Operating your trains home alone can sometimes be a bit repetitive. Its therefor neat to be able travel to nearby MRR clubs to operate your trains in more varied scenarios. There are two clubs in my home town that have a model railroad open to anyone that wants to operate trains. One of the clubs have free driving while the other one is more prototypical where you have to drive according to a schedule.
One option for transporting your model trains is by car. That usually allows you to transport them with lower degree of protection compared to for example a backpack. It also allows you to transport a lot more than you can do in a backpack. I have a drving license for regular-sized cars, but I do not own a car. I use a (non-electric) bike for almost every type of transport.
So what are the challenges that exist when using a bike or your own legs for transporting model trains?
So the next question will then be: What options do we have for securely transporting model trains by bike or foot?
The first option might be obvious. Use the box the model came in to transport it! Most models comes in boxes that are specially designed for transporting that particular model.
There are however some caveats to using the original box. The box might be unecessary bulky without adding any additional protection for example. There are also boxes that lacks space for detail parts like for example mirrors and couplings.
It's also worth noteing that trains and wagons in a start set typically do not have their own box. Those usually comes in a large bulky packaging and are also poorly fitted to the models compared to what you get if you buy the models seperately. Another possibility is that you do not have the box for the model at all.
Using the original box for transport was what I used for locomotives and rolling stock initially. I used to carry the boxes in a smal bag. The problems I where facing with that strategy was that I had space for very few models. Another problem was that the bag wasn't waterproof, so water could potentialy damage my models.
The pros and cons of using the original box is sumarized in the table bellow.
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There are several options for protective cases out on the market. Some are purposfully built for model trains, while others are more generic. I have so far tested out a generic waterproof shock-absorbing protective case. I have transported locomotives and rolling stock on my bike using the case. The protective case I tested out where Clas Ohlson safecase 41-1730. Its rating against the elements is IP65 with internal meassurements of 38 x 26 x 16,5 cm and external meassurements of 41 x 32 x 18 cm. Rating of IP65 means that its dustproof (6) and can take flushing from all sides (5). The neat thing about this box is that the inside can be customized however you want, allowing for optimal utilization of space.
Bellow is a picture of what it looked like when I used it for locomotives.
But how do I fit these cases on my bike? I have two bikebags from Basil mounted on my bike. Each of them have a capacity of 50 liter, just enough to fit the protective cases. Bellow is a picture after unloading one of the cases, while the other is still loaded on the bike.
So how did it work for transporting the models? The result is shown in the picture bellow.
It might be a little bit hard to see on the image, but the locomotives have moved during transport. Thats a bad thing, meaning that they where not safely transported. The models where however intact, but the pantographs went up and the mirrors fell off for the locomotives.
So transporting locomotives in this type of protective case is way to risky for my liking. I have two theories about why it didn't work as intended.
But what about the transporting rolling stock? Bellow is a side-by-side comparison of before and after transport for some of my rolling stock.
There is less destructive movement! The rolling stock is stacked in two levels, allowing for transport of a decent amount of rolling stock. The case pictured above contained 9 wagons and it was still room for more. Thats a lot more than is possible to transport if I had used the original box for every wagon. Another benefit is that I can transport the wagons fully assembled (my container wagons for example will reqire removal of the containers if they are to be put in their box). Bellow is a picture of all of the trains and rolling stocks I where able to transport on my bike in the two cases pictured above.
So I would say that transporting locomotives using a generic safe case is a bad idea, while transporting rolling stock works great. The thing about rolling stock is that they are a lot lighter than locomotives and that they have fewer delicate details for the most part. Both of those factors make them more suitable for transport in a safe case. The important thing to remember is that the models must be properly locked into place. Bellow are two images showing how I lock the rolling stock into place.
Note how I put an extra layer of protection on top. That protection will push down towards the rolling stock when the lid is closed in order to lock it into place. I have so far had no issues with transporting rolling stock this way.
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So what did I end up with as my goto soulution for safe transport? The truth is that I ended up utilization both methods. Transporting the locomotives in a safe case is to risky, while the bags I own are prone to water. I therefor transport my locomtives in their original box inside one of the safe cases. That will allow me to transport approximately two trains at the same time, which is enogh for my use. Bellow is a picture of what it looks like.
And what about the rolling stock? I ended up transporting them using the safe case as described previously. That works for my use case and allows me to transport a decent amount of rolling stock. After all, its more fun to operate long trains!
Superspeed500 2025
Date: 24 January 2025