Trainmapper App

[HA25322]

I’d absolutely love to be able to add all the non-passenger stuff too, but I suspect that day is a long way off sadly.

Yes suspect so especially as some of the freight companies don't want to share their data. However just having the passenger day diagrams is an absolute godsend. It makes the difference (certainly for me at least at this time of year) whether it is worth going out for just the 1 required unit, or several required units or even worse going out and finding your winner stuck on a depot. And it is free. So again. Can't thank you enough. Keep up the great work.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Would it be possible for it to remember where the map last was when you close it and re-open it?
When I had my location off it opened the map centered on Greenwich, which isn't very useful in Manchester and scrolling back up got annoying enough I just turned it back on (I was worried about my battery life, but I managed to find enough points to charge I was fine in the end).

 

[JAWZ]

Thanks for the comments - there is an bug fix in the pipeline for the location snap problem, unfortunately today I've discovered a cockup in the live picture database code triggered by the daylight savings BST -> GMT change, so that takes priority, as at the moment the cleanup code is deleting most of the live picture and the train times are an hour out. Doh! Hopefully by the end of today the bug will be fixed and the database will settle back down to show the correct picture - sorry if it messes things up for anyone

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Oct 2025 ==

The bug has now been fixed... it'll take a while for missing activations to percolate through and for the database to settle back into normal operation. Apologies for the error

 

[chrisjo]

Thanks for the comments

Like it!. Is there a colour key explanation somewhere?

Freight is brown
Specials are cyan except for when they are magenta
ECS are grey except for when they are cyan
Departmentals are grey, brown, cyan or magenta (I guess things can be freight and departmental, so possibly understandable)
Light Locos are cyan
Passengers are green, orange or red depending on lateness

Sometimes I can see a particular unit's allocations for today only, other times I can see its allocations going back a week or so. I can't work out what I'm doing different to get different results.

 

[JAWZ]

Like it!. Is there a colour key explanation somewhere?

Freight is brown
Specials are cyan except for when they are magenta
ECS are grey except for when they are cyan
Departmentals are grey, brown, cyan or magenta (I guess things can be freight and departmental, so possibly understandable)
Light Locos are cyan
Passengers are green, orange or red depending on lateness

Sometimes I can see a particular unit's allocations for today only, other times I can see its allocations going back a week or so. I can't work out what I'm doing different to get different results.

LOL, did I forget that in the FAQs?! I'll add a section in, sorry!

Freight is brown, specials and Q trains are cyan, light locos are purple, ECS are grey, departmentals *should* be brown - if you see an instance where that isn't the case ping me via the feedback link in the app. Green = on time/early, orange is moderate lateness (< 15 minutes), red > 15 minutes late.

Allocations data is still accumulating. If you're seeing only today's allocations that would indicate that the unit is only recently back in service. You may notice some units haven't had an allocation for a few days - they'll be the ones OOS for maintenance. I'm working on a feature to show depot/stabling lists based on this idea.

 

[chrisjo]

Loving it, but in the interest of trying to help:

I find the time flow in the allocations table rather confusing. For any particular unit the table starts off with the earliest allocation for the current day, then as you scroll down through today's allocations you get to the last allocation for today, then a label header for the previous day, then the first allocation for that day.

To me it would make more sense if the allocations for each day were latest at the top and earliest at the bottom, so that the list flowed seamlessly from the last allocation on one day to the earliest on the next day?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Oct 2025 ==

departmentals *should* be brown - if you see an instance where that isn't the case ping me via the feedback link in the app.

Easier to report here so I can include attachments.

Map today filtered for Departmentals only,


showing cyan:

1Q06 0839 Darlington Up S.S. to London Kings Cross (Test)
1Q46 0605 Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) to Rugby Depot Access Line (Test)
2Q24 0828 Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) to Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) (Test)

and magenta:

0L45 1025 Leeds Balm Rd Loco (Fhh) to Whitemoor Yard L.D.C Gbrf (Light Loco)
0M54 1202 Belmont Down Yard to Toton T.M.D. (Light Loco)
0E63 1122 Hope (Earles Sidings) Dbs to Belmont Down Yard (Light Loco)

They're the right colour but should be filtered out.

