Spotters log books, what do you do?

[Condor7]

If like me you like to log the locos and units you see, you will no doubt use a spotters log book of some kind. I tend to now prefer the Ian Allan Rail Guide, but over the years have used several.

I was wondering however if those that use them buy a new one every year, and transfer the 'red pen' markings over, or do you only do this every few years, or do you do something different?

Thanks

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I buy a new Combined Volume ( the Platform 5 one ) each year and go through the "annual update" of moving everything across, which takes about a week to do.

 

[Techniquest]

I used to use Platform 5's books, but the cost was simply too much after the first few years for me. I discovered the NREA for much less but still does what I want quite happily. 9.95 for that versus well in excess of 20 quid, an enormous amount of difference!

I was buying them every 2 years, but my 2014 book was falling apart from very extensive use. In and out of pockets, towards the end with zipped pockets too, really accelerated that! So I ordered the 2015 one, taking more care of it of course. I might revert to buying a book every year, I'll see how things are in April 2016.

The big transfer of ticks and underlines, it takes me longer than a week, but that's because I'll do so much of it, then need a break for a while then it gets put off for a while longer. I usually end up doing it on my commute to/from work, although that's not easy on a bus! If I've got some long journeys ahead, I'll try and work on the big transfer then. I'd say at least 2 weeks for me to get the transfer done, certainly I'd say a minimum of 10 hours to get the lot done. Every year there's more underlines to add, so it takes slightly longer each year currently. Of course, with a lot of big fleet changes on the way in the next couple of years, that could vary a lot!

 

[crehld]

I've only just started marking off the locos and units for haulage this year (I'm not bothering with logging anything for sight). Not quite knowing what to do I invested in both the combined platform 5 volume Peter Mugridge has and the NREA that Tech favours. Both were readily available from the WHSmith at Crewe station (so I imagine they're available at other stations too).

After a few months, here are my views on both:

Platform 5 Combined Volume:
Pros: More detail (if you're into that). Hardback so should wear quite well (in theory at least - I've only had it for a few months so hardly a thorough test). It feels like a good quality product (good clear printing, quality paper, etc).
Cons: more expensive (approx £20). The hardback cover and pages of detail mean it can be a little bulky (relatively speaking).

NREA:
Pros: Cheaper (approx £10). Lightweight so easier to cart about.
Cons: Only been using it for a couple of months and it's starting to show some wear and tear. Text is quite small. Sparse on some detail (it doesn't tell you which TOCs operate which units so you have to do a bit of detective work figuring out the depots etc).

I have no idea what I'm going to do next year. Given I've just started I'm minded to leave buying an 'update' for a year, but we'll see.

 

[StripeyNick]

For many years, I just used to 'spot' locos so I got a new platform 5 every year (as they were more readily available) and transfer everything across.

I had a combined volume once in the early '90s but then got the year 2000 one so I had a list of what was around at the turn of this century. I had another in 2004 for some reason............I think it was possibly to have info on the newer units that were around.

I lost interest in railways around 2006 but then started back up again in 2012 when I was out of work so I got a new combined and started up again.

Classes which I hadn't completed at at all have had all the previous cops transferred across and those that had been completed, I started afresh with......DBS 66s for example.

I have now strayed into units so I'm back in to buying new books and transferring things across.....my current book is the 2014 one.

I tried one of the other books a few years back but I wasn't that keen on the layout of it so went back to P5.

I don't intend changing so often now as there is that much in the way of changes. My current book has most of the new trains that are in the pipeline so I'll stick with that for the time being.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Every year there's more underlines to add, so it takes slightly longer each year currently. Of course, with a lot of big fleet changes on the way in the next couple of years, that could vary a lot!

Once you've cleared a number of classes it should be quicker even though there will be more to transfer as you can simply go straight through with no gaps to worry about.

This doesn't always work with locomotives and older hauled stock because there is the occasional re-instatement to be careful about.

 

[Techniquest]

It still takes a while to underline the coaches I've travelled in on each MU mind, class cleared or not!

Hauled stock, yes that really infuriated me when it came to MK3s with Chiltern, GA and FGW HST stock. So many changes it's unreal, maybe they'll stop renumbering everything now! All those HST trailers I did, so many renumbered! I had a lot of them done with FGW too...

 

[Tim R-T-C]

I like to get a book and update it by hand until it literally falls apart. I had the combined 1997 Platform 5 edition, complete with the entire Class 66 roster added in on stapled sheets.

Doing the same with the separate P5 2013 books too.

I use the books to 'collect' locos, units and interesting coaches I have photographed (to a reasonable quality!).

 

[55013]

The last book I bought was the 2000 Platform 5 Combined Volume.

Since then I've just used Locotrack (www.locotrack.co.uk) to keep a record of what I've seen and done, with a list of requirements on my phone for when I'm out and about.
I just need to remember to back it up occasionally.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

It still takes a while to underline the coaches I've travelled in on each MU mind, class cleared or not!

