Davey]

Right now, all of my stuff sits out on our layout in some place.  That said, I have pretty much run out of space on the layout.  So the next step is either to add tables to the layout...or find something else.  I would be interested to hear what other people are doing to display their trains.  I was thinking about putting shelving up in my office at home to display trains on 16x32 baseplates.  Hobby Lobby and IKEA have some shelving that mounts easily to the wall and is about 6" deep.  Perfect for a 16x32.  

-Dave

[TheBrickster]

Cyclone Breezerider, on Jul 25 2009, 09:19 PM, said:

I was thinking about putting shelving up in my office at home to display trains on 16x32 baseplates.  Hobby Lobby and IKEA have some shelving that mounts easily to the wall and is about 6" deep.  Perfect for a 16x32.

I got busy today and went to my local Target to pick up some shelves and a level.  I purchased four 4 1/2 X 24 inch shelves that fit four straight track. Cost was $10 (USD each), which wasn't that bad.

The result is this, which I'm actually quite pleased with:



Unfortunately, the shelves are not enough to display all my trains, having a lot of rolling stock left over.  It's amazing how much space these trains take.

I've also been looking at the glass display shelves made for trains, which are nice because they're closed up to prevent dust. These are pretty pricey though, and I'm not sure about the right scale.

[AFOL12v]

My goal is to place every train I have on my layout. The trains I can't place are in my cupboard and also the wagons.

Click on pic for a bigger one.

[Captain Zuloo]

Interesting topic TheBrickster, and one that I've been thinking about for some time. I don't have a problem with displaying my trains as such, as when they aren't on a layout they are always on a small section of rail on my bookshelf. What I'm interested in is STORAGE. When I was exhibiting Blocksford in April, I noticed that the NMRA layout behind us were putting their trains in boxes. Small boxes that were the right size for the trains (of course they were, they were the boxes the trains probably came in). So now I want boxes that are similar. A perfect size would be a longer 9v track box. Any ideas?

[Davey]

Your shelving looks really nice Brickster!  Thanks for the heads-up about Target.  Looks like I know where I am headed this week.     These shelves look like they could be good for displaying other LEGO stuff as well.  Were they easy to anchor to the wall?  Just drywall screws?

Captain Zuloo, on Jul 26 2009, 03:48 AM, said:

What I'm interested in is STORAGE. When I was exhibiting Blocksford in April, I noticed that the NMRA layout behind us were putting their trains in boxes. Small boxes that were the right size for the trains (of course they were, they were the boxes the trains probably came in). So now I want boxes that are similar. A perfect size would be a longer 9v track box. Any ideas?

You might check with ULINE, Captain Zuloo. Check this box sizing link and you can enter dimensions of what size box you want and they will match your input to the closest boxes they sell.  For my 6-wide engines I will probably need about 12"x5"x3" and for rolling stock could get by with 10"x5"x3".  In both cases, the rolling stock would be on its side in the box and the dimensions leave a little room for a bubble wrap baggie.  Stacy and I are considering this method soon as the place we work gets a discount at ULINE.       

Hope this helps!

-Dave
ToT-LUG

[TheBrickster]

Cyclone Breezerider, on Jul 26 2009, 06:20 AM, said:

Were they easy to anchor to the wall?  Just drywall screws?

Yes - pretty easy.  Two philip head screws each + plastic dry wall anchors.  I only used the regular screws (as weight is minimal), without the anchors.  The hardest part is making sure they are level.  One of the shelves (the one with the Santa Fe wagons) is slightly tilted and they want to roll a bit.  Some Lego or tape at the end of the track makes sure they don't.

I had not done any projects around the house lately, so it was kinda fun - plus it relieved some conjestion on my train table.

[Modulex Guy]

Hey Brickster... If you are looking for longer shelves like that, Ikea has the same type of shelf but in different lengths.

I think they have 3 and 4 foot sections for the same price as the target ones.

[FreeBee]

I think this is the best way to store youre moc's.



And i like this display of trains that ain't on track:



I like both idea's and will certainly use them in my futere layout.

Edited by FreeBee, 26 July 2009 - 05:00 PM.

[AFOL12v]

You're using setnumbers, which already used by 12v trains.

[FreeBee]

Panda9001100, on Jul 26 2009, 05:41 PM, said:

You're using setnumbers, which already used by 12v trains.

I see what u meen but these pictures are not mine.

The boxes are made by brickshelfuser Namo.
And the display is from user Wolfgang.

[TheBrickster]

Polish Guy, on Jul 26 2009, 08:42 AM, said:

If you are looking for longer shelves like that, Ikea has the same type of shelf but in different lengths.
I think they have 3 and 4 foot sections for the same price as the target ones.

Thanks for the info.  I don't have an Ikea in my town, but that's good to know.  The longer length would be useful for displaying a train, vs. just an engine or two.

[WhiteFang]

Brickster, I don't know much about train sets and display, but there is one collector which I know of, in my country, have one of the nicest train set up in his residence. Below is wwsim's train display collection that he have done in his living room. One unusual thing to note that, he set his train display at the side, on the very top of his ceiling. I have also contacted this person, hope he will drop by here to share his train experience himself.  

