Trainmapper App

[chrisjo]

I want this to be good, but unfortunately I'm still seeing multiple issues. Examples from this morning:

The allocations list for TFW Active Travel set AT04 shows multiple conflicts such as it being on 2E14 FGH-CMN (19:29-20:21) and 2V30 SHR-SWA (18:35-22:26) at the same time.

Meanwhile AT03 is going to be travelling along the HOWL this afternoon in both directions at once!

 

[nesw]

Have you considered an online version to complement the app and potentially reach a wider audience?

 

[JAWZ]

I want this to be good, but unfortunately I'm still seeing multiple issues. Examples from this morning:

The allocations list for TFW Active Travel set AT04 shows multiple conflicts such as it being on 2E14 FGH-CMN (19:29-20:21) and 2V30 SHR-SWA (18:35-22:26) at the same time.

Meanwhile AT03 is going to be travelling along the HOWL this afternoon in both directions at once!

Yes, I'm still getting my head around the inconsistencies in what the API is serving up. There's a lot about it I don't fully understand yet, and it'll take a while to get there as I'm quite busy on client work at the moment. But it'll be sorted sooner or later. At least it's free

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Nov 2025 ==

Have you considered an online version to complement the app and potentially reach a wider audience?

I do already have a mostly-working development version on the go, but it's not ready for prime time yet. There's quite a backlog of stuff I want to address in the server and the two app versions at the moment, so the web app is way down the priority list. TBH I'd like to be able to work on it all full-time, but I'd need to have a ton of users and also make subscriptions compulsory to be able to afford to do that. Can't see that happening somehow

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Nov 2025 ==

On the plus side, the server is now back to sane CPU levels and serving up a live picture that isn't 10 minutes in the past, so that's a big win for the week. Touch wood it'll settle back to being almost real-time again- looking promising anyhow.

 

[Freightmaster]

TBH I'd like to be able to work on it all full-time, but I'd need to have a ton of users and also make subscriptions compulsory to be able to afford to do that. Can't see that happening somehow

I don't see why not - Freightmaster has been my full time job/only source of income
for over 30 years now and I only have a few hundred subscribers; you just need make
it clear to users that Trainmapper is free of charge during its initial "beta testing phase"
but a mandatory subscription fee may be introduced at some point in the future to support
ongoing development and operational costs.

I wouldn't bother going down the 'ad supported' route, as you would need tens of thousands
of users and more and more people use ad-blockers these days.


Good luck!



MARK

 

[trainmania100]

Few more bugs here if you wish to squish
1) train showing at seaford when it has already left and gone to Newhaven harbour (same unit)
2) train to seaford is shown in London platforms at Lewes (same with southerham junction, train is shown coming from Eastbourne when it's actually come on a different line. So coordinates either need moving so to where the lines intersect if it can't be done on the seaford line

 

[JAWZ]

Ah, the terminated train hasn't been cleaned up out of the live picture.. good spot thanks!

There's only one set of coordinates for Lewes station (individual platforms don't have their own STANOX) - I'll nudge the lat/long a bit, cheers.

 

[trainmania100]

Ah, the terminated train hasn't been cleaned up out of the live picture.. good spot thanks!

There's only one set of coordinates for Lewes station (individual platforms don't have their own STANOX) - I'll nudge the lat/long a bit, cheers.

Okay. Not sure how your site works but I think the "CB" type messages would have cleared it. Its not a big problem I think most people can see the unit left and is already on its way back

 

[JAWZ]

Okay. Not sure how your site works but I think the "CB" type messages would have cleared it. Its not a big problem I think most people can see the unit left and is already on its way back

Ah yes, that's a berth cancellation message - I don't use that feed (at the moment - watch this space!)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Nov 2025 ==

Notification from NR about an outage tomorrow:

"There will be scheduled maintenance on 12th November 2025 between 10:30am - 11:00am. Users will experience a brief disruption to services during this time."

In other news, I've identified a bug in the current Allocations parser that's causing some trains in the live map (most notably SWR) to not have unit numbers. I'll be rolling out a fix soon, hopefully along with a fix for the missing multiple allocations.

 

[JAWZ]

Apologies for the recent server outage - this was caused by the Cloudflare attack earlier today - things are (currently) back to normal, let's hope they stay that way

Cloudflare outage causes error messages across the internet

US company that defends millions of websites against malicious attacks says it believes issue ‘is now resolved’

www.theguardian.com

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Nov 2025 ==

FYI I've just pushed the button on a new feature called "Photo Log", which lets you add trains either manually or from the live map to a new log file on the app. I use it for quickly recording where and when I took photos - for me it's much easier to tap on a train in the map than to have to scribble down details and sift through them later when I'm uploading from the camera to my office computer The log file can be exported as a CSV to other apps for further processing/backup etc. I guess it could also be used as a general spotting log.

