Do you like Train Packaging Now or in the Past(mpc, postwar, tinplate)?
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Originally Posted by LIdoubleR:
Do you like Train Packaging Now or in the Past(mpc, postwar, tinplate)?
I like it now. It's practically bullet-proof. Sure, it takes forever to unwrap, and then pack back up, but it's pretty safe once it's put back in the box.
Have mixed feelings as there are pros and cons of today's vs. then. Today's packaging with form-fitting foam and plastic inserts certainly keeps things snug and limits moving around during transit but I'm horrified as to what might have become of my 1947 American Flyer set which at the time was storerd in its original factory cardboard boxes with the loco wrapped in corrogated cardboard wrap when they were in a house fire. Sure the outer box was charred and the inner boxes had considerable smoke and water damage but all of that was able to be easily cleaned off the cars and engine, but if the wrappings had been today's foam and plastic, I don't know how they would have fared. If the fire's heat had melted the styroam and plastic onto the car bodies and engine shell that could have very likely caused irrepairable damage to them.
I think that it is much better now than it used to be. It has to be to protect all the added details compared to in the past.
Art
Honestly I prefer the soft foam in boxes like brass engines come in rather than this Styrofoam. Its som much easier yo remove the locos from them.
I like it now.....
It's really a toss up I think. The packaging of years ago was just fine for the level of detail on the trains.
IMHO today's engines, for example, demand a higher level of packaging due to intricate details they have.
I can't tell you how many of the die cast ES44AC's I looked at with broken side rails and such. Sure, much of that occurred just getting the engines out of the box for the first time! Even with a warning note in the box I think there could have been something done better due the cost and complexity of these engines.
In general I think today's packaging is much preferable. But ogaugeguy brought up a good point about the melting.
Like prrhorshoecurve, I think soft foam is much better than Styrofoam, though.
It's a bear, but 3rd Rail has some of the best packaging.
Gilly
