Moving your trains from one state to another

My advice:  Treat your trains like your wallet.  Pack and move them  yourself.  Leave the furniture to the movers.  If you have to have the movers do it, I would still pack them myself but label the boxes discreetly, don't list what the contents actually are.  Label the boxes cryptically, like they're regular dishware or something else that would not be worthy of their interest.

i recently moved 650 miles and i packed all my trains myself and they arrived with no damage. i loaded them in a Budget truck and drove it myself. i have had experiences with moving companies both where they packed as well as i packed and several items were damaged with their pro packing. no one cares as much  about your stuff as you do and when they see its model trains most care less. my advice pack it yourself use plenty of packing good boxes and you will save yourself a lot of heartache.

We moved from PA to NC 7 years ago.  I packed all my trains (and musical instruments, CD's and albums) myself.  Over a period of a couple of months, we rented U-Haul trucks and moved most of our stuff to climate-controlled storage units which turned out to be only about 5 miles from the house we wound up buying.  We used a moving company for the furniture and other last minute stuff.  After seeing how the movers handled our stuff, I am VERY GLAD that we moved "my valuables" ourselves.

I have moved--long distances--a number of times since I got back into the hobby in the 70s.  I always used professional movers with a good reputation and never had a problem with the moves (aside from the costs, of course).

I always packed my train stuff myself because I would never trust anyone else to do it properly.  Kept a written inventory of items in each box, and just labeled the boxes "PBO-1, PBO-2" etc.  No problems over many years and many moves.

We used a POD. They come in different sizes. They deliver to your house. You fill it. Call them when it's full and they move it to your next home. You pack and lock. You can keep it for about a week at both ends. No one touches your trains except you. Highly recommend. Don

Kinda expensive to rent a POD in your case wasn't it Don?  Not like the POD drivers could just drive your POD from the mainland over there to Hawaii, right? 

In all seriousness, I agree that a POD is a good alternate.  However, you do have to be sure to pack your stuff carefully, as in that situation the overall responsibility of the items arriving intact will be almost entirely on you and not a moving company.

When I moved from Hawaii to Utah 3 years ago, I packed all of my trains myself.  Each item was put back into its original box with packaging, then packed neatly into shipping boxes with packing peanuts used to fill any empty space.  I sent all boxes via insured USPS Priority Mail and received all items at the Utah end promptly with no problems or damage of any kind. 

I left all the other stuff to the movers.  If you want your trains done right, you should pack them yourself.

When we moved from Ohio to Calif. I packed all my trains personally. I wrapped them in paper towels individually and then in newspaper. Put them in plastic tubs (Rubbermaid under bed type). Shipped with commercial mover and took out extra insurance on the collection.

Everything arrived fine. Several tub lids caved in some because the movers will stack things to the top of the van and that is mighty high. I would recommend making sure all tubs are packed with filler so that they are tight and solid and less prone to caving from pressure above. As I said, though, all my trains survived the move.

Having moved a number of times, the rule of thumb is never give the movers anything that you would be extremely upset if lost or broken.  If it fits that category then move it yourself.  You will never be disappointed.  Anything else and you are taking a risk.  BigRail

My trains have gone thru a number of moves. Central New York to North Dakota, North Dakota to Nebraska, Nebraska to California. In storage in California for 3 years while living overseas. California to Nebraska on our return to the US. We have always packed them ourselves, but the packed trains have moved by movers. No damage, no losses, (of train stuff anyway). One thing to think about is having any move be door to door so the stuff doesn't get handled as much.

Thanks for relating your experiences with moving your trains.  Planing on packing and moving them myself/

Mort

Good choice.  Packing your treasured items yourself is always a good idea.  I  believe keeping possession of personal stuff is a great idea and a sound policy.

Hey Mike,

I also have a positive experience with PODS. You can stuff as much as humanely possible into these things. We made sure to add moving blankets (our own) to provide cushioning and fill small spaces to prevent the load from shifting during transit.

Remember, these go on the back of trucks and will get bounced around whenever the truck hits a pothole. With that said I had no damage from over 70 legal size storage boxes of train filled items in addition to my other belongings.

