Happy APA Box Model Railway Day!

[Ian Holmes]

Facebook has its uses. This appeared in my Facebook memories today

“I bought an APA storage box from IKEA yesterday. I think it's eminently suitable for housing some kind of small diorama style model railway layout.”

Aparently (excuse the pun) this was the first recorded suggestion of the use of these boxes for model railway purposes. 
The rest, as they say, is history. Model Railways in APA boxes sprang up all over the world, everywhere there was an IKEA store to buy one from. Gn15 modellers were the first to adopt them. Then a group of German On30 modellers built a modular layout using them. Modellers around the world with limited woodworking skills and facilities found they could assemble a layout easily.
Once clever woodworking shops realized the market was there for easy to assemble baseboard kits, they started to be sold in a wider variety of sizes than the humble APA could offer.
I still have one of my APA box layouts to take to a show if necessary. In fact I still have an APA kit unopened in its packaging, ready to go should the inspiration strike.
So, happy APA box model railway day to you all!

[luke the train spotter]

Just saying I think this day should be an international holiday. I could definitely do with a 3 day weekend to get some modelling done. 

[rue_d_etropal]

Ian, I seem to remember you were the one who brought them to our attention. It's a pity IKEA decided to stop selling them, as they are still available from other sources(much higher price!!)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NATURAL-WOODEN-TOY-BOX-CHILDRENS-KIDS-CHEST-BOXES-FOR-PERSONALISED-GIFTS-STORAGE/183316154943?epid=15026727153&hash=item2aae7e8a3f:g:o6oAAOSwUMxZ6HKf

 

I have run out of unused ones, so have started to take apart some modules I built, but still have the gNatterbox ones waiting for me to build some new stockto run on them.

 

[darren chpamn]

I have three unbuilt apa boxes in my loft one day I will  use 

[JamesGWR101]

What exactly does a APA box look like?

[Mikkel]

There was also the Snackbox, which I think came before the APA box (?) - and which you also seem to have been invovled in Ian. The old Yahoo group for Snackbox modellers set up in 2007 still exists - no longer active but it contains a post which intrigued me at the time:

 

Quote

Ian Holmes <iholmesgb@...> wrote: In an effort to drum up some publicity for the Snackbox concept Bob 
and I decided to approach Carl Arendt to get a mention on his 
website in one of his monthly updates. What follows is the full text 
of the conversation...

 

Hi Carl

I don't know if you have noticed the current conversation on the 
RMweb forum (or if you frequent the site - 
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/) regarding Ikea snack boxes as bases 
for small layouts. This topic has given rise to a Yahoo group 
dedicated to the genre. We do not have any working layouts to show 
for all the discussion yet but some of the list members have firm 
plans and/or layouts currently under construction.

 

Ian Holmes suggested that we ask you if you'd consider featuring the 
Ikea idea on your website, I think the snack boxes would fit in well 
with your regular layouts in containers features but perhaps we need 
to come up with the finished product first? In the meantime could I 
ask if you'd include the Yahoo group on your links page please?

 

To which Carl replied....

Aw, c'mon, Bob! The Snack Box thingie was just Ian's little joke. 
Far as I can tell, it's simply an expensive source of birch ply. 
Maybe, if anyone ever turns one into a reasonable layout it'll 
become part of the hobby, more or less on a par with box files. 
Perhaps the IKEA Hackers would be interested! Meantime, I'll reserve 
judgement and watch with interest! <g>

So there you are everyone. A challenge to you all to produce layouts 
to show that snackbox layouts should be taken seriously. Who knows 
in a few months we could take over Carl's Small Layout Scrapbook!

Ian

Source: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/snackboxes/conversations/messages/102

 

I remember thinking when reading this that a challenge by Carl Arendt was impossible to resist! So I went and bought a Snackbox and it later became my Goods Depot micro, which to this day provides a welcome bit of light relief at the end of long working days. So thanks to Carl for the challenge (he sadly died before I got around to sending him any photos) and thanks to you Ian and others who helped bring the Ikea boxes to light 

 

Edited July 7, 2019 by Mikkel

[JamesGWR101]

Clever idea with the lamp!

[Mikkel]

It's just the regular work lamp, so is definitely a 'low tech' solution 

 

You asked what an APA box looked like. You can have a look in Ian's threads, or others like the one below: