Moving with Trains

I have move a good sized collection of Lionel three times.  Most were in original boxes and the others were wrapped in bubble wrap and everything survived.

If the trains survived the original shipping and shipping to you they should be ok.

We recently used a commercial mover to move us 1200 miles. My train collection was a concern of mine. I ended up packing it all myself, using original boxes when available, and the rest wrapped in lots of bubble wrap, before it went into cartons. Everything made it here ok, although the movers were not exactly gentle with some of the big cartons. I suggest using lots of bubble wrap. "Bubble Wrap is your friend)

Jeff

We moved mine 550 miles from Jersey to NC using a U-Haul.  Had relatives and friends load trains and household items.  Mostly original boxes over packed in boxes from Home Depot and Lowes.  Loaded one day, drove down and unloaded the next with no issues.  Just make sure the truck is tightly packed to eliminate movement.

I moved 1500 miles. Moved most with a commercial mover. Nothing damaged no matter what my wife and I own. You don't realize how much you own until you have to move it either across town or to a different state.

We were relocated three times before I retired. Each move, I packed all the trains, structures and accessories myself using original boxes if I still had them. While the commercial movers handled all our household stuff, I always rented a truck and moved the trains and layout myself.

It was almost like Christmas morning all over unpacking everything and getting the layout up and running.

Best of luck with your move!

Curt

I just completed a move after selling my home and moving into a condo temporarily with my Fiancée' until we build a new home.

I filled a tractor trailer with my collection. I boxed everything I could in those large file type boxes then labeled them, (100 total)

I also used the 50 gallon plastic tubs (over 30) for my entire complete postwar plasticville collection, and other odds and ends.

Other items like engines and sets I kept r in their respective boxes, and then placed in either  tubs,  file boxes, or left alone since some boxes were large, like the lift bridge, and the tinplate accessories.

My advice is to label everything, and if your going to use a commercial mover, keep an eye on them, I watched every move they made, but they were understanding because it was a very extensive/expensive collection.  Once we were done, they followed me to my storage warehouse since I only moved an hour away,  and I watched everything being unloaded and brought into my unit, until the last piece, took an entire day, but we did it.

@ZWPOWER13 posted:

I filled a tractor trailer with my collection.

Are you saying you cubed-out a 53' van trailer?

Yes I did,

Having just done this, I can give you a few pointers.

• Put your trains in their original boxes, if possible.
• Organize your equipment into groups.
• Take and inventory (Fortunatly, I had a database of the stuff). This comes into play later.
• Purchase moving boxes. I bought several medium (18"x18"x16") and some large (18"x18"x24") from U-Haul. If you're all packed up and have unused boxes, they'll buy them back from you at the U-Haul you purchased them from. Do not put locomotives into moving boxes as the weight will be ridiculous.
• My move was to another state (within driving distance), and most of my trains were in a storage locker, so putting them in moving boxes was easy.
• Label the boxes simply (instead of "Trains", they were labeled "Garage-##"). With each item, note the box you're putting it in. If you have a database on your computer, add a field to your item list for the moving box number and link it to your moving box list.
• In my case, not all of my boxes would fit in the truck, so I rented a U-Haul 6'x12' box trailer (the worlds longest "local" rental at 800 miles) to pick up the ones the movers couldn't take. I went back to pick them up last October on an out-and-back trip.
• Try to organize the boxes at your destination. Makes unpacking easier. In my case, the movers placed them placed kind of randomly according to fitting them into the least space possible. I did the same thing because I was pretty tired when I got back to Arizona.
• Don't unpack them until you need them, which is what I've been doing. Because things are cataloged, you know which box they're in. If, as in my case, you're planning a new layout this makes it easy to move things around for the build. In the photos below, that disorganized chaos is the 25'x12' area that will be occupied by the layout. The trains will be stored underneath.

When you're tired, things get chaotic. Learn from my bad example. One positive was when I went out to the Paradise and Pacific Model Railroad Club (shameless plug, here), the passenger cars for the train I wanted to run were in a single large box which made loading the truck much easier.

This is what I was told by a friend years ago when moved by a company via commercial movers from NJ to NC.

