Travel & Storage with T-TRAK

Getting your T-TRAK modules to the show, and home again, safely is always a concern.   In addition, how you safely store them at home is just as important.   Here is what I have found works for me.  

The Tote

When looking at totes, you have actually measure the bottom of the tote. Every one I have ever seen gives you the measurement of the top opening, but not of the more narrow base.  

I found these 27 gallon  "Commander Storage Tote" from Lowes to be the right size.   The bottom is 24.75" x 14.75" - making it large enough to hold a standard Double, up to 14" deep.   Internally, there is about 13" of usable height (the lid has a depressed center, allowing you to easy stack the totes, but does take away about an inch or so from the overall tote's internal height).  

As noted, I can sit a double (or two singles) inside the tote without an issue.  With 13" internal height, that gives you 10 inches of scenery height: or 133 scale feet.  In my case, it is pretty rare to have a full 10" of scenery.  So I found a way to double stack the modules.  The modules sit with the module 'tops' facing each other.   I also rotate them 180 degrees, so the track area of one module is over-top the scenery area of the other module.  Since scenery directly above the tracks is (usually) minimal, this gives you just a little more wiggle room with your scenery.  

Here is a double (along the bottom) and two singles, ready to be placed in a tote.  This photo is showing the back of the double, and the front edges of the singles.  There are "side support board" on each side keeping the securely stacked on top of each other.  You will also note the space between the single, more on that later :-) 

Side Support Board

On the left and right sides of a module, I drill 2 holes.  I have a jig where I make sure those holes are ALWAYS uniformly spaced (7.5" apart) both from each other and from the bottom edge (0.75" from bottom) of the module.   Below is the side of one of my singles.  These holes allow me to screw a "side support board" on each side to pack them. 

The exact height of the the side support boards took a little "trial and error", but I found 10.75" worked.   The width is not overly important (other than wider than holes I drilled at 7.5" apart )  The one picture here is around 8" wide, but I also have others that are more like 10" wide.

I cut out notches on the long sides to allow space for the 1mm overhang of the tracks and the unijoiners.  

The supports are made with 1/8in thick plywood (same wood I use when building my modules - so these supports are just the cut-offs that are not wide enough to be used as a module deck.  )  

Here is a side view of the modules stacked and ready to be packed.  This side support board is around 11" wide.  You can ignore the various scribble on board, this is the one I used when I was trying to figure out placement.   

SECIAL NOTE:  The bolts, wingnuts and washers that are used to hold the side support boards are the same hardware I use to screw on my skyboards.  So I don't have extra hardware to find or keep track of at a show.   I place the skyboards along the bottom of the tote, before putting the modules in.  

Spacer for Singles

As noted in the earlier photo, I use a 1/4" spacer between single modules.  It is just 2 pieces of the (same) 1/8in plywood that is used when building the side supports.  These spaces allow for the 1 mm overhang on modules to not get in the way of each other when I screw them together.  

All Packed and ready...

Here you can see the modules packed away inside a tote.  (ignore the extra wires - this is a single extenstion for my Yard Modules  :-)  )  

The fact that the underside is face up, it provides a nice place to store a few scenery elements (in this case, two boxcars).  You can also see where the skyboards for these two singles are currently stored on top.