2014 Mileage: is it worth it?

[Starmill]

Hello everyone

I'm looking for some general advice on if I should, but more importantly how to go about recording this for 2014. Now seems like an apt time to start, I did only about 2 days out in 2012 and was to have no idea how much of a thing this was to become at the start of 2013. It would be nice to know of a day just how far one gets, and maybe calculate the other odd bit of data as well as keep a record of journeys for nostalgic reasons. But I don't want it to become too all-consuming. I'm aware some people record all the journeys they make in tandem with a unit number but I am really not interested in this if I'm honest. I guess that might change at some point. I would have thought Excel would make an excellent starting point.

What have your experiences been like? How long does it take/is it much faff in relation to journeys made? What do you get out of it?

Thanks to all.

 

[bb21]

Many people pay for Mr Cairns's railmiles service. Once essential details are provided, it will identify the service and work out your mileage automatically. This is not foolproof however but good in the vast majority of cases.

Most other people just use a spreadsheet. It is reasonably straight-forward to design especially if you only want to record a small list of items.

 

[High Dyke]

Whilst i did have a few problems confirming mileages using the various tools available the help of other on here proved useful (thanks peeps).

From my own personal view i don't bother with accuracy to the last chain when recording the total travel, but do keep a basic record on a spreadsheet/table of all journies undertaken, miles and chains distance.

For 2013 my shown total was short, in effect, by 25 chains. People will have their own way of recording or detailing any mileage they accumulate, but as i said that isn't a necessity for me.

I now look forward to participating in the 2014 challenge.

 

[CallySleeper]

I could use railmiles, but I find it's more fun (and free!) to code my own spreadsheet, with mileages sourced from RMME. Split into NR, NIR, LU, other LR, etc. I'm also not that bothered about recording traction etc, just mileage. Then I keep all my tickets separately.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

I have been working on a spreadsheet which is basically the same as the railmiles service which also records statistics and data, you are welcome to a copy if you like (and that goes for anybody else).

As for mileage, I don't go for mileage, I go on journeys that I want to go on then record the mileage as it comes, if you get what I mean. I never have just gone out for the purpose of gaining some mileage as I just don't see the point. You can still continue to go on your journeys and just record them as they come.

 

[Crossover]

I too have a spreadsheet for the purpose (again, free :P), though I can see the attraction of Railmiles to take some of the donkey work out of it.

I originally started in 2012 out of interest of how many miles I was covering whilst at uni, and for the first couple of journeys just did the overall journey origin/destination on (in my case) 185/Voyager. I then realised I may as well do the job properly and started noting the unit numbers and recording each leg of each journey separately

 

[bb21]

I originally started in 2012 out of interest of how many miles I was covering whilst at uni, and for the first couple of journeys just did the overall journey origin/destination on (in my case) 185/Voyager. I then realised I may as well do the job properly and started noting the unit numbers and recording each leg of each journey separately

Great minds think alike.

My earlier records also seriously lack detail to allow me to reconstruct exactly what route was taken, to the point that some of the diversions I was on I can no longer recall what happened.

 

[33056]

Another vote here for using a spreadsheet noting start and end points (including reversals and loco changes), arrival and departure time, motive power, train details and distance travelled using "decimal miles".

The reason for the latter is that a) it is easier to add up (I'm lazy!) and b) a lot of my stuff is in kms so it is easier to convert.

Example attached, converted to a PDF file.

 

[Track Basher]

Myself I use an access database. I record loco/unit and mileage. Calculate the mileage myself from the timetable. A database is better for correct calculations were things a coupled together and double counting of mileage.

I intend to enhance this when I have time to calculate the mileages automatically.

 

[33056]

I did consider converting everything to a database but came to the conclusion it would involve too much work to type everything out again plus I can't get my head around databases.

As I only keep a count of locos it is not too onerous to keep a separate list of ones required for haulage and distance travelled behind the ones that I have had. Anything had in a pair will get entered on the main sheet underneath the first loco and xx entered in the distance column so as not to falsify the total distance but the mileage will be added to the individual loco's record.

 

[asylumxl]

I have my own spreadsheet which I have distributed to numerous people before. It converts the miles and chains in to decimals and then back again for the total. Pretty simple thing to do.

I even went as far to make something similar using HTML, PHP and AJAX. But I couldn't be bothered to keep working on it.

 

[jnjkerbin]

The ting I like about using a spreadsheet is that you can get it to do more or less exactly what you want it to. Mine weighs in at a pretty hefty 4,644 kilobytes but is probably much more complicated than it needs to be. It's been built upon for nearly 2 years now. Feel free to have a look at it if it helps
https://www.dropbox.com/s/38441o6a7coeoin/Railmiles%20Mileage%20Engine.xlsx

 

[Monty]

Does mileage whilst on duty count? Though I am slightly curious to know how much mileage I cover over the year at work.

 

[bb21]

We don't count mileage whilst on duty, only those to and from work.

The easiest way if you use your own spreadsheet is to keep two separate sheets.

 

[Matt Taylor]

Does mileage whilst on duty count? Though I am slightly curious to know how much mileage I cover over the year at work.

I did approx 34,000 in my year at VZ, did around 42,000 at FR last year.

 

[TheEdge]

Does mileage whilst on duty count? Though I am slightly curious to know how much mileage I cover over the year at work.

I've actually started exactly this project to satisfy my own curiosity. So far this year (which is actually only today) I have covered 191 miles and 33 chains.

 

[Crossover]

I originally started in 2012 out of interest of how many miles I was covering whilst at uni...

Not sure what I was on when I did this, but I actually started in 2011....d'oh!

 

[RailwayBear]

Has Tom stopped railmiles? IVe been trying to renew my railmiles subscription for a wee while, have sent numerous emails but have had no response yet

 

[Techniquest]

I too have wondered what's going on there, RM4 has been coming for a long time now but no news on it lately. I'll be gutted if I've got to go through all my moves and add them to something else soon, as it would take an absolute age to go through it all. Good thing I like data entry stuff then ain't it!

As for is it worth logging all the mileage, I'd say so. I love it and couldn't do without it now. I log my mileages on buses too, which helps make the commuting on them more interesting

Lots of people use spreadsheets, but after so very, very many moves over the years to start one now and actually keep it going would take months of slaving away over the keyboard. RailMiles is more than worth the money to have it all saved for me, although obviously the process to get everything on there (well, the stuff I've not lost at least which amounts to some thousands of miles!) took long enough.

As for going out for mileage and mileage alone, I used to do that all the time. My figures on HSTs was never enough to satisfy me so I'd be out bumping them up as often as I could!

Just have a go at it and see what you feel like doing I say

 

[crispy1978]

I need to get my 2014 up to date - not done that as yet this year!!

 

[D6975]

I use a spreadsheet too.
I created a database and put all my Irish haulage in it.
I intended to import my mainland stuff from the spreadsheet into a new database based on the Irish one, but haven't got around to it. The fact that I have quite a few older records that are incomplete - exact mileage unknown - is another reason why I've left it in a spreadsheet.

If you're unfamiliar with databases, a SS is the better option. I've been working with databases for over 15 years and I'm still learning.