If you've ever had to mail or receive a train - especially a delicate one - that had no box you might know how anxiety-inducing that can be, fearing how well it was packed or how much damage it might receive in shipping. Guys and girls, please, please don't just throw away the box to an expensive and delicate train model. If you don't care about the hit in value, and the ease in storing the piece should you need to, then for the sake of successive owners of the models. I see $1K+ steam engines for sale without boxes and I wonder who in their right mind would throw the box out in the trash for so fragile a piece?!
Buildings and other smaller accessories don't generally matter as much, and I don't keep every building box especially if it's particularly large and bulky. But if you're going to throw out a box, especially if it's an orange and blue one, you might consider posting it on eBay or the forum classifieds and seeing if it sells. There are people out there who might have lost the original box who would be willing to pay for a replacement, believe it or not.