Ruler across under the entire unit shouldn't really take any longer than just underlining the unit number - or are you one of those who has to be inside each individual carriage while it is in motion to count it?

 

[Condor7]

The last book I bought was the 2000 Platform 5 Combined Volume.

Since then I've just used Locotrack (www.locotrack.co.uk) to keep a record of what I've seen and done, with a list of requirements on my phone for when I'm out and about.
I just need to remember to back it up occasionally.

I have thought about using LocoTrack but when I checked it out a few years ago it was all cd based, which was a bit cumbersome, but checking out the website is seems to indicate it can now all be done online, is this correct?

 

[BlythPower]

I buy a new Combined Volume ( the Platform 5 one ) each year and go through the "annual update" of moving everything across, which takes about a week to do.

A week!!! It takes me three or four months to get through that... Though I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who does it.

Incidentally, if you subscribe to either of the Todays Railways magazines, you can get £5 off the combine when ordering it from P5.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Yes, I subscribe to Today's Railways Europe.

I can do it in a week because I've seen, bashed and photographed nearly everything so for the vast majority of classes I can simply go straight through the whole class without having to double check everything... underline zip zip zip, mark haulages, mark photos... move onto the next class... It also helps that I clear the decks and give the annual update a priority path in my study; I'm typically doing an hour before going to work and an hour in the evening for the duration, so it's a deliberately concentrated effort.

 

[55013]

I have thought about using LocoTrack but when I checked it out a few years ago it was all cd based, which was a bit cumbersome, but checking out the website is seems to indicate it can now all be done online, is this correct?

I don't know, to be honest.
I bought it several years ago and it was a CD, but yes, looking at the website it does now say download as well.

 

[D6975]

Haven't bought a book in years. I created my own spreadsheet and put it all in there. Update it every now and then with info from t'internet.

 

[Buttsy]

Used to be bought the Ian Allan ones in the 70s (threw them away and now really miss the 1973 combined volume which had all TOPS renumberings in and the Westerns that I had spotted), started buying both Ian Allan & Platform 5 (combined, loco, EMU, DMU depending on mood) in the 80s. Didn't buy anything between 1992 and 2012 as had moved onto line-bashing in the main. Now gone back to spotting locos only and then in passing on trips out. I am only interested in those that were working on the railways at the time of the advent of Railtrack on 01/04/94 (basically up to and including Class 60).

The other thing I started to do (as I wasn't too fussed about marking location spotted, haulage, cabbings and cab rides after 1987) was underlining in pencil what I had yet to see, so I could just rub out the line once I'd seen it (made a big difference when noting the 20 or so 47s I needed). Have gone back to underlining as I don't intend buying a new loco book too often.

 

[Techniquest]

It still takes a while to underline the coaches I've travelled in on each MU mind, class cleared or not!

Ruler across under the entire unit shouldn't really take any longer than just underlining the unit number - or are you one of those who has to be inside each individual carriage while it is in motion to count it?

Difficult to explain my logic with individual coaches, it's been so many years since I started doing it the memory has blurred itself there! I'll try to explain how I do things with the coaches:

Let's say I'm getting on 350409, and it's a winner (which it currently is, one day I'll get it!), I'll then obviously have 4 coaches to choose from. So I'd normally choose a motor coach to start with, so my moves book entry would read a bit like this, with underlines in the relevant places:

350409, in 61619, Manchester Airport -> Manchester Piccadilly (1100,arr 1115)

Now I happen to get it on a different occasion too. This time I'll note which coach I've done already, and then choose another one:

350409, in 61620, Penrith -> Carlisle (1451,arr 1507)

And so on until each coach is done, making it into a Super Dud. As you can imagine it will take a long time to make any 390 a Super Dud, let alone the 700s when they begin operations!

I hope that makes some sort of sense. I believe it started when I was getting the same stuff all the time, so it made things a bit different to do the individual coaches as well. I have many times considered stopping doing that, as obviously it makes it a lot easier to do the big transfer when I get a new book, but I've stuck to the individual coach bashing.

Any questions, do feel free to ask!

 

[D6975]

The other thing I started to do (as I wasn't too fussed about marking location spotted, haulage, cabbings and cab rides after 1987) was underlining in pencil what I had yet to see, so I could just rub out the line once I'd seen it (made a big difference when noting the 20 or so 47s I needed). Have gone back to underlining as I don't intend buying a new loco book too often.

I did that in my last books before giving up on using books. Made it a heck of a lot easier when you had only about a dozen or so things not seen in the combined volume. I used to write the list out of everything I needed for sight on the inside back cover of my notebooks too for convenience. On the inside front cover I wrote a list of locos required for a photo.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Difficult to explain my logic with individual coaches, it's been so many years since I started doing it the memory has blurred itself there! I'll try to explain how I do things with the coaches:

Let's say I'm getting on 350409, and it's a winner (which it currently is, one day I'll get it!), I'll then obviously have 4 coaches to choose from. So I'd normally choose a motor coach to start with, so my moves book entry would read a bit like this, with underlines in the relevant places:

350409, in 61619, Manchester Airport -> Manchester Piccadilly (1100,arr 1115)

Now I happen to get it on a different occasion too. This time I'll note which coach I've done already, and then choose another one:

350409, in 61620, Penrith -> Carlisle (1451,arr 1507)

And so on until each coach is done, making it into a Super Dud. As you can imagine it will take a long time to make any 390 a Super Dud, let alone the 700s when they begin operations!

