Low Cost Railway Station for Toy Train (from Scrap).

Good evening.

I wanted to make a railway station for my son's toy train; no much time (and no need) to try to do a high quality model, so I decided to do it using the thin cardboard from some food boxes (chocolate, pasta, cookies...) found in my kitchen, and some current stationary tools (scissors, paste stick...).

Let's begin explanations - Sorry for my poor English, I hope it will be clear enough.

Materials: Some thick paper boxes. Also a small sheet of plain paper, for clock and the poles.

Tools: Scissors, paste stick, some transparent adhesive tape; a pen.

Colour felt pens and all things needed for decoration.

A ruler can be useful; maybe a stapler, also.

Optional: a small knife or cutter to do some small straight cuts in the paper (but maybe scissors are enough).

Take a box of around 10x8x4 cm (4"x3"x1.5"); I used the cookie's one in the picture, shortened to suitable length. Open it and find the small pasted flap, as in the picture; unpaste it to open the paper to flat.

Once flat, paper can be shortened to a suitable length, leaving some cm margin for later use (to close the box).

As you will see, the paper has some folding marks; following these marks, fold the paper in the opposite way: the aim is to get a box with the side out raw unprinted, easy to decorate; (the printed side will remain inside, not visible).

If the paper is cut to short, then the pasting flaps have to be re-done, as in the uncut side.

To do so, measure the smallest width between two folding marks, as in 1st picture (here was roughly 4cm); draw a line parallel to the cut edge of the paper: the distance between the edge and the line has to be the same measure (no problem if it's a little less).

Using this line and the folding marks as references, cut the pasting flap; it's maybe useful to copy those left on the opposite edge of the paper (as in 3rd picture).

Put some paste on the thin flap, as the one on the left edge in the picture; paste this flap to the opposite edge, in order to get a sort of tube (the unprinted faces on the outside).

At one open side of the tube, paste the 4 flap just as they were at the beginning, to close the box on this side (1st picture).

You can use a long and narrow object to press down the flaps, or maybe can use a weight to keep it during drying.

Do the same on the opposite (still open) side, in order to completely close the box.

Take a narrow box - I used the chocolate one, only 7mm thick. Open it in the same way as the previous.

Cut the large flap (on the right-side in 2nd picture) to a smaller one - around 2cm / 1/2" will be enough. This is to leave an opening on the bottom side.

Paste and close the box as the previous one, here again leaving the unprinted side out.

Put the 'main building' box on the 'dock' box, in the position you like to be once finished (see 1st picture);

With the pen, mark on the dock the position of the building.

Inside the marked area, cut a rectangle that is a little bit smaller, as in the 1st picture;

Cut a similar rectangle on the bottom of the 'main building' box (2nd picture);

Paste the main building box on the dock box in the position you choose (3rd picture);

As in the 4th picture, view from the bottom the two rectangle cut form a window, leaving access to the inside of the main building.

(this is also useful to eventually add some lighting at the end; a small battery-operated bike light would do the job)

On the main building box, mark an horizontal line at half of the height, on two walls as in 1st picture; this line will be the reference for the canopy position.

From a new box, cut out a rectangular piece of roughly the size of the dock (2nd pict.) - no need to be exactly the same size; and to be true, no need to be exactly rectangular neither...

This will be the 'canopy' roof piece.

On one angle, mark a rectangle with the size of the 'main building' box (3rd pict.), just as done previously with the dock; cut out the shape as in pictures 4 & 5, leaving 3 small flaps for further pasting.

Using the 'canopy' sheet as reference, mark the position of the small flaps along the line on the 'main building' box, as in 1st & 2nd pictures.

Cut these marks, as in 3rd picture.

Put some paste on the 3 small flaps, then insert them in the corresponding 3 cuts (4th pict.)

Once inserted, the flaps can be pasted in the good position by accessing the inside of the 'main building' from the opening on the bottom.

Fold the edges of the canopy sheet, in order to get some thin flaps, let's say with a width just less than 1cm (between 1/8" and 1/4"); it's useful to do some short cuts, as in 1st picture.

Fold these flaps down (2nd pict.) and fix them (3rd pict.); I used some staples (the quick & dirty way...), of course paste and/or tape can be used.

Canopy sheet maybe needs some poles to stay right & horizontal...

An example in 1st picture: a paper roll between the dock and the canopy.

From the thin plain paper, cut a rectangular piece of about 5cm / 2" long; the width of this rectangle has to be a little more (let's say 1cm / 1/4") than the distance between the canopy and the dock: the need of this extra-width is to leave some flaps for pasting (2nd pict.).

Roll the paper to form the pole (3rd pict.), beginning from the edge far from the flaps: when rolling is done, fold the flaps as in 4th picture.

Put some paste on the flaps, then paste the pole under the canopy (5th picture - the model is upside-down). You can add some paste on the bottom of the pole, if necessary.

In the 6th picture there's the final result of the pole. I added a second pole, on the right (7th pict.)

From the thin plain paper, cut a rectangular piece of about 2x6cm (1"x 2.5"); with the pen, draw the 2 sides of the clock, as in 1st picture.

Fold the sheet as in 2nd picture, leaving two small flaps;

Put some paste on the 2 small flaps (3rd pict.) and paste the clock under the canopy (4th pict.)

From a sheet of thin cardboard cut a rectangle a little more than the top of the 'main building' box; paste it on the same box.

Here's a good activity to do with children in a rainy afternoon...

That's it.

Thank you for reading.

And once again thanks to Instructables for this (free!) space.