Custom Card boxes.

Nice article with dimensional information. An item not talked about very much. Nice pictures.

Wayne

Exactly what I was looking for!

Just starting to look at operations. This clearly written article is appreciated. 
Would you consider writing a tips and tricks article about how to use the Easy Model Railroad Inventory program to create car cards?  Also like the tip on hanging the throttle. Good stuff!

More Car Card Boxes

A couple of months ago I went on a binge to install all the remaining car-card boxes and shelves on my layout.  I remembered I had written this article, so I thought I'd add some more examples for unique situations.

This shelf/box combination is for the town of Renee.  It has only one industry, a coal mine, and the fascia is curved at this location.  To build the box, I first made a template of the curve by holding a 1x4 up against the fascia and drawing a line approximating the curve.  I do this by placing a small block of wood (about 1") with a pencil taped to it against the fascia and sliding it along the curve while holding the 1x4 underneath.  This traces the curve onto the 1x4.

Then I cut the curve out of the 1x4, and a matching curve at 2" width to create a curved shelf.  I cut and glued masonite to this shelf and added one of my boxes on top, created using the method in the article.  

I drew a level line on the fascia and screwed two triangular blocks of wood to the fascia as supports.  Then I hot-glued the shelf directly to the fascia and the supports.  Last, I painted everything black and labeled the box for the mine.

A different approach

I recess my car card boxes into the fascia to maximize aisle space.

Here is a blog thread on building them.

Recessed Car Card Boxes | Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine (model-railroad-hobbyist.com)

Angela's Landing Card Boxes

Angela's Landing presented a situation much like Renee, where the fascia is curved.  My method here was the same as Renee, tracing the curve, cutting a curved shelf, and using triangular braces under the shelf.  I used clamps and braces to hold the boxes in a curve until the glue set.

The shelf is very sturdy and provides a car card sorting area as well as a place to keep uncoupling tools and hang your throttle.  I really like the curvy look of the shelf.

Duo and Logging Camp

Last up is the town of Duo with the logging camp.  This shelf was much more straightforward, because the benchwork is straight here.  However, it is on the second level, and the fascia is only about 5" thick.  This presented no issues however, and I created a long shelf with lots of space for card sorting.

@Edward

I don't think I saw your posting previously about EMRI, but that's a good idea.  I'll post some information here about how I make my car cards.  I'll have to take a few photos!  

Following the curve

Michael, those are pretty nice.  I like how you followed the curve of the benchwork.

Dave, I made boxes along the same lines as yours for my old O scale layout.  They worked nicely, but I never could quite get over being a little bugged by not having the cards standing upright facing out.  Doesn’t make any sense I know, it works perfect well wether their standing up or tucked in horizontally, it just bugged me for no logical reason.

@Edward - Using EMRI

Here is a brief outline of using EMRI to create car cards, in the next couple of posts.  

The first step is to use the Rolling Stock - Maintain Cars menu in EMRI to enter EACH of your cars into the database.  There is a convenient 1:1 button on the bottom of the screen that lets you duplicate an existing car, for example, when entering a fleet of nearly identical hopper cars.

The important part of a car's information for printing Car Cards is the Routing/Operations tab.  This information will be printed on the car card, including AAR car type, size, color and where to return when empty.  You can upload a picture here too, if you have one.

EMRI - Continued

Once your data is entered for your cars, you use the Operations - Print Car Cards menu to print the car cards.  You can print locomotive cards and caboose cards too, but here we will use the Print Freight Car Cards menu.

When you click Print Freight Car Cards, you will be able to check mark the cars you want to print.  You get 6 on a page, so I try to wait until I have 5 or 6 to print, so I don't waste paper.  But you can just print one if you want, for example, if you need to replace a damaged or lost card.  

You can print the cards with photos, but I prefer to print the photos on Avery 5160 labels and stick them to the cards.  I get a bigger photo that way.

With the cars selected, click Print.  You can preview the job first.  The card will print with lines to show where to cut it and fold it to create the waybill pocket on the bottom.

EMRI - Paper

You can use any kind of paper for your car cards.  I wanted a heavier stock, but my Ink Jet isn't designed to print on heavy card stock.  It will damage the rollers over time.  So I settled for the heaviest stock rated for my printer, and I chose a 31lb cream colored metallic paper from Staples.  These car cards have held up well so far.

I cut out the car cards with a home paper cutter, but you could use a ruler and hobby knife or scissors too.  I fold up the bottom for the pocket and tape it with clear tape.  Then I print out my Avery 5160 labels using Microsoft Word (or Libre Office) and stick the car image to the bottom of the card, folding the edges over to help hold the car card together.