Pack the trains in their original boxes or other protection yourself.  Let the movers pack the boxes and write down what is in each box.  Watch the movers in every move they make both in and out, especially. in how things get packed on each other in the van trailer.

Reason for letting the movers do the work (under your supervision) is that if you move items yourself, if something should happen any where in the process you are on the hook money wise, if the movers do the work and something should happen their insurance should (hopefully) cover the loss. 

He had no problems.

Consider planning the train portion of your move as though there would be no recourse with mover caused damage. 

I would only move my stash in my personally owned or rented vehicle.

One form of moving companies profit is the difference between the price they charge you and the minimum rate of pay they give the workers.

Having moved many times while in the military (although now retired), I learned that if you pack the boxes yourself and the movers can not see inside, YOU are responsible for any/all damages. So pack them and leave open. Let the movers close the boxes.

I recently moved to a larger apartment and am now in the process of getting the train room read. My move was over 1,000 individual pieces! I bought the larger U-Haul boxes (you can return unused) and packed as much as I could and let the movers pack them. Locos and loco/caboose sets were too big so I let them pack them.

One thing I noticed that I don't agree with is using bubble wrap against an item. Bubble wrap has a tendency to mar the finish. On my last move I purchased a lot of their wrapping paper. That works well, although better yet is heavy duty tissue paper. You may be able to find it at your local hobby store (not train hobby store).

I found some acid-free unbuffered tissue paper through Amazon.

I have moved three rumes with my modest but vakuable (to me anyway) collection.  I packed my trains into produce or egg cases from the supermarket.  Everything was bubble wrapped, some in their original boxes, and all made it fine.  What's nice about produce boxes is that the trains just fit in them, they are made of reinforced cardboard, and have tabs and slots so two or three can be stacked and nothing gets crushed.

Lots of good advice above.  My 3 cents...

Heed the warning about bubble wrap.  Wrap first in tissue or packing paper if the trains will be stored for more than a couple of days and/or in hot conditions.

Move the trains yourself if at all possible.

Rental trucks and trailers are huge theft targets.  Avoid parking overnight.  If you must park overnight, choose your spot carefully and do your best to be a difficult target.  Hotels near a highway (which is most of them) are targets, even in "good" areas. 

Hi all,

Thank you for the input, lots of sound advice.

I will not be using a commercial moving service since I am moving out of an apartment - I don't think I have enough things (not just trains) to justify that type of move

For those of you who suggested getting boxes, are those just for rollingstock and structures, or do you recommend putting engines in there as well?

I have not selected an exact Uhaul for the move yet. I am only moving a couple hours away, so I am contemplating making two trips instead of one (one trip with furniture, a second with trains). Thanks again for all the advice

Twenty  three years ago we moved from Florida to NC, my new employer paid for the move.   Commercial movers came in, did the packing in every room but one, my train room.   For that I packed everything myself and rented a U-haul.  Original boxes, cardboard separators between layers of the not too large moving boxes.  For more delicate things like structures I added more separators and for some even plywood inserts to make the boxes crush resistant.   Of course bubble wrap and packing peanuts to keep the carefully wrapped structures from moving.    There were other things in that room besides just trains, it included liquor and wine, firearms, art and my wife's fine china.

   When we arrived at our new home I used one bedroom for storage (kids are gone) and that is where my trains stayed for the next 18 years (sad I know).   Turns out moving my own delicates was a good decision since the commercial movers damaged a number of items which they paid for, replaced, or repaired.   Busted the glass back in the wife's china cabinet,..   broke both her antique ceramic lamps, even broke the back of the sectional sofa (not sure how they accomplished that)  and these were rated as the best movers. Watching these guys use a strap to lift and walk in with stacks of Three or FOUR moving boxes at a time (they only dropped one stack) would have been nerve racking if my trains were in those boxes.

My trains, wife's china were all fine.   Recently I had my eyes fixed and it is sure great to see clearly again, actually I see so well that I opened up my N-scale items and am considering building a layout.   Last week I was thinking about some of my old structures, many are made from plaster wall sections so I opened those boxes.  Yes, it was like Christmas and amazingly except for some of the glued on detail items, everything was  good.   

So from my perspective, pack it yourself, also have a good two wheel hand truck and plenty of straps to secure each load.