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Because of construction I have to move my collection of PW items to a non-climate controlled storage unit. Climate control was not available. I live mid-state in Pennsylvania.  I have wrapped the engines in bubble wrap, no boxes, and have heavy weight plastic storage containers. Silica gel packs have been ordered. Hopefully I will be able to get them to their new home by January.

Is there any other precautions I can take? Thank you.

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I have seen bubble wrap mess up paint on trains, and others here have mentioned it here over the years.  I wrap each item with tissue paper (ideally archival / acid free)  before the bubble wrap.  If you did not do that, I would change it now.  Your time frame is short, so you may get away with it.  Plastic totes are excellent and silica gel is good.  If you are storing track there are some rust preventatives to consider (The rust store/Frog).  Again your time frame is short.  I agree with others about looking more for climate control.

Bill

It is not really a very long time from today - 9/25 - until January - even February. It seems to me that your items, if packed with common sense, and dry, should hold up just fine. I suppose low temps might make a difference (I live far south of Pennsylvania), but I don't recall PW Lionel being a delicate product line. Quite the opposite.

@D500 posted:

It is not really a very long time from today - 9/25 - until January - even February. It seems to me that your items, if packed with common sense, and dry, should hold up just fine. I suppose low temps might make a difference (I live far south of Pennsylvania), but I don't recall PW Lionel being a delicate product line. Quite the opposite.

For what it's worth, I've stored trains in my attic, in boxes, or if none wrapped in paper, sometimes for years, with no adverse effects. No climate control there - humid when it's raining, 120+ degrees in the summer (Texas). Other than wrapping your trains with paper rather than bubble wrap, I think they'll be just fine in that storage unit in PA, especially for such a brief period.

Last edited by breezinup

You are in PA. With cool and then cold weather approaching now, humidity (a major problem for trains and the electronics in them) should not be a problem over the cold-weather months.

As others have noted, wrap the items in a paper wrap first (ideally an acid-free paper/tissue, and definitely NOT printed paper) and then in bubble wrap. I just recently moved--actually, still in the process of doing so--but I kept and stored about 95% of the original boxes for my trains. I have done this for years to make the items far easier and safer to ship if/when I sell them. Empty boxes do take up a whole lot of space, but you will than your lucky stars you saved them if/when you move, and even when you sell them at some point.

You can buy all sorts of dehumidifying agents that you can store with your trains (sporting goods and gun stores sell a variety of types). Keeping things in plastic containers is definitely a good idea.

@mwb posted:

Silica gel packs serve no purpose unless your storage containers are air tight.  Their value as desiccants diminish almost immediately upon exposure to air.  Their usefulness boarders on mythology at best. 

What he said!  I regularly toss the tiny packs that come in new locomotives, chuckling as I pitch them.  Leaving the packets in the boxes after you have opened them is totally worthless.  They have no more absorption to give.

I seriously doubt that enough care is taken in China when they're packing the stuff to insure those packets are dry and able to absorb moisture anyway. 

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