Train Inventory Software


B

beiland

Well-Known Member
Does anyone have or know of a good train inventory software??
...something relatively simply but inclusive to list your trains and structures etc
 
Do you have Excel on your computer? You could make up your own spreadsheet with whatever info you want in the header and unlimited columns. There are probably commercial ones available, if you already have Excel you would be able to customize it to your liking.
 
I use one that's called "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" written by commercial programmer Bob Langer. It has much more than just inventory stuff on it, but the inventory portion is easy to use and allows stuff like pictures, purchase price, model numbers etc. for insurance information. Of course it is driven by the regular road name, number, AAR class etc. It has portions dedicated to structures, electronic equipment, books and lots of other stuff. You can use as little or as much as you want.
Bob no longer supports it, but has graciously allowed it to be downloaded for free from this site.
http://www.pdc.ca/rr/freebies/
This site is a commercial site run by a long time MRH contributor Bill Brillinger.
If you get it, check out some of the switching parts on it like car cards and waybills, plus you can input industries, commodities, destinations etc. An extensive manual is available if needed. You can also make customized graphs, spreadsheets and queries if you want.
 
JMRI has a free easy to use inventory program. It's under the "operations" section. I just wish the operations part was as easy to use as the inventory part.

Joe
 
I'm running a free office suite called Open Office, but to tell the truth I have only ever utilized the text portion.

Rather than trying to 'create' my own columns, groupings, etc, etc, I would tap into someones work that had created a good way of inventorying model rr equipment

And I was hoping to avoid complications like, "If you get it, check out some of the switching parts on it like car cards and waybills, plus you can input industries, commodities, destinations etc" .

I do like this idea, "I use one that's called "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" written by commercial programmer Bob Langer. It has much more than just inventory stuff on it, but the inventory portion is easy to use and allows stuff like pictures, purchase price, model numbers etc. for insurance information "
 
I'm using Excel which was on my confuser, it works fairly well.
 
beiland said:
I'm running a free office suite called Open Office,
Click to expand...
I use Open Office for my model railroad inventory. I have one list per calendar year, and a master list that is a joining of all the years.
I have the columns:
Scale -
Manufacture -
Manufacturer's Line -
Stock Number -
Description -
Classification - Locomotive, Freight, Passenger, MOW, Head End, part, tool, reference, consumable, structure, scenery, control, power
Road -.
Paint Scheme -
Road Number -
notes - I use for special notes like decoder equipped, coupler type, sound, etc ( These should probably all be broken down into their own columns )
Cost -
Date of purchase -
Where Purchased -
Disposition - what happened to the item (sold, given away, lost, destroyed, consumed, used for model x)

I also have columns for original retail, current market, high, and low, but never have time to keep those up to date.
The whole thing could be better like including an AAR designation for the freight cars, condition of the item, and as noted above what type of decoder, what channel it is on, voltage of light bulbs, what type of couplers, last inspected date, certified for museum operation, certified for club X, operation, etc.
 
I didn't mention in my previous post regarding "Easy Model Railroad Inventory", that it also includes maintenance history which could include inspections, cleanings, or anything that you wish to include, within the field for each car. It also has every field that Horseman wishes that he included. Again, you can use as many or as few of the fields that you want.
I hope to use the switching program someday, but one of the first steps after defining all industries/yards, switching frequencies, car types etc., is to log in the location of all 800 of my freight cars!

Tony - I respectfully disagree about it's ease of use. After the first few entries, things went really quickly. But I already had a photo file with pictures of all of my freight cars and detailed maintenance records since 2008. I also had written purchase records and descriptions back to the 80's, vendor, manufacturer, cost, etc. Drop-down selections that can be populated with your choice of wheels, couplers and lots of other things make entry easy for me. For example, in the coupler drop-down box, I only included couplers that I actually use, no Sargent's or horn-hooks. ANything can be easily added.
Brian - I'm on vacation right now and don't have access to the computer at home. When I return I'll try to get more information unless you have already downloaded it...free after all!
 
Excel is fairly easy to use and may be on your computer already. There are dialog boxes where you an put hundreds of bits of information on your rolling stock. Don't know if you could add a photo; or, not. That was never an option I felt I needed.
 
Google sheets. Web-based , free, all the spreadsheeting and you will ever need to keep tour roster. Reqdy On the go (ie at trainshow) as well on your smartphone .
 
I started an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my locomotives after buying a second C&NW #1633 at a swap meet.

