What Do You Keep (Packaging)?

[Sir TophamHatt]

Thought about the whole range of packaging you get and what people may or may not keep.

I am a stickler for keeping everything but reckon I'll slim down a quarter of it.

 

Model boxes, be it locos, units, buildings or things like tunnels - keep all.

Although I have no current plans to sell certain models, I will always keep the box.

 

But I also keep decoder boxes (and manuals) and point motor boxes too!  It's these sorts of things I am thinking of dumping, especially the decoders that are hard wired into locos.

 

For me, it's about re-sale at a later date, as well as storage (like buildings sotred in their original boxes).

 

What do you keep?

Is there anything you think you shouldn't?
And what's the reasoning behind why you keep things others would probably just throw?

[davknigh]

I keep locomotive boxes and very little else. Once a wagon arrives it goes on the layout and the box goes in the recycling along with the tension lock couplers. Before I had a layout I did keep boxes for storage and still have a stock drawer for anything under repair of consideration for disposal. My key motivation? House moves. It’s much easier to plonk wagons in an IKEA box with some bubble wrap than to individually re-box any quantity of wagons.

 

Cheers,

 

David

 

 

[The Johnster]

I keep all stock boxes in case I ever have to move; I live in rented accommodation and do not have complete control over the security of my tenure.  

[Geep7]

I've kept very few boxes, except for newer Locomotives and Multiple Units. I do tend to keep hold of the boxes for any new items bought for about a year, just in case they need to go back to the retailer for any reason (not that this has happened yet).

 

Most of my stock lives on the layout anyway, and when they aren't, are in storage trays with foam inserts.

 

As I tend to weather all my stock, there really is little value in keeping the boxes. The loco and MU boxes are kept should I move house, as others have already mentioned.

[ELTEL]

I keep all the packaging for Locomotives  and all Rolling Stock.

 

All the rest of the packaging gets recycled.

 

Eltel 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I keep the clear clamshell inner that is now common, and similar earlier split packaging; one per loco class, as handy servicing cradles. There isn't one unmodified item so no 'collector value'. Been known to sell boxes, rather than just recycle.

[Dunsignalling]

The models go into stock trays or onto the layout. The boxes go into bigger boxes in the loft (extra insulation). If I hadn't anywhere to put them it might be different.

 

Also, having the box, when taking anything that becomes surplus to requirements at swapmeets or selling by post. just makes handling easier and safer. For me, the person buying it, or my executor.... 

 

Even if it makes no difference to the value of an item that's been weathered etc. a wagon in a box will always fetch a quid or two more than one that's not - it seems more "looked after", and the buyer isn't going to damage it on the way home.

 

 

John

 

Edited March 23, 2019 by Dunsignalling

[Kris]

If stock arrives in the box, the box get kept, if only for possible eventual resale of the item. Boxed items do seem to command a good premium. 

[Guest CLARENCE]

I don't keep any packing at all, simply don't have space for any unnecessary "stuff".

[Porkscratching]

If they come in one of those sturdy long loco type shipping outer boxes I keep those as they're handy if I flog anything on eBay, ( not necessarily rail stuff)..also keep bubble wrap for the same reason.

 

[The Johnster]

I have never, and am unlikely to ever, sell anything on 'Bay as I cannot be *rsed with it and all my railway stuff is worked up to my standards and hence unsaleable at decent prices.  I don't like 'Bay, despite having had some good stuff from it; it is a time sucker and I have a life, or at least delude myself that I do.

Edited March 24, 2019 by The Johnster

[Steamport Southport]

I keep it all even for stuff that is heavily modified.

 

Not really looking to sell anything, but it's probably more helpful to family if I get hit by a bus.

 

What is just a red train to others is now identified as a Hornby Duchess worth over £150. LOOK BOXED!!! People don't put stuff like that on listings if it wasn't relevant to collectors. I must admit if I saw two models on a stall one boxed, the other not, then I'm more likely to pick up the boxed one even if it's a bit more expensive. It makes it look like it has been looked after.

 

 

 

Jason

[Porkscratching]

I don't much like flogging stuff on evil bay either, but I've admittedly found it useful on odd occasion to get rid of stuff I don't need ( again mainly non rail related)

I certainly wouldn't make it a regular habit, that way lies madness..!

I've bought some good bargain wagons on there however so it has it's place..

