Recording Locos

[Marshwiggle]

I am new to this Forum so I may have done this all wrong. If so, Apologies. I have been recording locos by travelling around and using my camera for around a year.I have just retuned home to the Kent coast after two days in the Westbury area. It occurred to me on the way home looking out of the window of my HST that I ought to start recording numbers of the locos that I see as well as having photo records. I never have been one for recording carriage numbers etc.

Now, the problem is last time I did this Ian Allan was producing Combined Volumes and in this day and age I have no idea where to start. I am hoping that there may be an on-line source attached to some sort of "cloud" where I can go to do this instead of buying a book and underlining numbers. And then transferring these every year when the new book comes out, Part of me suspects that this will be the case some 52 years after my last Combined Volume (which I still have).

Can anyone please kindly help me by guiding me towards a digital (fingers crossed) or an "analogue" (what I suspect will be reality) of recording locomotive numbers in the 21st century please? Many thanks.

I did manage to photograph 59101, 102 and 104 at Westbury along with 59001 and 59201. Which kept me happy.

 

[Condor7]

You could try LocoTrack. www.locotrack.co.uk

 

[DarloRich]

or a book and a pen

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Platform 5 produce the annual Combined Volume these days.

 

[AJM580]

The Spotlog app for mobile and tablet is a useful tool besides those already mentioned.

 

[pdeaves]

In addition to what others have said, you could make your own list in a spreadsheet, suitably highlighted/annotated for whatever you've seen. Reference to Wikipedia pages for each class will often tell you the possible number range(s). If, after a suitable period, you think there is a particular item that is proving elusive, an internet search of the individual number will likely reveal whether it exists or not.

I haven't explained very well, but hopefully you get the gist!

 

[Marshwiggle]

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. I really appreciate the links, names of Apps, publishers etc. When you have not done something for 50+ years it is difficult to know what there is out there. If you are up to date and use these items day to day then it probably seems incomprehensible that there is someone like me who has never heard of these things. But I haven't. I know what I want to achieve and, as I said in my original thread, I assume that I must be able to achieve some sort of digital recording system to achieve it and not the analogue pen and paper from half a century. Yes that worked well at the time but the world has moved on for most of us in the last half century or so. Thanks.

 

[infobleep]

As an aside, I use to handwrite notes on all the disused railway sites I'd come across when travelling by train. Later on I started doing this onto my laptop.

I've never done anything with the notes but it encouraged me to look out the window and try and located these sites. Travelling high speed doesn't always make it so easy.

When recording your numbers, do try to find away of being able to tie them up with the photos. Also worth noting the photo locations.

 

[Marshwiggle]

Thanks. I like the idea of the electronic notes. I have a badly damaged right thumb from too much cricket so writing is not my favourite pastime. But typing notes into an electronic device is just fine. Especially as digital reference storage and the ability to then search is easily built tin..

I saw the "Rainbow" Class 66 leaving London on a freight as my HST travelled into Paddington on Thursday (May 4) afternoon. I was not quick enough to photo it but I did not try and identify the location as you suggest.

I have been editing my photos by adding individual titles and location notes for a while now. The photos programme on my iMac lets me sought the photos by either but I have had to develop a standard format otherwise it gets confused. The camera automatically adds date and time which I can also use to sort the photos.

Adding photos to records of locos seen and where is what I am looking to achieve in a simple format. My Ian Allan Combined Volume from 1963 or 64 (I think, as it seems not to have a date ?) has many, many locos underlined but where I saw them, when and what they looked like is a very distant memory for all but a very, very few. I did write the date at the top of the page of all my spotting memo books I took out with me - just like being at school - but even then I did not write where I went. All these memo pads are long since gone. Sadly.

Thanks, it is always fascinating how an aside or comment can trigger a possibility. You have been most helpful.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I saw the "Rainbow" Class 66 leaving London on a freight as my HST travelled into Paddington on Thursday (May 4) afternoon. I was not quick enough to photo it but I did not try and identify the location as you suggest.

If it wasn't actually moving and it was just off to the north side of the main line, that was probably Westbourne Park on the Crossrail connection.

If it was actually moving it could be anywhere west of that. If you post the photo on here ( "manage attachments" below - size needs to me 2Mb maximum ) then someone on here could very quickly confirm the location for you.

 

[Marshwiggle]

Thanks. I did mention in my text that I was just too slow to react to seeing it and taking a photo. However the idea of posting a photo and asking "where is this please?" seems an excellent feature of the website.

A minute later and I would have been OK. The driver of my train, the 12.30pm from Temple Meads to Paddington, seemed intent on breaking the world land speed record in a Class 43 HST. We were in Reading at least 3 mins before departure time and eventually, I can only assume because of a string of yellow signals, dawdled from a considerable distance out into Paddington. Still arrived on time though. Thanks.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Thanks. I did mention in my text that I was just too slow to react to seeing it and taking a photo.

Oh yeah, I missed that bit.

Was it moving or at rest in a siding?






The 3 minute wait at Reading is normal.

 

[Marshwiggle]

Thanks for the reply. At the speed we were travelling at it was difficult to tell but, if push came to shove, I would say moving.

 

[Techniquest]

You will find a list of rolling stock on AbRail if that helps whatsoever. I use it occasionally, if only to update what's been stored and so on.

Good luck with it all!

 

[noddy1878]

I use AbRail too.

 

[Marshwiggle]

Thanks. I have a free day to day and I am going to do a bit of research and see what I come up with. I was quite interested in LocoTrack but my system is all iMac/Apple based and it is Windows compatible only.I am going to look at all the suggestions today many thanks. It is looking like I will end up with a manual system. Pity.

 

[Techniquest]

Nothing wrong with a manual system, you can customise your spreadsheets or whatever to match however you like it to look, not to mention to only include data you feel relevant.

 

[Marshwiggle]

After a day tinkering about, I think I have come up with a workable system using AbRail (thanks for the suggestion) and an Excel Spreadsheet with hyperlinks to photos and the bits of AbRail I need for reference (mainly modern depot and livery codes I am not familiar with yet). Still needs a bit if refinement, especially to how I store and name files on my computer, but then only use and time will see if it provides what I want. It seems simple and it works. Many thanks for all the replies.

 

[palmersears]

Can I throw trainlogger in to the mix? Has been excellent for me, even if it's occassionally slightly slow to be updated with the latest stock moves (by a day of so, nothing drastic!)

 

[Marshwiggle]

Thanks. Just looked at Trainlogger. I like that. I can see that working nicely side by side with my own spreadsheet system which I can store extra columns of information in. Many thanks indeed.

Without out all the help I have received on this Forum, I would have no idea most of this stuff existed. And it was only by chance I found the Forum after typing many daft things into Google.

Thanks.

 

[Techniquest]

In that case I'm glad you discovered the forum, and I hope we've been some help!

 

[47403]

Welcome to the forum. This section has been a huge help for me, albeit my wallets took a hammering but they're a great bunch and if you can't learn anything off these guys, you'll never learn owt.

Happy hunting.