When you buy a ready-to-run (R-T-R) engine or freight car, it comes with a good, sturdy box. However, if you build a kit or scratchbuild an engine or a car, you have to come up with your own solution. Since I participate in local model railroading shows, I want to bring both R-T-R and the cars I've built. I decided to build my own simple boxes. This page describes how I do it.

The photo on the right shows the tools and materials needed to build a box. From the front to the back they are, a long ruler (long enough for the width of the foam material), a board (to keep from cutting into the desk), a pen, a tape-measure, a T-square (for the smaller cuts), packing tape dispenser, new razor blade, new cardboard box, and 1-inch thick foam. The most expensive part is the foam, at $16 per yard of material (2 feet wide) at Jo-Ann's Fabrics & Crafts.

The first step is to build the cardboard box. Since I model in S-scale, I measured the average engine and car size that I have (or will have) and bought a bunch of 12x6x6 cardboard boxes at a local box store. Most of these types of stores will sell you whatever you need without requiring a minimum. Look for stores that sell moving boxes. Since I did a lot of selling on eBay, I have my local sources identified. Size the box so that you have about 2 inches of clearance on all six sides of the car or engine. The photo below shows the box folded into its shape and clear tape used to hold the bottom together. Cardboard boxes like these are about 75 cents a piece, and when they wear out, you can easily replace them.

I put tape on the inside as well for extra strength, but that is not required.

Now we start the foam inserts. I use the tape measure, ruler, and razor blade to size and cut the bottom piece of foam. The friction of the foam is enough to hold the parts in place; no need for glue. This also makes it easy to replace the box and re-use the rather expensive foam.

Next I cut the two sides.

Using the car that is supposed to fit in this box, I cut two smaller inserts with cut-outs for the couplers. There is about two inches of space between the inside edge of the box and the car.

I then cut some strips that protect the car from moving up or down. These kind of "float" and are squeezed in between the side pieces.

Now the car is placed in the box. You see how the delicate couplers and air hoses are protected by the cut-outs in the smaller side pieces, and how the "floating" pieces on the top and bottom keep the car from moving around and potentially damaging the couplers.

I then cut a foam piece to go over the car, which fits in between the outer side pieces.

A final piece completes the interior of the box. The car is now well packaged and protected. I can now close the box, label it for the car that is supposed to go inside of it, and put my name on the box.

Update

I have used the above-mentioned solution for a year now (about 5 shows). It works great, especially for scratchbuilt and kit-built equipment. However, the 12x6x6 boxes I used are quite large. The boxes take up a lot of space and are a bit hard to carry around. Also, I used rubber bands to hold them closed, but that is kind of a pain once you have more than just a few cars to pack. Also, I have found that, since the ready-to-run cars and engines have all sorts of different sized boxes, stacking them is awkward or inefficient (when you're carrying modules, tools, etc. to the show, you need to be efficient with what little space you have).

I concluded that I wanted a smaller, self-closing box, and one that could be used for all my equipment. I spent some evenings looking online for alternatives. I eventually discovered the term "die cut mailers". These are common boxes, but unless you know the industry's name, they are hard to find online. I finally settled on a 10"x4"x4" die cut mailer box from Mr Box Online, a Florida-based company that manufacturers these boxes in the U.S. Their minimum order is 50 boxes. I searched online for other companies with similar products, but none matched that size. A ten-inch interior length is perfect for 40-foot S-scale freight cars, while still allowing for some padding space. The only piece of equipment that I have that does not fit is my 57-foot, coupler-to-coupler, RS-1, which will have to continue to be packed in the above-mentioned larger box. Shipping for 50 boxes costs almost as much as the boxes themselves, but the total comes out to under a dollar a piece, a small price to pay for protecting your investment.

Some assembly required. There are no instructions on how to put these boxes together, but it is rather straight-forward once you've done one. I will reuse the above-mentioned foam to line the box just like I did the other ones. However, the big advantage of these boxes is that they are smaller, and they have a self-closing, stay-shut lid. Another idea I pursued was to find a box like this but one that could hold maybe three cars. I did find them, but they either were much more expensive ($7 a piece) or you needed to buy 100 of them. I don't plan on bringing three hundred cars to a show any time soon!