Shelving

I tried that approach, just using the shelves for display and other locations for storage but I just have acquired to many engines and too much rolling stock.  I have some Glenn Snyder shelving on the wall and a bunch of wooden shelves I have built around the bottom of my layout.   

Now as I switch stuff out, I just do my best to get everything in a proper storage place but that can be hard.  I always seem to end up with some rolling stock tucked in a corner of the basement because there are no places left.

I use shelving.

My sweetheart had a problem with engines-in-a-box, stored, under the layout.  Eventually all, all the locomotives/engines had to be displayed. There are at least two very good train shelf vendors.   

@NJCJOE posted:

I use shelving.

Lucky you!   Looks like you still get to go shopping for more!!

Cheers, Dave

I have a modified approach.  When my layout was under construction, I used the Glenn Snyder shelving units to store the rolling stock (see 1st photo).  They were excellent.  But I am an operator not a collector, so I designed the layout with lots of sidings to "store" my various consists.  Granted, this took up a lot of real estate in my limited space, but I have 11 different consists available to run at any time on 3 main lines.  The shelves came down (were eventually sold) so that I could mount backdrops for the layout (see 2nd & 3rd photos). I do have about a half dozen rolling stock items stored in 2 shallow bins under the table.  The rolling stock on one of the sidings changes with the season or mood of my grandkids: Christmas items, Thomas the tank, Wilson Chuggington Loco, etc.

Michael

@ArtsModelTrains,

You're gonna need a bigger basement!

@NJCJOE posted:

I use shelving.

I can tell from the pictures that you obviously don't have enough trains.

Earlier there was about double what is in place now but it was a hoarders mess.  Sidings were clogged, bays in the open ceiling rafters were over full, cases of stuff were under the layout and on Homer shelves in the garage.

Two years ago the stash was sold down so that now I have manageable sidings and 144' of full shelving.  In the selling  process I had found a couple of  SS engines I had been looking to purchase not realizing they were already in house.

I do not swap off the trains stored on shelving to run.  They are just considered wallpaper.

Those shelves are a pain on which to mount trains.   No idea why they have that totally unnecessary center rail.   Once they get put there they stay there.

Very timely topic for me.  I find it hard to keep shelves open and have to cull the cars out to large boxes for storage to make more space on the shelves.  I try to hold space for the 5 or 6 trains and engines and cars normally on the layout.  I have homemade shelves, four larger sections plus two short sections under the windows, totaling 425 linear feet and built my last shelf section and they have been in .  All the shelves go all the way to floor as wall space is limited in my train/audio room.  The often used trains are stored from the middle and upper  shelves.

Detains on how I built these economical, easy to move ( have been in 4 houses, and are in sections to allow moving up stairs and through doors), shelves is on the following link:  https://ogrforum.com/...ra-027-layout?page=4

I need a lot of shelves as I have a lot of low value, low cost post war trains.  I started in trains in the 1970, when conventional controlled trains were all there was and used trains were lower cost.  In today's new train market some engines cost up around $1000 to $2000 and therefore most can only afford a small train collection.

I make up trains by placing them on the track near the shelf they are on.  To move trains or cars from the train board, I park the train near the shelf they are to be placed.

Recently I have found an old cheap plastic rolling cart, with shelves very helpful.  The top shelf is used for  VOM, NO OX, needle oilers, grease, sand paper, and tools like pliers and  screw drivers.   Lately I have found the lower shelves of the cart are useful to hold mostly engines, coal tenders and some cars the I have switched out or want to switch out for items on the shelves.  It is much handier than having to walk them around to the shelves couple at a time.  I can place it near the control panels or roll it around to vacant spaces on the train shelves.  The very bottom shelf has a 35 mm slide projector, that has been there for years, as I used this cart to hold the projector while showing pictures.  The projector may be needed for it weight as this is a shaky, top heavy cart.

Charlie

I am also an operator.  Limited collection mostly operating units.  Most of my consists are in ten sidings for the engine and stock car yard.  I put a shelf up for some engines that I switch out.  It also serves as a great skirt.