They will provide blankets at a cost, but I bet you can find enough blankets, sleeping bags, towels and comforters to do the job yourself.

I liked that I had time to pack the pod at my pace even though I hired movers to help with the loading of heavy furniture - the days of me humping a huge Breakfront or Armoire into a loading van are long gone...

HTH Mike.

Paul

There are other POD-type companies out there. I have done some research for a cross country move of a collection and have found the ABF U-Pack system looks the best. While all these companies offer containers in different sizes, ABF only charges for the space you use on the truck. The other thing I like is that ABF is a freight trucking company, they understand the shipping portion of journey. They are not farming the shipment to Joe Trucker. I'm not affiliated with the company in any way, I've just done my homework.

My suggestion would be get the smallest container and pack it as tight as possible.

ARNO

I believe that Allan expressed this very well. It may not be practical for you to move them yourself because of distance or time. In this case, I would perform all of the boxing and make sure that model trains are not referred to on the outside of the box. Just identify a box number and have a listing you keep of the contents of each box. Have a very accurate inventory with photos and hire a reputable mover.

Hello Mort

We only moved 50 miles, with-in Michigan.

I would think you have already picked a company.

We used United Van Lines, with a 3 Man crew because of the trains and a grand piano.

This moving cost money was well spent, at the closing, there is money leaving me for all kinds of closing cost and Taxes. Things I will never understand, because it is abstract funds.

The movers is money doing something you can see.........

Good Luck 

I've looked at different options for my eventual move to another state. The conclusion I reached was that it would be simplest to build "roller cases" for the trains and sizing them to 4' tall x 4'wide x 2' deep with internal shelving. I got the idea from the plastic storage shelves you can buy at the big box home improvement center. This should cover all of the trains in their original boxes. The only down side is the "what's in the box" curiosity, so I'll have to use reputable movers. I'll probably still end up buying a cargo trailer as I have vintage musical instruments and a grandfather clock to transport.

This is the single best reason that you saved the boxes that your engines ad cars came in.  The original packing will perfectly protect them.  Then it's just a matter if you trust the movers or not.

Art

It's illegal to move O gauge trains across state lines.

i would think twice about ABF u-pack 2 of the 3 trailers i used leaked like an old convertible top. ruined plenty of my inventory thankfully no trains just mufflers catalytic converters and office furniture. load binders didn't work properly and ramp wouldn't lock in place. price was good equipment junk.  driver drove over lawn and almost knocked off my dock cover. never again!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't there some of fee involved everytime you move intrastate? LOL can't you mail them to yourself at another address and have somebody pick it up?

Good Luck on your move!

Mike Maurice

Mike, I went to Home depot and bought a ton of large and med. boxes. Those I filled with my trains. I had most of the original boxes so it was easy to protect them. If there was extra room in a box I filled it with bubble wrap. Everything was tight. When the POD got to Sacramento I simply put everything in the garage. We only had a bed, TV  and card table in the kitchen. Everything else was ready to go when we found a house in Hawaii. Vicky had to drive the car to Oakland to Matson Lines. A friend drove up and picked me up to take me to Sacto Airport. I took our lab and Vic took our Daisy dog and cat out of Oakland. We had to fly on different planes. Amazingly everything worked out fine. She landed a hour before me and had all the paper work done on two of the animals. Not a easy process. The dogs and cat took 120 days and a lot of paper work. Don

Oh my - such a sore subject that's still painful.  No worries - no train issues, other than packing them into a PODS last August after tearing down a layout only to have the PODS make the round trip from Philly to Boston and back again this May after the new job didn't work out.

Now that I've got the tables back up in the basement (TWELVE 8x4's), I don't seem to have the energy to get started on the new layout.  It will come - time heals.

Here's what came down ...  LAYOUT 

We just recently moved half way across the country. I packed everything in rolls upon rolls of bubble wrap and the like. I took a big box full of my most expensive and favorite train stuffs with me in the car but I let the moving company take most of my trains and even all of the salvaged benchwork from my previous layout. Nothing was broken including the benchwork. I'm now well on my way with building my new layout.