A few screenshots to give you the idea:



Multiple unit allocations update: I'm testing some changes for the multiple unit allocations display at the moment, so this will be in the next release. Looks like it's working now, but I need a field trip to somewhere busy to double-check before I release it. Cardiff here I come

 

[Willie Bee]

I've just downloaded the app, so will give it a go.

Thank you to the developer.

By chance, while searching for it, I came across the website Signalbox, which looks interesting too .. giving live train positions (like Flightradar24 for trains)

 

[pokemonsuper9]

giving live train positions

Unfortunately, signalbox is pretty much useless in disruption. If it receives no location update, it just assumes all has gone as normal, instead of waiting for an update like Trainmapper, raildar and the many signal diagram ones, meaning when there is disruption (or even just slight congestion) it's all wrong.

 

[chrisjo]

FYI I've just pushed the button on a new feature called "Photo Log"

Yes, that's nice, but surely it's more important that the ongoing problems with allocations and movements get fixed?

802022 is currently at Plymouth, but Trainmapper's most recent allocation has it at Paddington 0740 yesterday morning, after which it has ACTUALLY done PAD-PLY-PAD-PLY as half of a 10-car train.

Is this a reflection of the 'multiple unit allocations display' problem?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Nov 2025 ==

Also, I have a suggestion (and this could usefully be implemented in many other apps) is it possible that when you open a dialog that's overwhelmingly going to be wanting a numeric input such as 'Enter full or partial unit ID' your (Android) keyboard opens on the numbers rather than the letters?

 

[trainmania100]

Also, I have a suggestion (and this could usefully be implemented in many other apps) is it possible that when you open a dialog that's overwhelmingly going to be wanting a numeric input such as 'Enter full or partial unit ID' your (Android) keyboard opens on the numbers rather than the letters?

Would this cause issues with the fact that trainmapper doesn't let you search by vehicle (and where castle class and other power car sets are concerned), you need to enter the set itself. So this would need fixing so you can search by power car or 68 or whatever instead of the set. So you'd need alphabet for that.

[Loco numbers are represented as vehicles in a set and the set number is the allocation, whereas typically a unit number is an allocation.]

 

[chrisjo]

So you'd need alphabet for that.

Indeed. Which is why I said 'overwhelmingly' rather than 'exclusively'. I'm often looking for AT units myself at the moment, but nearly all my searches would be for numeric unit numbers.

 

[JAWZ]

Yes, that's nice, but surely it's more important that the ongoing problems with allocations and movements get fixed?

This is still being worked on, but it's still not behaving itself properly at the moment, as I said in the post:

Multiple unit allocations update: I'm testing some changes for the multiple unit allocations display at the moment, so this will be in the next release. Looks like it's working now, but I need a field trip to somewhere busy to double-check before I release it. Cardiff here I come

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Nov 2025 ==

Would this cause issues with the fact that trainmapper doesn't let you search by vehicle (and where castle class and other power car sets are concerned), you need to enter the set itself. So this would need fixing so you can search by power car or 68 or whatever instead of the set. So you'd need alphabet for that.

[Loco numbers are represented as vehicles in a set and the set number is the allocation, whereas typically a unit number is an allocation.]

The search functionality doesn't cover vehicle numbers, but there's no reason why it couldn't other than I just didn't think of it

I'll add it to the list, thanks for the suggestion!

 

[trainmania100]

This is still being worked on, but it's still not behaving itself properly at the moment, as I said in the post:


== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Nov 2025 ==


The search functionality doesn't cover vehicle numbers, but there's no reason why it couldn't other than I just didn't think of it

I'll add it to the list, thanks for the suggestion!

the vehicle will have L as the power type so you don't need to unnecessarily store coach numbers unless you wanted to.... Just use the vehicles with L where the allocation is not a whole number

 

[thecrofter]

Apologies for the recent server outage - this was caused by the Cloudflare attack earlier today - things are (currently) back to normal, let's hope they stay that way

Cloudflare outage causes error messages across the internet

US company that defends millions of websites against malicious attacks says it believes issue ‘is now resolved’

www.theguardian.com

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Nov 2025 ==

FYI I've just pushed the button on a new feature called "Photo Log", which lets you add trains either manually or from the live map to a new log file on the app. I use it for quickly recording where and when I took photos - for me it's much easier to tap on a train in the map than to have to scribble down details and sift through them later when I'm uploading from the camera to my office computer The log file can be exported as a CSV to other apps for further processing/backup etc. I guess it could also be used as a general spotting log.

A few screenshots to give you the idea:

View attachment 192512View attachment 192513View attachment 192514View attachment 192515View attachment 192516

Multiple unit allocations update: I'm testing some changes for the multiple unit allocations display at the moment, so this will be in the next release. Looks like it's working now, but I need a field trip to somewhere busy to double-check before I release it. Cardiff here I come

Just stumbled across this thread and downloaded your App. Would seem like a great addition / complement to the Apps out there and in particular I intend to use the Photo Log. Tried to get a certain ex Airline Pilot to add this function to his App without success so maybe this will be my future goto App accepting it's early days in the development. Looking forward to future enhancements.

