It’s a year since I knocked a hole for the railway to enter the shed and it had always been my intention for this to provide storage for keeping trains coupled up and on the rails to get things going more quickly when I wanted to run something… but since I’d got a couple of yards of track under cover, I lost the motivation to take things further. Even just having one train ready to go makes a huge difference.
But I’ve finally got round to bringing the line round the corner and making my train shelves – these were inspired by the 4mm scale cassette fiddle yard system – but out of necessity (it’s not a big shed!) the cassettes are stored vertically. It’s a space saver and also a money saver – no need to shell out £50 for a pair of points for each storage siding… I’ve ordered enough angle for a couple more shelves already.
Trains sit on aluminium angle gauged at 32mm of course, I’ve printed a flap to sit between them, this firmly locates the cassette with the approach road…
But when it folds back so you can remove the cassette, it acts as a buffer stop, preventing trains from diving onto the workbench…
And on the cassette side of things I’ve printed these pegs that slot into a hole to stop unbraked trains sliding off if I don’t manage to keep the shelves perfectly horizontal as I lift them.
The weak link is, of course, the shelves themselves – they’re wooden (decking board) and some have already warped… in a damp shed there’s no guarantee they’ll keep their shape. I had considered trying to construct them entirely out of aluminium but these seemed like a lot of designing and manufacturing so I went ahead with these as a proof of concept. They also need side rails, which should be easy enough when I’ve decided how best to implement them, and ideally handles so that the centre of gravity is much lower than the point from which one lifts the shelf…
It has occurred to me that a solution to the material issue would be to replace the wood with… eco-ply (aka Flicris) although I’m not sure how resistant to warping it will be. But something to experiment with.
Simon
Moel Rhos
Great idea Simon. I wish I had a storage shed nearby to the railway but try (and think) as I might the best I can come up with is have rolling stock in boxes indoors but that then have to be lifted through doors etc to be used. I like the cassette idea. Perhaps the side rails could also help to keep the boards straight? I suspect filcris type thin material would tend to warp between the shelf backets though, and also heavier eco planks would be just that – heavier. I may see if I can arrange a cassette system for my indoor storage. It may make it easier to lift whole trains out to the garden when required.
You’re probably right about the Filcris, Mike, but it seems like it’s worth a try since I’m getting some anyway for use outside. 18mm of recycled plastic may just be as rigid as the 28mm decking… Either way, I think the side rails may be not have much strength relative to it… the decking does not sag, and it’s nice and solid, but when it decides to twist you really need some 3×2 purlins to nail it to in order to convince it to do otherwise… Not an option here.
If you can come up with a cassette system that is light enough to lift, I’m sure it would work for my shelves too, so keep me posted! The shelves are 6′ but at least I don’t have to lift them far…
Good idea to keep complete train sets in one place. I like the red/ white stock ! I keep mine in a cupboard just by the back door, so it’s not too far to move things. Maybe the garden shed could be used when cleared out a bit ! Have you thought of polycarbonate for shelving? like used on conservatory roofs. I used it for a bridge deck & it is very light, does not warp or flex either.