Not a big deal though.

 

[JAWZ]

Loving it, but in the interest of trying to help:

I find the time flow in the allocations table rather confusing. For any particular unit the table starts off with the earliest allocation for the current day, then as you scroll down through today's allocations you get to the last allocation for today, then a label header for the previous day, then the first allocation for that day.

To me it would make more sense if the allocations for each day were latest at the top and earliest at the bottom, so that the list flowed seamlessly from the last allocation on one day to the earliest on the next day?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Oct 2025 ==


Easier to report here so I can include attachments.

Map today filtered for Departmentals only,
View attachment 191216

showing cyan:

1Q06 0839 Darlington Up S.S. to London Kings Cross (Test)
1Q46 0605 Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) to Rugby Depot Access Line (Test)
2Q24 0828 Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) to Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) (Test)

and magenta:

0L45 1025 Leeds Balm Rd Loco (Fhh) to Whitemoor Yard L.D.C Gbrf (Light Loco)
0M54 1202 Belmont Down Yard to Toton T.M.D. (Light Loco)
0E63 1122 Hope (Earles Sidings) Dbs to Belmont Down Yard (Light Loco)

They're the right colour but should be filtered out.

Not a big deal though.

The allocations comment makes sense - probably what I'll do is add a toggle to order it early-later or later-earlier, that way it's useful for everyone. Good suggestion, thanks!

I see what you mean about the departmentals - I'll take a look at the categories again.

 

[Peter C]

I've downloaded Trainmapper after having seen a mention of it in another thread, and I just wanted to say thank you @JAWZ! It works a treat, and being able to see a unit's diagram for the day is really superb (and I've just seen when looking at the allocations for 800001 that I can see the previous week-or-so's allocations too, which is brilliant). Of course the map function is also good - very interesting to see the trains move around. I'm sure putting something like this together isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world, so well done!

-Peter

 

[43096]

Have downloaded this and like the map view. One question - and it may be new user being dumb scenario - but if I click on a service on the map formed of two units, it only seems to show one?

 

[JAWZ]

Hey, chuffed that you like it - it started out as a daft “I wonder if…?” idea and just took on a life of it’s own It’s early days, but it seems like it’s got legs. So thanks for the kind works - if you have any suggestions, spot any bugs or clunky awkward rough edges feel free to ping me here or PM.

 

[50002Superb]

I’ve downloaded your App and have to say that it is interesting.

Is it possible to “favourite” specific units within the allocations section so it only shows the ones you have favourites? I only need about twenty units for site and having them show without searching individually would be an excellent tool.

 

[chrisjo]

if I click on a service on the map formed of two units, it only seems to show one?

True.

And if you check on RTT to find the number of the other unit in the formation, then search for that in 'Allocations', it doesn't show there either (yet!).

Example: Today 1F17 Cardiff to Bristol is 158749+158767 per RTT, but it comes up as just 749 on Trainmapper and if you then look for 767 you will be told that it was last out on the 23rd Oct.

Which raises another question. Obviously 767 was on the front when it went BRI-CDF on 1F10 earlier, but that's listed as just 749 as well so it's not the unit on the front that's given.

 

[newtownmgr]

Just downloaded on iPhone. Looks good but won’t let me change location. Either won’t move or goes straight back to previous location when it does move.

 

[chrisjo]

Just downloaded on iPhone. Looks good but won’t let me change location. Either won’t move or goes straight back to previous location when it does move.

Not sure if the Apple version has more location features, but on the Android implementation the location is that of your phone, which you can turn off in the phone's location settings - in which case it thinks you are probably straddling the meridian at Greenwich.

I'm sure @JAWZ will be along to tell us in due course.