I hope that makes some sort of sense. I believe it started when I was getting the same stuff all the time, so it made things a bit different to do the individual coaches as well. I have many times considered stopping doing that, as obviously it makes it a lot easier to do the big transfer when I get a new book, but I've stuck to the individual coach bashing.

Any questions, do feel free to ask!

Why not simply walk through the train while it is in motion so you can get all four carriages of it in one move?

 

[Techniquest]

Why not simply walk through the train while it is in motion so you can get all four carriages of it in one move?

For one, depending on the number of people on board, it isn't always possible. Two, it's kinda viewed as cheating. If I was to do that I might as well not count which coach I do.

 

[Condor7]

For one, depending on the number of people on board, it isn't always possible. Two, it's kinda viewed as cheating. If I was to do that I might as well not count which coach I do.

So if you have to go to the toilet and it is in another coach you wont count that coach even though you have exposed your most intimate parts to it?

 

[FQ]

I buy 3 of the 4 platform 5 books (DMUs, EMUs and Locos) and update them annually. Usually takes 3 weeks to a Month.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

For one, depending on the number of people on board, it isn't always possible. Two, it's kinda viewed as cheating. If I was to do that I might as well not count which coach I do.

Obviously this is one of those "everyone has their own rules" things given that most people - myself included - will just count anything in the formation of a train from which one is imparted motion...

 

[fowler9]

I started off with the individual Platform 5 books and moved on to the combined volume. New ones every year. Not got one for decades, the loco one must be quite slim now!

 

[Techniquest]

So if you have to go to the toilet and it is in another coach you wont count that coach even though you have exposed your most intimate parts to it?

Depends which coaches I've already done to be honest! If it's been done already, then no that coach won't be counted again. I don't count the coach for sure under I underline it. Basically let's say I've got plenty of choice of seats on my chosen side of the train in coach D, but coach C is rather well loaded. Coach D is one I've already done, but coach C is required. So I'll take my seat in coach D and, at some point in the journey, have a walk into coach C for a brief time, while the train is in motion, and record that one. Same sort of thing applies to HSTs, I might have a reserved seat in coach A on a busy train, but I need the trailer coach that is coach D on that set. At some point I will then walk down and spend a brief time in that coach to count it.

Don't ask how many times I've forgotten to do that, or how many times I've forgotten to note the coach number in the past, the numbers don't bear thinking about!

I know it makes zero sense to all of you, but it's worked for me for years. I am still tempted to just not bother logging them anymore, it is perhaps more hassle than it's worth sometimes. If I can't explain thoroughly enough the idea to fellow cranks, then I'm lost with trying to explain it to a norm! I've given up trying to explain the hobby in any sense to my norm friends, they haven't a clue on why I enjoy it. Mind you, I do occasionally banter with one of them after she noted the 153 on her trip from Hereford a few weeks ago. She didn't know where to look on the 170 (this was after more than a few drinks to be fair), she's learning slowly!

I shall see how I feel about it by the time the next bash comes around, which is 10 days off, as to whether I'm going to keep counting the coaches I do. Don't need any in my local area which is more than useful, except for the renumbered FGW HST coaches and a couple of MK3s with ATW.

 

[fowler9]

At the end of the day mate whatever you enjoy doing is the right thing. You don't have to explain it to anyone, it is probably polite to do so if they ask in a polite manner. If they just don't get it then who cares. You aren't causing any harm.

 

[Condor7]

At the end of the day mate whatever you enjoy doing is the right thing. You don't have to explain it to anyone, it is probably polite to do so if they ask in a polite manner. If they just don't get it then who cares. You aren't causing any harm.

You took the words out of my mouth. If you enjoy it and get pleasure from it then why not.

 

[Techniquest]

At the end of the day mate whatever you enjoy doing is the right thing. You don't have to explain it to anyone, it is probably polite to do so if they ask in a polite manner. If they just don't get it then who cares. You aren't causing any harm.

All wise words there, fair dos

I'll see what I fancy doing next week when #10thbasherversary begins next Wednesday

 

[03_179]

Got an android phone?

Get SPOTLOG .. it's free and is updated regularly. (Use google play to get it)

The next version will have a Haulage button too

I use it all the time now and it's brilliant.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

I stopped collecting numbers in the late 1980s but still buy the yearly Combined Volumes. I rarely buy monthly rail mags so find the "combineds" good value. I have every one dating back to 1973 (with some odd 1960s ones) though the ones prior to 1981 have been picked up as secondhand