Credits: wwsim's train display collection

General views of the overhead track from various angles:

[TheBrickster]

Wow!  That's certainly an interesting working display.  Thanks for sharing.  Over the years, I've seen a number of people do similar things in rooms with G-scale trains.  I had even thought about adding a shelf around the perimeter of my computer room to do the same, but I'm not that "handy".  For this, R/C or P/F track would be nice so that you wouldn't need to worry about powering it and could control the train from below.

Great display.  YouTube also has some videos of Lego ceiling trains.  Nice!

[wssim]

Hi...thanks Whitefang for inviting me to share.....whilst i am the owner of the train, my dear wife is the one that came out with the idea of having a 9V train running above my dining area.   She was inspired by a train setup in a fruit juice shop located at the Peak in Hong Kong. The train tracks are basically resting on a ledge which forms part of my false ceiling...

Another brother had helped me filmed the train in action and downloaded it to Youtube....... the train is a bit noisy....

My train in action

[TheBrickster]

That's great Wssim.  Thanks for sharing the video!  And welcome to EB.  I hope to see you participating in more train topics.

[WhiteFang]

wssim, on Jul 27 2009, 07:13 PM, said:

Hi...thanks Whitefang for inviting me to share.....whilst i am the owner of the train, my dear wife is the one that came out with the idea of having a 9V train running above my dining area.   She was inspired by a train setup in a fruit juice shop located at the Peak in Hong Kong. The train tracks are basically resting on a ledge which forms part of my false ceiling...

Hey, welcome to Eurobricks! I thought you couldn't find your way here. It's great to have you here, to give our community a detailed explaination behind your inspiration.  

Looking forward to see you around, participating in our trains discussions.  

wssim, on Jul 27 2009, 07:13 PM, said:

Another brother had helped me filmed the train in action and downloaded it to Youtube....... the train is a bit noisy....

My train in action

I saw that earlier ago, and I believed it was from the previous visit.  

Very smooth video and I do envy of your setup.  

[3D LEGO]

Or... You could just build a really big mountain like most model railroaders do and hide a massive staging area inside.  That way things are out of way when they need to be and do not clutter your layout.  Plus they are also some what "dust protected".  Okay so as far as show and tell s concerned... Well you would have to run the thing like an automated machine.  So maybe a couple feeder through lines and a billion side spurs for "sorting"...

Just a thought...

My 2 bricks

[Eilif]

I now keep most of my trains and track stored in the boxes from the UCS death star.  Formerly, however, I had them on shelves. The IKEA LACK series shelves are wide enought to comfortably accomadate two layers of trains of almost any size, and are available in alot of wood and laminate colors.  

Here's a picture of the shelves. I haved four of them, here's a picture of what they look like. There are other bracket options, but I like the brushed end brackets the best.
http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=3440944

[TheBrickster]

3D LEGO, on Jul 27 2009, 11:41 AM, said:

You could just build a really big mountain like most model railroaders do and hide a massive staging area inside.

That's actually a really interesting idea - but unfortunately space intensive.  One of the nice things about the shelf idea is to get them off the table taking advantage of limited table/room space.  Your idea would certainly help keep the dust off, which is a challenge with the shelves.

Darth Eilif, on Jul 27 2009, 11:50 AM, said:

Here's a picture of the shelves. I haved four of them, here's a picture of what they look like. There are other bracket options, but I like the brushed end brackets the best.

That looks very good - nice job!  I like the wider depth allowing for more than just the trains (like the Town Plan you have pictured).  I had thought about using brackets but was looking for something a bit more fancy (although your shelves look really good, and very secure).

[Cooper]

wssim, on Jul 27 2009, 04:13 AM, said:

Another brother had helped me filmed the train in action and downloaded it to Youtube....... the train is a bit noisy....

My train in action

I shudder to think what a derailment might look like.  

[Klaus-Dieter]

I store my trains (of which I regrettably do only have two - but two awesome ones: the Metroliner and the Classic Train) in boxes of carton to keep them away from dust and sun light. I regrettably have no place to put them on a permanent display and so only display them for some days when I then look at them and even play a bit with them and after that time I clean them from the dust and put them back into the boxes.


Klaus-Dieter

[PaulF]

My display/storage unit I built that hangs on the wall, built on a 4x8 foot sheet of
quarter inch panel board.

[TheBrickster]

PaulF, on Aug 2 2009, 06:55 PM, said:

My display/storage unit I built that hangs on the wall, built on a 4x8 foot sheet of quarter inch panel board.

Now that's a fantastic display unit!  Very nice job Paul.  I'm impressed.

[peterab]

All this train tech has finally forced me to join up :-)

One cheap and easy idea for train storage is to put track across the top of your pelmet boxes (if you have them) and store a train there. Most pelmet boxes are wide enough for a train, they are normally out of direct sunlight, and it gives you an excuse to have a train in every room. I will do this as soon as I build pelmet boxes for my windows :-)