@Tom Tee posted:

Earlier there was about double what is in place now but it was a hoarders mess.  Sidings were clogged, bays in the open ceiling rafters were over full, cases of stuff were under the layout and on Homer shelves in the garage.

Two years ago the stash was sold down so that now I have manageable sidings and 104' of full aluminum shelving.  In the selling  process I had found a couple of  SS engines I had been looking to purchase not realizing they were already in house.

I do not swap off the trains stored on shelving to run.  They are just considered wallpaper.

Those shelves are a pain on which to mount trains.   No idea why they have that totally unnecessary center rail.   Once they get put there they stay there.

I am with Tom.  If it does not fit on the shelving I have on the walls or on the layout, then it's off to be sold.  I had so much at one time stored in tubs under the layout I couldn't even remember what I had.  I actually bought the same passenger set twice!  lol.  Now I have a really nice collection of trains that are my favorites.  If something new comes along I really want, then something I already have gets sold. 

Oh, by the way for those wanting to try the Glen Snyder Shelves.  You might have to come up with another plan as they are out of stock until April 2023 estimated.  I love their shelves.  They are the best.

I’m in with Sean and Tom - I’ve made a promise to myself - whatever fits on the shelves now - that’s it - if something new comes in something old goes out - I hope I can stick to my promise 😊

Recently moved into a new house in Charleston SC and putting my new train room together

More shelving going up 😊 - fingers crossed 🤞

On my 12' by 9' 2 layer setup I built wooden shelves as a skirt plus wooden wall units I also built. I also store rolling stock on long sidings that make up complete sets (3 passenger and 2 freight) where I just add the engine to pull them out to my largest main line that runs around the complete layout.

I always appreciate the information shared on this and other OGR forums. I learn a great deal.  In this case, thanks to the post and photos by Wood, I might construct 1 or 2 shelves on the edge of the layout to hold the  few items of rolling stock that alternate on the layout.  As noted in my previous post, these items are kept in 2 shallow plastic storage bins under the layout, but inevitably, they are always under some other storage bin, or are otherwise awkward to access .  I still need access to the space under the layout, so anything I construct must allow that.

Thanks,

Michael

Moving along with installs - hopefully finish tomorrow - and then time to see some trains - 👍🏼🚂

Looking good

Well, I guess I'm a little different than a lot of you 100% train nuts. 😂 I never cared for floor to ceiling train shelving, but have just used what's available in the basement man cave and train room to store my trains that aren't running on the layout. Being a small operator, this makes sense for me.

I spend more time in my basement, sound proofed "music studio" which is under lock and key, practicing my pedal steel than I spend operating the trains. But to escape the studio, I do break out occasionally to run trains during welcome breaks.

So, my train shelving is sparse, compared to most of yours. But they do the job.

Here are my display cases that we have completed. There 9 in total and they contain approximately 2,500 train items.

Thanks;

ieda-thinker

WOW! That’s some shelving!

Well idea-thinker, that’s simply amazing. I’m on one end of the spectrum with very few trains, while you’re on the other end with thousands of train pieces. You’re definitely a serious collector. 😉

@idea-thinker posted:

Here are my display cases that we have completed. There 9 in total and they contain approximately 2,500 train items.

Thanks;

ieda-thinker

Wow… just WOW!!! And I can’t resist - what did you do with the 2500 boxes???

ieda-thinker

Great trains and great storage shelves.  I see lots of shelves and lots trains.

How long does it take to get train engines or cars from the shelves to the layout?  Or how far do you have to go to get a train or car to the layout?

I found having my train shelves in the house, in a hall, two rooms away from the layout, was a real pain in the neck.  Thankfully my shelves are now in a room above a new garage, about 4 feet from the layout and very convenient.

Charlie

All;

    I do have all of the boxes in a control environment space. I just can not bring myself to throw them out. We are planning our next group of Display cases that will go on the surrounding walls of the room where the displays cases are currently. We have approximately 1,500 more train pieces to put on display. One display case is going to be about 65 ft. long to accommodate around 400 to 500 passenger cars.

