Do you keep your O gauge building boxes? Menards boxes?

To each their own…but if you save boxes for the collectibility, you might just end up with a bunch of boxes……if you want your hobby to be a business, you send them with your sales…..wonder if lack of a box ever stopped a purchase….I chose space, rather than getting a big box to put little boxes in.

Every box gone is more room for a bigger layout

I’ve kept all my building boxes but, the wife was in my storage area recently and grumbled about my “mess”. I may need to have a reckoning with myself whether to continue keeping these or toss them.

Curt

I have my boxes but they take up so much space. I plan on spring cleaning.

When I go I told my family don't kill yourself trying to find and match boxes. Just sell the trains.

I've kept all my building boxes. I take the styrofoam out and flatten them without damage. They are easy to reassemble. I keep the styrofoam or packaging in  big trash bags. Yes it will be a puzzle trying to figure out what styrofoam goes with what building(I shoud have labeled them) I've saved a lot of space.

@Kevin1 posted:

I've kept all my building boxes. I take the styrofoam out and flatten them without damage. They are easy to reassemble. I keep the styrofoam or packaging in  big trash bags. Yes it will be a puzzle trying to figure out what styrofoam goes with what building(I shoud have labeled them) I've saved a lot of space.

Not convinced this practice saves any space, but...

I have all my boxes, and glad that I do, since everything is currently in storage...ugh.

@Mill City posted:

Not convinced this practice saves any space, but...

I have all my boxes, and glad that I do, since everything is currently in storage...ugh.

I keep the trash bags on top of the flattened boxes, and one trash bag on top of another, has worked for me.  Has saved me horizontal space for my train boxes, dont like stacking them too high.

The trash bags for foam and flattened boxes idea seems worth a try.  I have no space for expanding the layout but it sure is nice to free up space underneath the layout where all the buildings have been placed until now.  I told my wife if I go first, she can use my list, get all the boxes in the attic and start selling.  Her response: "Not happening."  She'll call my local hobby shop, tell them to come and get it all, take the money and call it a day

Mike

@Kevin1 posted:

I keep the trash bags on top of the flattened boxes, and one trash bag on top of another, has worked for me.  Has saved me horizontal space for my train boxes, dont like stacking them too high.

Oops...it's been so long that I forgot that not all foam inserts are the same size of the box, but rather just end pieces. Now your madness makes sense...lol.

I have all the boxes for the buildings I use on my Christmas tree layout, as I put them away each year. I tried keeping the boxes for my other buildings, but it just became too much. I even had some stored in trash bags in my backyard shed. I finally gave up, and started throwing them away.
The Menard’s shipping boxes, however, can come in handy for storing other items, so some of those are still around.

I’m keeping boxes for now as I know I have another move in the future.

I keep all of my boxes.  Might come in handy some day for shipping items or storing them in to protect from damage.  Having original boxes is what some buyers look for.  My boxes are neatly stored in the attic of my extra garage.  Has never been any damage to them through temperature changes.

Ron

I keep boxes for bldgs and trains. I have my original MTH Coors train set box signed by Mike Wolf. With that said, I am running out of space under the table.

@Mill City posted:

Oops...it's been so long that I forgot that not all foam inserts are the same size of the box, but rather just end pieces. Now your madness makes sense...lol.

I looked at my MTH building boxes last night and, I agree, it looks like a lot of them just have some foam that can be removed and put in plastic bags and then the boxes lay flat.

As far as saving the boxes for shipping, that has served me well in my last move.  Nothing got broken.

I also experienced a flood in my basement.  It was only 1 1/2 inches but the styrofoam in the bottom of my boxes saved my Z4000 transformer and my Lionel hobby shop.

Ron, I too, store my boxes in the attic of my garage and I've never had a problem with temperature ruining them -- and I live through Wisconsin winters.  I also installed a drop- down ladder in my garage ceiling -- so having easy access for getting up there has made a huge difference.

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.

If you are one for drop & plop buildings and/or infested with collectoritis, only then is keeping boxes of any concern.

Otherwise, toss them.

I don't have the space to store them so I recycle the boxes and styrofoam goes in the trash as they don't recycle it in my county in NYS. I just save the boxes for locomotives and rolling stock.

My attic is full of boxes (I hope they help as insulation), as is the space under my layout.  If I need to have work done in the attic, a lot of them will have to go, and it's a pain to have to move boxes every time I work on the layout wiring.  So, for cars I've started to get rid of the foam cradles and flatten the boxes.  For now, I'm still keeping the cradles for engines.  (This applies only to boxes for modern trains, not anything collectible.)

Nearby storage units start around $100/mo for 5x10.  Are my boxes ever going to be worth $1200 per year?

IMO, unless one is planning to move soon or has plenty of extra space (why not fill it with trains?), keeping modern boxes isn't worth the effort.

@Mallard4468 posted:

Nearby storage units start around $100/mo for 5x10.  Are my boxes ever going to be worth $1200 per year?

@mwb posted:

If you are one for drop & plop buildings and/or infested with collectoritis, only then is keeping boxes of any concern.

Otherwise, toss them.

Paying for a storage unit is something I thought about as well.  But I'm at $100/mo., too, so, I agree, $1200 to store boxes is a dealbreaker.  The fact I considered that makes me feel like "collectoritis" is creeping in and thank goodness I have more sense than to do that.  But I don't know... when it comes to this hobby, sometimes I'm weak

I also have considered a ton of cardboard boxes with syrofoam inserts may help provide some added insulation in that attic.  Good point.  Every bit helps.

Mike