I was flipping through a recent Model Railroader Mag and saw a write up about using a roller cart as a portable workstation. It was just a cart with a top and bottom shelf.
Several years ago I bought a small mechanic’s tool box on wheels for the same purpose, except the drawers multiplies the storage space and ability to organize is several times greater. Attached are some pictures. I added a removable wood work surface too. I can lift it off if I lift I want to access the top lift up section of the tool box but I keep very little in the top section.
The tool box is 39” high and the top work area is 3” high. If I store only short tools on the wood top work bench, I can roll the whole thing under the layout. This is helpful for parking the box out of the way, but is also helpful if you want to duck under a peninsula and just roll the cart under with you as opposed to rolling it around the peninsula.
At one point I had a power strip attached to the tool box with a long extension cord so I had 120v access wherever I was working. But the new layout (about 14mos now) have an abundance of receptacles installed plus I am using cordless motor tools. I added 8’ to my soldering gun cord so I don’t need the power strip on the tool box any more. The Wood top has a small lip of ¾” lumber around the edge that keep it from sliding off the tool box. Yet it is easy to just lift it up and off. You could even lift the top off and carry it to anywhere on the layout, or set it on the layout itself. Note that I have a small vice attached to it also. The contents of the tool box has changed with the type of work I am doing. When I was doing the ceiling or lighting, I had the tools and supplies for that work loaded on. But now that those projects are over, the box is loaded for more model work.
One more thing. I have an abundance of hand tools and I try to keep one of everything at my work bench and duplicates on the work cart, but sometimes things get mixed up and all my needle nose pliers or whatever wind up in one place or the other. So now I mark every tool that should be on the work cart with a green stripe and that helps keep me organized.
If you decide to look for a mechanics tool box for this purpose, keep height in mind and you want something with wheels. It shouldn’t take more than a few hours to throw together a work top and lad your tool box.