 

[trainmania100]

Hello are you connecting to publicdatafeeds on stomp port 61628? My connection is also down. I notice your app isn't working since yesterday.

 

[jupiter]

This is fascinating stuff, thanks! Having learnt Fortran in about 1973 and finished my sw career with C in 2001 I have tried the apple sdk but some of the concepts are so new the twenty years of developments I’ve missed have left me behind sadly.

Thanks for sharing what you’re doing and I have huge admiration for you being able to do it!

 

[chrisjo]

Hello are you connecting to publicdatafeeds on stomp port 61628? My connection is also down. I notice your app isn't working since yesterday.

allocations look ok but map stuck about 8 in the evening?

 

[trainmania100]

allocations look ok but map stuck about 8 in the evening?

That's when the network rail connections got blocked for train movements etc
Now their firewall is being judge jury and executioner and blocking load of attempts to connect.

The allocations feed is a separate setup through rail data marketplace so unaffected

 

[takno]

That's when the network rail connections got blocked for train movements etc
Now their firewall is being judge jury and executioner and blocking load of attempts to connect.

The allocations feed is a separate setup through rail data marketplace so unaffected

You'll want to back right off on connection attempts - just don't attempt to connect at all for an hour. Their firewall just doesn't seem to be configured the way they believe, so they give really unhelpful advice about the block clearing in 15 minutes.

 

[trainmania100]

You'll want to back right off on connection attempts - just don't attempt to connect at all for an hour. Their firewall just doesn't seem to be configured the way they believe, so they give really unhelpful advice about the block clearing in 15 minutes.

I've left it off all morning and only turned my client back on and still getting connection timeout (not connection refused). I'll leave it off longer but it has been off 3 hrs already.

 

[JAWZ]

Just noticed this, sorry.

Yes, it looks like my account has been paused until their timeout kicks in. I've stopped the feed readers on the TM server and will restart them at 5pm. There have been several failed reconnections. Not sure why it's gone boom this time round, it usually recovers from a feed outage without any manual intervention.

I'll post an update after 5ish when I know the feeds have been properly restored.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Dec 2025 ==

Hello are you connecting to publicdatafeeds on stomp port 61628? My connection is also down. I notice your app isn't working since yesterday.

I use STOMP port 61618. Have they changed it? It's the one I've been using for the last year or so, and I haven't seen any emails about it changing.

 

[trainmania100]

I use STOMP port 61618. Have they changed it? It's the one I've been using for the last year or so, and I haven't seen any emails about it changing.

I use 61628 but I think 18 just redirects to 28. Anyway I have tried both lol

 

[JAWZ]

No joy reconnecting after an hour or so. I've raised a support ticket, but I'm guessing that's weekday office hours only, so I'm afraid that TrainMapper is broken at the moment.

I'll keep trying the reconnects at the recommended backoff intervals and will post back here if there's any success...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Dec 2025 ==

Looks like the NR feeds are back at last! It'll take a while for the TM services to get back in to having the full picture, but hopefully we'll be back to normal by tomorrow morning.

For the next hour or so you'll see missing allocations and origin/destinations ("No UID" on the menus etc), but it'll settle down once the next batch of activations are received.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Dec 2025 ==

TrainMapper is back to normal for the time being, although it looks like there'll be a planned outage on Wednesday morning, too:

"There will be scheduled maintenance on 10th December 2025 between 10:30am - 11:00am. Users will experience a brief disruption to services during this time."

 

[JAWZ]

TrainMapper V1.5 is now available on Google Play and Apple App Store. This version now shows multiple allocations on the live map and has reorganised the Allocations tab by class and subclass to make it a bit quicker to get to a particular unit. Photo Log entries are now editable, and there are a few other UI tweaks to bring the apps more in line with each other.

I've added an experimental feature to the Android app that allows you to switch between the default Open Street Map and Open Railway Map. If this proves popular I'll look at porting it over to iOS too.

Lots more new features in the pipeline (signal diagrams, anyone?!), but in the meantime thanks for your support and feedback.

 

[50002Superb]

Thanks @JAWZ do you think you’ll add GBRF locos at some point like is shown on RTT?

 

[JAWZ]

Thanks @JAWZ do you think you’ll add GBRF locos at some point like is shown on RTT?

I don’t currently know where to get the FOC data from, but I’d love to add GBRf, Colas, the lot..! Bound to happen sooner or later, but probably wouldn’t hold your breath on that one right now.

 

[50002Superb]

understood, I had wrongly assumed that the GBRF allocations were taken from the same place as TFW, EMR, GWR, etc.

I don’t believe Colas, Freightliner and some others are doing that at present though