 

[JAWZ]

Just downloaded on iPhone. Looks good but won’t let me change location. Either won’t move or goes straight back to previous location when it does move.

Zoom in slightly - there's a bug on the iOS version where scrolling is disabled at max zoom level, sorry!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Oct 2025 ==

True.

And if you check on RTT to find the number of the other unit in the formation, then search for that in 'Allocations', it doesn't show there either (yet!).

Example: Today 1F17 Cardiff to Bristol is 158749+158767 per RTT, but it comes up as just 749 on Trainmapper and if you then look for 767 you will be told that it was last out on the 23rd Oct.

Which raises another question. Obviously 767 was on the front when it went BRI-CDF on 1F10 earlier, but that's listed as just 749 as well so it's not the unit on the front that's given.

Yes, the 2+ allocations per service is a known bug, I'm working on a fix at the moment.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Oct 2025 ==

I’ve downloaded your App and have to say that it is interesting.

Is it possible to “favourite” specific units within the allocations section so it only shows the ones you have favourites? I only need about twenty units for site and having them show without searching individually would be an excellent tool.

"Favourites" for units, services, stations and depots is an upcoming feature. Not sure when it'll be ready, but it's in the pipeline yes

 

[newtownmgr]

Zoom in slightly - there's a bug on the iOS version where scrolling is disabled at max zoom level, sorry!


Thanks

 

[50002Superb]

Zoom in slightly - there's a bug on the iOS version where scrolling is disabled at max zoom level, sorry!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Oct 2025 ==


Yes, the 2+ allocations per service is a known bug, I'm working on a fix at the moment.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Oct 2025 ==


"Favourites" for units, services, stations and depots is an upcoming feature. Not sure when it'll be ready, but it's in the pipeline yes

That would definitely make this a “go to” app for me when out and about

 

[pokemonsuper9]

"Favourites" for units, services, stations and depots is an upcoming feature. Not sure when it'll be ready, but it's in the pipeline yes

A list of allocations for favourited units would absolutely be a star feature (although it would take a while to favourite all the trains I haven't seen).

Just had a look at the Allocations page (I'd only used the map), this is very useful.

 

[JAWZ]

This is all great feedback, thanks!

"Favourites" is something I would like for myself too - I'm adding the foundations for it right now, but also working in parallel on bug fixes as and when they appear in Crashlytics.

Now that we've got this thread I'll post updates on progress as and when ... next up, hopefully out in a day or so (depends on Google doing a review) is a patch for Android to fix the most frequent crashes.

I'm working on this app + backend services "in the margins" depending on the workload I get from paying clients, so it's not a full-time job right now and it's hard to know how long any given feature will take to go live. It'd be great if it even paid for itself (hosting costs etc), let alone made enough for me to be able to work on it full time, but rest assured it's an app I've been wanting to make happen for quite a while now and there are plenty of ideas in the backlog

If you're enjoying the app, please do leave at least a star rating on the app store you downloaded it from, and spread the word. Even if you're not enjoying it, tell me why and I'll see if there's anything that can be done to make it better.

 

[50002Superb]

Just given it 5 stars

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Oct 2025 ==

Just to add.

The more time I spend on the App the more impressed I am with it, it even has the GWR sleeper stock allocations!

Will you be adding GBRF locos to the Allocations page? I understand that GBRF and LSL are available from what is on Realtime Trains.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Will you be adding GBRF locos to the Allocations page? I understand that GBRF and LSL are available from what is on Realtime Trains.

The allocations on RTT are not part of the data stream recently made avaliable, the allocations used here are for (almost) all passenger operators, LSL, GBRF and Swanage are special to RTT and are not part of the data stream.

 

[JAWZ]

I'd love to add FOC allocations, but this isn't available in the NR feed I'm afraid. If there ever is an Open Data freight feed for me to use I'll certainly use it!