I note the road name, unit number, manfacture, decoder info, if weathered and coupler info.

Also I keep any details like what dcc function button controls which CV's like special effects. I have a short memory.

From my phone.

Greg@mnrr
 
santafewillie said:
I use one that's called "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" written by commercial programmer Bob Langer. It has much more than just inventory stuff on it, but the inventory portion is easy to use and allows stuff like pictures, purchase price, model numbers etc. for insurance information. Of course it is driven by the regular road name, number, AAR class etc. It has portions dedicated to structures, electronic equipment, books and lots of other stuff. You can use as little or as much as you want.
Bob no longer supports it, but has graciously allowed it to be downloaded for free from this site.
http://www.pdc.ca/rr/freebies/
This site is a commercial site run by a long time MRH contributor Bill Brillinger.
If you get it, check out some of the switching parts on it like car cards and waybills, plus you can input industries, commodities, destinations etc. An extensive manual is available if needed. You can also make customized graphs, spreadsheets and queries if you want.
Click to expand...
Thanks Willie!!!

Since I started building my inventory I have used Microsoft's Excel. Without also using Microsoft's Access it can't do all that "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" can do.

I have Access included with my subscription, but I have yet customize it fit my purpose, something I suspect will be time consuming. I have not used Access in almost 20 years and I suspect the learning curve will be steep and time consuming, for me. God knows it was the first time!

I only just now downloaded; "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" and it seems that all that customization I would need to do in both Excel and Access have already been done for me in this software!

Not to mention "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" is free!

For keeping a simple inventory, Excel has served me well. "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" will help me take it to another level, without all the learning.

I will continue to use Excel, for fear that "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" may become obsolete. In the mean time I am going to run with it. Once I find the time to reconcile my inventory and set up "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" that is.

Even if "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" becomes obsolete, I'm betting I learn a lot from using it and it will an improvement over my Excel inventory. Once I see how "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" improves the capabilities of my inventory I suspect I'll be more motivated to begin using Access in the event "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" does become obsolete.

Thanks again Willie!!!
 
I will look into Easy Model Railroad Inventory; however, my needs as far as an inventory is concerned is fairly limited.
 
Louis - You're welcome. I guess that I failed to mention that it is comprised of databases and spreadsheets that all work together. Obsolete? While more sophisticated programs might be available in the future, this one seems to already have all of the T's crossed and the I's dotted, which might have taken me quite some time if I were to write my own program (which I did about 15 years ago). It was done by a professional programmer. If needed, one could probably go through the back door and customize some of it, but you can write your own custom queries, spreadsheets and graphs with certain menu choices.
Mark - Limited or unlimited, you can use as much or as little of it as you see fit. I am probably using only 20% of the available resources. I would like to eventually try out the switching portion and I have already entered many of my industries into the database. I know how you are, and I know that you can't beat the price, FREE!
 
Yes, Willie, I would guess that you can use any or all of it. My problem is I have already done a lot of work installing the information in Excel.
 
I use "Easy Model Railroad Inventory" by Bob Langer. I do not think the program is difficult, although it does become tedious when entering a large number of entries. Over all, it's a great inventory for insurance purposes, and was designed with the NMRA Insurance program in mind. I might actually complete data entry this coming winter. BTW, there is also a spreadsheet feature included. Mr. Langer covered many bases.

[ I use Word Perfect Office, which contains the Quatro Pro spreadsheet. I used to use this when I was in the Consulting business, and always considered it superior to MS Word and Excel. When MS went to the subscription model (Office 360) for Office, I went back to WP.]

I do not utilize the car card or waybill feature, as I utilize my own system based on Conrail practice.
 
Please define 'obsolete'.

Does that mean it may be superseded by another or better program?

Or is there some possibility one might lose all their data they put into that program/software??

( you are dealing with a computer idiot here.....ha...ha)
 
beiland said:
Please define 'obsolete'.

Does that mean it may be superseded by another or better program?

Or is there some possibility one might lose all their data they put into that program/software??

( you are dealing with a computer idiot here.....ha...ha)
Click to expand...

My definition obsolete as it relates to software is when a program is no longer supported and does not work on a new or improved operating system.

You are by no means an idiot. I use to build my own brand of computers (Bruette Computers) in the 90s - early 2000s and I can't keep up with this stuff! Technology moves forward at a more and more rapid pace. It's almost a full time job trying to keep pace.
 
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