My last move was less than a mile, but it took a lot of work getting ready and then unpacking.-  I had TWO 20 foot containers (Mobile Attic) for the trains.  The rest which included about 1000 books was left to "2 Men and a Truck".

All the small items, cars, track, and such, were packed in larger boxes gotten from U-haul.  Engines and other large items were in their original shipping boxes.  The first container was loaded and then moved to storage and a new empty contain put in place.  When this was filled it sat there for a week until moving day when it was picked up and taken to the "new" house.  The first container arrived about an hour later.  It was three months before I had both unloaded and removed.

The house needed a lot of work to make it ready to bring in the trains.  I bought a rolling cart to haul the boxes from the containers in the driveway to the train room.  Worked like a charm.

Whether it was 1 mile or 100 miles I would do it this way again.  tI was money well spent.   That was 8 years ago,  I am thinking of doing some major remodeling will likely get a 40 foot container.  It'll stay in the driveway.

Jan

John Korling is correct:

Pack and move your trains YOURSELF, (or at least with the help of close family members)! 

I just move 20 of the brown/yellow 27gal tubs from Costco full of well packed mostly in original boxes train 'stuff' 520 miles a U-Haul trailer from NC to Ohio. All survived

judging by a quick look under the lids. 130.00 for the trailer and maybe 200.00 for the containers. With the boxes I could only get 12 or so pieces of rolling stock in each tub. It probably would have been cheaper to throw out the boxes and use small bubble wrap. The locomotives were packed in some big rolling toolboxes from home depot @ 60.00 each. 

Reading my Junk e-mails & found this.........

Check out their e-mail.....

    Click to enlarge

Mort, transport your trains yourself.

DO NOT allow the movers to touch them and DO NOT leave them in an unattended house.

I had 8 years worth of MTH trains and buildings stolen when I moved...about $8-$10K worth.

We are still trying to figure out if our real estate agent took them, the movers, a neighbor, who knows...

We had the house unattended with everything boxed up and someone took it all.

By the time we unpacked and I realized it was all gone, there were so many suspects and opportunities, that we still cannot put a finger on who may have took it all.

Re: Moving O scale trains from one state to another.

Instructions for moving from an inactive state to an active state:

1. Turn on layout power.

2. Advance a throttle control.

3. Enjoy your trains in an active state.

Mort,

I moved several times before getting married, and 13 times since then. We moved ourselves three times, but this was early on, and no further than 50 miles. The other moves have been to and from Indiana, New York, Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri; and several within cities in some of those states.

The professional movers always have moved the trains and most everything else. The only items I always moved myself were the firearms.

We pack everything we can ourselves, and I always have packed the trains and buildings in their original boxes, and then into larger cardboard boxes while keeping the larger box size manageable. Weight has never been a concern, except for the boxes with transformers.

Make sure to make an inventory list of what goes into each box (train boxes and all other boxes as well) and mark each box with its intended location destination, and a sequential number. The location markings will help the movers (or yourself) determine where to take the box at the new location. Mark the boxes on the top and at least on one side.

Keep the inventory list handy and do not lose it! There is nothing more frustrating than looking for a specific item and having to search through numerous boxes a few days (weeks, or months) after the move.

Good luck!

Alex

We had a mixed move with some items coming from Mobile, Alabama and others from New Orleans Louisiana. I arranged with the movers to pick up in Bama 1st and then to pick up in NOLA, the agreement was door to door that is no storage and transfer stations. I ordered double thickness 250lb test boxes and 20+ bags of peanuts from ULINE most items were packed with just peanuts. The fragile stuff was packed using an inner and outer box with 4-6 inches of filler between the boxes. There was zero breakage. This was 9 years ago and we finally emptied the last of 'fagile' boxes  week ago. All of the boxes and peanuts were given to my friends that sell trains on ebay so if you get a box with JDG PKG## it has a little history. When it was all said and done it was much cheaper to purchase boxes from ULINE than U-Haul, Sams or Costco.