Edited March 24, 2019 by Porkscratching
to add something

[Captain Kernow]

Until the item (loco, rolling stock or whatever) is weathered and 'processed' for use on the layouts, it stays in it's box.

 

Once the item has been dealt with and is ready for use, all original packaging is recycled, as I make my own bespoke loco and stock boxes, which minimise handling of the painted and weathered items.

 

[HonestTom]

I generally keep the packaging on locomotives for the sake of protecting the more fragile details. Otherwise, all I keep is the larger blister packaging (for model glazing).

[JST]

I am the sad git that keeps everything! I even find it a bit of a wrench to chuck the nice cardboard boxes Hattons send out stuff in.

[leavesontheline]

Keep all locos and rolling stock in their original packaging - much too big a project to change all of this for another solution now! But for most 'low value' items once the item is used/installed/fitted/etc with little or no chance it will ever need to be returned, the packaging is recycled.... just to make space if nothing else.

[Steamport Southport]

10 minutes ago, JST said:

I am the sad git that keeps everything! I even find it a bit of a wrench to chuck the nice cardboard boxes Hattons send out stuff in.

 

Decent boxes can be very useful. If you are sending something in the post then they are the size that the Royal Mail and most couriers like.

 

 

Jason

[Sir TophamHatt]

I didn't keep as much as I thought when I sorted through the boxes of stuff.

I did keep the seep PM1 points boxes and decoder boxes though as they sat nicely in the top of the box; would have just been empty space otherwise.

Strangely though, I thought I kept a lot more of the Lenz decoder boxes.  Turns out no!

[Right Away]

All locomotive and rolling stock boxes have been kept just in remote event of a house move. 

 

Hattons' sturdy boxes for their own produced models like the P class might one day be of collector value!

 

 

 

[grandadbob]

I've kept all the boxes and just recently glad I did as I've now packed up nearly everything in preparation for a move from the small bedroom in the house to a new dedicated railway shed. The only exception being coaches which I keep in Really Useful Boxes with foam inserts. I also keep loads of those nice boxes from Hattons and others ready for selling off some of my surplus stuff (I have rather too much)  but I never seem to a round tuit!

Edited March 27, 2019 by grandadbob

[Forester]

Hard to recall how many times I've upgraded all my stuff over the decades as more accurate and better detailed models come on the market.

 

I was only able to do that by selling the old items. Doesn't matter if they've been modified repainted renamed or lost bits, someone somewhere wants old items for cheapness/spare/repair/modification/kids. There is a market for everything and anything.

 

But...... to get the best prices, necessary to afford the very expensive new stuff these days, you need the boxes.

[KDG]

Oh dear.

 

I've kept every box, which are now stored in really useful boxes underneath the train board. Stops the cat going under there...

 

They used to be in the attic, but I found that the variation in temperature up there has destroyed the glue on the Hornby boxes and they are now of no use. One day I'll get around to binning them.

 

I've recently sold loads of stuff on ebay to create funds to buy Hattons rhtt's and Accurascale's transpennine coaches and the boxes have meant that I have realised more in the sales.

[Damo666]

I've come here to get some comfort in my decision, or maybe just guidance, as storing air in empty boxes just dosen't seem sensible (to me).

 

I've got some plastic storage boxes which I've been compartmenting to store either locos, wagons or coaches instead of all the faff in opening a box, sliding the outer plastic sleeve, opening the clamshell etc.  I can get 6 locos / coaches in a box with foam separation, or 7 if I use polyfoam board as dividers. So I've decided to keep the Loco boxes and get rid of the coach and wagon boxes.

 

The thing is, should I try and sell the empty boxes or just them put in the recycling bin? I think life is too short to be selling empty boxes; what with packaging and postage etc, for just a pound or two. It's just that I hate throwing something out if it has a use for someone else.

[Ian J.]

I've made up my own stock boxes to hold everything, using basic file archive boxes with custom-made foam board trays for carriages and wagons, and 10L A3 really useful boxes with the same style tray for locomotives. I've also indexed all of them making it easier to find something. It's easier to get to something than having to keep opening up the manufacturer packaging. I simply don't have space to retain the empty boxes so I get rid of packaging via recycling for most things. The only ones kept are for limited edition items, of which there aren't many.

Edited August 3, 2019 by Ian J.