Model Railroading > tracking your freight car inventories...

Just wondering how you track your freight car inventories. I'm building an excel file for mine, but wondering what other do before I get too far into this project and finding out there is a better way.

Thanks


PS as a side note what are some of the specifics you track about your cars?

Well, I'm compiling a master list of operating equipment at my club for operations on a excel spreadsheet. The fields I'm keeping track of are Type (boxcar, covered hopper, ect), Model (Double Plug Door, 3-bay, ect.), Reporting Mark (SP, UTLX, ect.), Roadnumber, Color, Length, and Owner.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

I use,"Yard Office". It is free. I did pay the 27 dollars for the registered version. It has a large data base of manufactures and road names, with their logos.

I could list all its features, but that would take some time.
Here is the link. http://www.musicmixradio.com/yardoffice/

My only complaint with the program is with the picture back up part.
It doesn't save the picture of the engine. or car in the program, it looks for it on your computer directory .Let's say, C drive, pictures, trains.
If you transfer the program to another drive, unless you make sure the picture directory is the same, it will not display the picture in the program. Then you will have to reinstall all of the pictures.
Good Luck,
Dave

I use Excel not only to account for each car, but as an aid in selecting cars while making up trains in staging. The information entered into the Excel spreadsheet is taken from my waybills and car cards. I use the 4-step Micro-Mark waybill system.

The Excel file records the car number, owning railroad, car type (using AAR classifications), the train on which it originates, its initial destination (town), and by its initial consignee on the model railroad.

I then sort the data and print out the data in three ways: as a simple roster alphabetically by railroad and numerically by car number; as a roster by originating train; and as a roster by initial consignee.

If I have a specific car I want to include in the operation, I use the simple alpha/numeric roster to find the correct train in which to stage the desired car. If I'm building a specific train, I use the roster that sorts the cars by originating train. If I want to make sure that a certain spur or industry receives traffic during the operation, I use the roster that sorts the cars by initial consignee. Each of three rosters reports all of the recorded car information.


Art House
Gettysburg, Pa.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/10 17:07 by aehouse.

In addition to the replies from the others, I'd like to add that I keep track (as best I can) of the price of the cars and locomotives. Yes, it does get a bit scary.

Jim

I use Yard Office also. Started with the free file but moved up as it allows more data. Easier I think than just XCell.
Roger Beckett

I use albion software's railbase pro to tract all aspects of the freight car fleet. is all set up prototype operation. even better with the software is that it works with their Switch it soft ware that automatically makes up switchlists drawing off the freight car database. they work together perfectly. including the bad order car, just set that in the database ad the switchlist finds it on the layout and routes it appropriately. Also includes yards. because they work together, makes it very easy to create the switching. more time for train running.

I also manage a car fleet of close to 1000 freight cars on Excel. Actually I have separate sheets for ATSF (my modeled road) and another for all foreign cars. I also have Excel sheet for the diesels. I keep a lot of info on the spreadsheet and have it on a laptop on the dispatch desk for "instant" access.

Bob

Bob Miller
Kansas City, KS

I use Excel with filters. I also have a function at the top header which counts each freight car and that is almost as scary as the value (which I do not track).

My classifications include the reporting marks, road number, manufacturer's SKU, prototype builder, length or cu. capacity, car type, road name, era (my own definition), manufacturer, whether is is a RTR vs. kit built.

I also maintain a separate tab for locos and passenger cars.

Rick

Wow! Great ideas everyone! Thanks for all the info and a few third party software ideas.

Crap, more to think about and tinker with...

Excel is cheap and easy, but I wanted more robust and flexible reporting features. You can write your own inventory program if you like that sort of thing, but I prefer to devote my hobby time to doing actual train stuff.

I use Shenandoah Software's MiTrains to keep my car inventory, and my club uses it too. Quite reasonably priced for the features you get. What you get for the modest price is a lot of pre-loaded tables for things like the model manufacturer, car type, railroad name and reporting marks, etc. You also get some pre-canned reports plus the ability to run some interesting statistics, like your fleet broken down by count & percentage by car type, or Road name.

You can organize your cars in different categories to keep them separate, such as In-service, M of W, Passenger, etc.

One other nice thing is that you can print car cards right form the inventory data. If you really want Excel, you can export your data into Excel spreadhsheets if desired.

Yes, there is some data entry involved, but it goes fairly fast, especially if you use the duplicate feature for a lot of look-alike or similar cars. I foudn the data entry part actually fun. Dragged in all the boxes of stored stuff from the garage to enter in and it was just like Christmas morning - I'd forgotten about a lot of the stuff I already had.

Just Google "Shenandoah Software" and you'll find it. Great support from the vendor if you need it. YOu can download a trial version for free and see for yourself.

I also use their Waybill program. It is more complex, but procudes nice waybills with as much info on them as you'd like.

- Norm