On another note, it's beginning to look like the server CPU is reaching capacity - if you see "timed out" messages that'll be the cause - please report any degraded behaviour here and I'll schedule in a server upgrade & reboot.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Oct 2025 ==

Also just a quick note to say Android v1.2.1 is rolling out today. It contains fixes for a few timing-related crashes that have come to light on certain Android devices.

 

[50002Superb]

Understood!

 

[trainmania100]

May want to check your deallocation program, as we can see from the Charlwoodhouse link 377101 was removed from a service on Tuesday 21st but it still shows as run on the android app.
Charlwoodhouse (requires login)

login 7410p

 

[JAWZ]

Good spot, thanks! I'll take a look.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Nov 2025 ==

I'm monitoring CPU usage for the TM server at the moment - if anyone's seeing "laggy" behaviour (e.g. trains appearing at a location but not showing up on the TM map until a few minutes later) can you let me know here - trying to decide whether or not to upgrade the host machine, thanks!

 

[chrisjo]

Link to an apparent error report....

TfW withdrawals (Now just 150/158s to go)

Reading October's Modern Railways, that has a detailed article on TfW's plans to introduce the 398s, it looks like the Vale of Glamorgan line will be the last holdout for the 150s in Wales, saying "a handful of the DMUs (150s) in better condition will be retained for some Vale of Glamorgan...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[JAWZ]

Interesting - sounds like a similar problem to how it's reporting 390117's diagrams at the moment. I think there's something wrong in the way the feed processor is (not) handling allocation removals. For example, if you look at what TrainMapper is saying about 390117 it's clearly wrong, as we all know it didn't run any services yesterday, nor anything after 1R22 on the 3rd. I'll try and debug this today.

 

[Olivine]

For two months work that’s bloody remarkable. Really, really very well done.

Few tweaks here and there and you’ve got a blinder.

 

[D1511]

Just caught up with this and downloaded the Android version today. At first glance, it looks absolutely fantastic, really great work!
You could clean up with this.......annual subs of £30 or so would easily be sustainable for most, and there are tens of thousands of enthusiasts out there! I'd pay that at the drop of a hat, no bother, as would most others that have commented, I'm sure.
I'll keep playing around in my local patches (SE Scotland & WCML south) and provide user feedback if I can, but so far the feedback from me is bloody awesome!
If I'd had this in the 80s, I'd have cleared my 47s no bother!

Edit: 5 star review left OBVIOUSLY

 

[JAWZ]

Just caught up with this and downloaded the Android version today. At first glance, it looks absolutely fantastic, really great work!
You could clean up with this.......annual subs of £30 or so would easily be sustainable for most, and there are tens of thousands of enthusiasts out there! I'd pay that at the drop of a hat, no bother, as would most others that have commented, I'm sure.
I'll keep playing around in my local patches (SE Scotland & WCML south) and provide user feedback if I can, but so far the feedback from me is bloody awesome!
If I'd had this in the 80s, I'd have cleared my 47s no bother!

Edit: 5 star review left OBVIOUSLY

Glad you like it! Thanks for the review - at this early stage the app needs all the help it can get - spread the word

Ha ha yeah, I *so* wish I'd had this back in my heyday too. The 84's were my bugbear - never did manage to get them all.

FYI I'm experimenting with server configuration options at the moment, as the back end has been running quite sluggishly in recent days. I just added another dedicated CPU this evening, so hopefully it'll be a bit more responsive. I've got enough runway to keep the server subscription-free for the time being - if it needs a serious upgrade to cope with demand though I may well have to go that route. Depends on how popular the app gets

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Nov 2025 ==

For two months work that’s bloody remarkable. Really, really very well done.

Few tweaks here and there and you’ve got a blinder.

*blush* thanks so much! I'm surprised it's such a hit, to be honest - I was beginning to think it was going to die a quiet death, then all of a sudden it's on the radar and the server's groaning under the load Hopefully it'll be stable and reliable soon - feel free to suggest any areas for improvement, missing features you'd like to see, areas where the UI is clunky or painful to use etc. There's a backlog of stuff in the pipeline but always happy to consider more!