Im looking for the ideal storage bin size to fit my mth rolling stock boxes. Any suggestions?
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The 17 & 27 gallon black plastic tubs with yellow lids sold by both HomeDepot and Lowes seem to work pretty well for some of the guys in the local club. Others use different storage containers (such as Sterilite) with custom cut to fit corrugated cardboard and old towels to separate and protect their cars without using original factory packing. There also were some custom corrugated boxes made just for O trains, but I'm not sure they are still in production.
Bill in FtL
Bill, I think you are referring to http://oscalehauler.com
ToledoEd posted:Bill, I think you are referring to http://oscalehauler.com
These boxes are no longer available since this gentleman is no longer selling or having them made.
While not plastic, I have used banker boxes for years. I can fit 8 rolling stock boxes inside each one, with the lid closed. I find the plastic totes have a large amount of wasted space because of the sloped sides and rounded inside corners.
I actually took all of my boxes, flattened them, and put them in dry storage. I use the Styrofoam inserts only now to take my MTH Isaly car collection around.
I use BCW Trading Card Boxes.
They come in various lengths and hold one, two, four, or five cars, depending on which one you select. I cut foam to fill the end so the cars don't "rattle" around if they're too short for the box.
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I use Rubbermaid 32 gallon plastic bins for my Rail King trains. However these bins are too narrow to accommodate scale size passenger cars and locomotives.
The only time of year you can find these ornament boxes is now.Go to Walmart and get some of these:
The ones at Walmart right now have red bottoms. They run just under $8.00 each.
Scott Smith
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Anyone know what plastic storage bins would hold Premier and RK loco complete boxes?
For just boxes I use the black bins with yellow lids mentioned above, only I got them at Costco. They are big and bulky and will hold several train boxes, but there is always wasted space as the boxes vary in size quite a bit. Maybe if you sorted all the boxes first by size and then attempted to fill to bins they would fit a bit more uniformly? I just filled them up as I acquired the items, no sorting.
One drawback to these, besides taking up a lot of space, is they are not see through. Unless you make a list and label each bin or make a spreadsheet listing the boxes, number the bins and record what is where or something like that the train boxes would be difficult to find later on. OTOH, if you have them in the basement and you get water in the basement the boxes should be protected from damage.
I ran out of bins so I am now storing them under my layout on shelves. Unfortunately those shelves are now also full. Finding things is a little easier, but you have to get under the layout and look around. Sometimes takes a little while to find a specific box, but at least they are all visible. Probably a good sign I now have too much stuff! 
For cars, engines, etc, (no boxes) I like the boxes GRJ uses. They are reasonably priced and look pretty handy to use. Pretty well designed too and they have foam inserts and dividers available for them as well. The plastic ornament bins Scott posted also look promising, but I don't know their cost? Probably not too bad though I am guessing?
Believe it or not I went to U-Haul as I was moving and I bought some glass boxes to hold my glassware they are excellent and there's 12 slots in there I can hold 12 box cars standard size and they work great they won't hold the boxes though so I use it for all my loose Rolling Stock
I think Laid Off Sick from this forum was selling the corrugated containers last year Nick
I like the BCW Trading Card storage boxes, but I don't see any wide enough for me on their website. My passenger cars are 19" coupler-to-coupler. Has anyone found that style that the ID is 19" wide?
Nope, I'd love to find some of those that were large enough for 18" cars. I'll tell you a secret of where I got my 18" car boxes...
I take the Priority Mail Game Box and create a box with dividers for three 18" passenger cars. I cut one end down a bit and make new flaps so it's just long enough for the cars with a bit of high density foam padding on each end.
I have a good friend who is the plant manager for a box company here in Baltimore. I just tell him what size I need and how many and they just show up on my front porch in a week.
Well, that works for exactly one person that's reading this, not that helpful. 
wild mary posted:I have a good friend who is the plant manager for a box company here in Baltimore. I just tell him what size I need and how many and they just show up on my front porch in a week.
Please ask him if he has anything very close to these - with an ID of 19.5" or 20" wide instead.
Good topic.
You could roll your own. With Amazon, lately I feel like a cardboard box recycling operation here. I got one of these, which cuts card board like butter. You can redo box sizes and make dividers pretty easily. But I am alway looking for the best solutions.
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Gunrunnerjohn, I take card boxes 3 and 4 row. cut the one end off of each, and hot glue back together for the long passenger cars. Dave
Can we see a picture of that Dave?
If BCW by chance makes their own boxes, maybe they would make some in a custom size? Something like Wild Mary's friend at the box company, only a bit more expensive?
Probably a real long shot, but might be worth asking?