The train layout is on another floor so we have to carry the trains up the stairs. We do keep a fair amount on the layout. The layout is a work in progress and it is 40 x 50 ft. = 2000 square feet.  Our plan with the layout is to create themes such as all Post War Trains or all MPC or all Celebration Series.

This project turned out to be a lot of work. I did not realize much work until I finished.

Thanks;

idea-thinker

Great shelves, everyone.

My design criteria for shelving: nothing fancy, use readily available lumber, and retrofit them under the layout overhang - just hold the trains, mainly items that are a PITA to get in and out of their boxes, for easy swapping out. Long passenger cars mainly, of which I own 7-8 sets, and usually run one or two at a time. So, I built custom-style extra-deep shelves that hold two trains in depth. The shelves turned out very sturdy, and can hold heavy die-cast engines as well. So far, I've built 3 custom units - each with varying width to fit under my layout, and have at least one more to go. As seen in picture, below, I limited each to 30" high with a theoretical idea that someday I would retrofit a subway line, which would need to travel on top of the shelves in those areas where shelving was installed. I am  pleased with the results.

Shelving is nice and let's one show off their precious, but it comes with the cost of making the room and layout space smaller.

Wow on some of these shelves, I feel like the Beverly Hillbillies in comparison.  Here are the basic ideas I used.  I think I stole the shelves on the side of the layout from @stangtrain. Otherwise on the wall, we have the standard 1x4 with simple standards and the cabinets are Ikea book shelves with extra shelves added.  They are not great for display obviously but a lot better than storage under the layout in tubs.  At least you can easily get to what you want, like the caboose you want to run.

Looking into the shelves on the Ikea cabinets

Ikea and the 1x4s on the wall.

Shelves on the side of the layout.  Yes, those are the dust cleaning brushes.

I have some GS shelving, some shelving that I built and some drawers that I built for train storage under the staging area.  Nothing is stored in its original box.  The empty boxes go under the platform.

@ idea thinker:  I took another look at your custom-made free-standing shelving units and they appear to have all Post-war trains in them. Am I right? If so, I’ve never seen more Post-war trains in one place.

I’m also glad to see what appear to be support braces coming up from the floor to help keep them secure and from tipping over on one another. Imagine the mess and damage if that happened, like something out of a movie. 😳

@Yellowstone Special posted:

@ idea thinker:  I took another look at your custom-made free-standing shelving units and they appear to have all Post-war trains in them. Am I right? If so, I’ve never seen more Post-war trains in one place.

I’m also glad to see what appear to be support braces coming up from the floor to help keep them secure and from tipping over on one another. Imagine the mess and damage if that happened, like something out of a movie. 😳

Yellowstone;

          There is a lot of Post War but there are also a lot of Celebration Series items as well. There is also MPC and modern. I guess it is a mix of a lot of generations. I have scrambled (all generations) of  the trains on the display cases to make it more interesting so you have hunt for an item if you looking for a specific piece.

There are two center braces on each case and up above all of, the cases are connected to one another and both ends of the run of cases are anchored to a wall. On top of the braces on the top of the cases I am running a train to make  it look like braces are there for the train track but in reality it is for the support and stability of the display cases.

Thanks;

idea-thinker

@ idea-thinker:  Awesome! You are very creative. 👍

I have a combination of Glenn Snyder shelves on the wall and home-made shelves under the layout.

Some of the shelving shown in this post is spectular.  I have limited shelving for motive power only.  It's either on the layout or on the shelf.  I am an operator not a museum curator, no one will be looking at my stuff in awe, the shelves are built for function only. That being said, those glass doored cases show the work of a craftsman.  For shelving i used some ribbed molding, the groves match the gauge of the locomotives perfectly. 

Wow, some of you guys have more value in shelves than dad and I have in Trains. I LOVE @idea-thinker's setup, mostly because it allows viewing from both sides of the trains.

Dad and I are building some shelves right now, but nothing like what I'm seeing here.