Programs or apps. To keep track of inventory.


Here's a link to a really nice free program that I use.
Easy Model Railroad Inventory

There aren't any updates and haven't been any since 2012, but it works well. There's a lot in it, much of which I don't use. But the basic freight car and engine inventory sections are fine. I like it because you can include maintenance records for each piece of equipment.
 
I use Excel to keep track of locomotives and rolling stock. Became more important to do once I had a lot more rolling stock (don't want to buy duplicate road numbers after all). My headers are: Type of Locomotive/Rolling Stock, Description (e.g. 6351 4-Bay Hopper (Trinity Leasing)), manufacturer, reporting mark, number (e.g. BN 3112), power type (DC, DCC, N/A), scale, acquisition date (e.g. 11/2024), and notes (for additional remarks not captured by other categories).
 
NorthTexasRailroad said:
I use Excel to keep track of locomotives and rolling stock. Became more important to do once I had a lot more rolling stock (don't want to buy duplicate road numbers after all). My headers are: Type of Locomotive/Rolling Stock, Description (e.g. 6351 4-Bay Hopper (Trinity Leasing)), manufacturer, reporting mark, number (e.g. BN 3112), power type (DC, DCC, N/A), scale, acquisition date (e.g. 11/2024), and notes (for additional remarks not captured by other categories).
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Thank you so very much!!
 
Most of my inventory is Lionel O, some of the columns are specific to that.
EraGauge/ScaleTypeDate OrderedManufacturerManufacturer's NumberControlMinimum CurveDescriptionCost Including Shipping & TaxVendorAcquired ConditionMFG List PriceGreenberg's 2013Greenberg's 2015Greenberg's 2021IncludesNotes, Updates, etc.WWW
 
When using a spreadsheet as a list tool, I make many columns into checkbox data types. For example, you want Scale to only have certain choices. This makes it easier to fill in, and you’ll make fewer mis-spelled entries so filtering is more accurate. If you don’t know how to do this, it isn’t hard to learn. It can also be done with Apple Numbers, my current spreadsheet app.
 
My slant on this. Using a spreadsheet works good for 'not many items', but gets out of hand if you have more than a few 100 inventory items. I went down this road when I decided I needed to log model railroad items for insurance and maintenance purpose: Engines, Cars, Buildings, Track, Switches, Signals ... etc. The thing got really big really fast and was hard to find specific items. Ya, you can create a database in Excel kinda, but why go there. If you have it, use Access from the get go. The learning curve is a little higher but after you get the hang of it, not to bad.

Note that it has been quite a few years since I played with this sort of Micro$oft stuff - probably Cloud based now of which I do not go there: 3rd party is in charge of your data and at their whim. No idea what licensing $$$ are.

For those brave at heart - resurrect that old PC in the basement/garage and load Linux on it with Apache, PHP and MySql and is free. You can now have a database you can view from any computer on your local network. There is a learning curve, but this stuff is not earth stopping stuff - use Micro$oft while learning and playing with Linux.

Later
 
Making an Access tool is probably a good idea if you are tracking all assets, have many entries, or want an extensive feature set. And starting with Access is easier than importing table content later. I know, I used to have a fully featured homebrew Access tool.

But IMO, for a simple flat table like an engine & rolling stock list, a relational database is overkill with a long learning curve and higher maintenance. Also, amateurs will probably not get the schema right at first, so it might behave badly and be difficult to debug. If you want to learn Access anyway, then go for it. But I spent decades messing with Office data tools, and I tired of it. I’d just buy an app.
 
I've been working with computers since '73, databases, spreadsheets, programming in more languages than I can remember. The number of items you are talking about is not big. A spreadsheet will work, a database will work. I find in most cases a plain text file, with the columns separated by tabs or commas will give you what you need. You can sort it, you can search it, you can edit it with tools you already have. You can import it into other applications. You can share a text file with anyone no matter what type of computer and software they have.
 
ironmaster15213 said:
Hello, Just wondering if anybody has an easy way for me to keep track of my 6000 ho scale train cars and locomotives? I am going to start to sell them and need to know what I have and where it's located. I realize that it will take me a few months to load them into a computer program. I will probably sell at 60 to 70 percent of going rates.
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I have tried several of the specialize software products for this, but always end up back on a spreadsheet. I have one tab per year. One tab is a summary of counts, another a summary of the locos, one of passenger cars.

my columns are:
Scale, Manufacture, Series, Stock #, description, road name, road number, paint scheme, class (loco, freight, pass, caboose, head end, structure, etc), notes (kit, RTR, DCC, Sound, KD coupler), cost, where purchased, date, original list price, current street price, notes, and location (where is it stored).

The "series" is a manufacturer's line of product. For example I have Life-Like as the manufacture, but I also have the "series" of Proto Heritage, Proto 2000, and Proto 1000.

I've kept this since 1995 (I had 18 entries), 1996 had 117, hit a high in year 2000 with 442 entries. Averaging them that means cataloged entries is about the same as the number you are looking at.

One day, probably the day before I die, I will write my own inventory tracker that actually does what I want it to.
 
timlange3 said:
I've been working with computers since '73, databases, spreadsheets, programming in more languages than I can remember.
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Me too. My first was FORTRAN II on an IBM 1170. Oh but I do think I remember them all! SNOBOL4 is my favorite.

timlange3 said:
I find in most cases a plain text file, with the columns separated by tabs or commas will give you what you need. You can sort it, you can search it, you can edit it with tools you already have. You can import it into other applications. You can share a text file with anyone no matter what type of computer and software they have.
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good advise. Put them in spreadsheet and "save as" CSV format. Just don't use commas in the text in the spreadsheet.
 
Iron Horseman said:
Me too. My first was FORTRAN II on an IBM 1170. Oh but I do think I remember them all! SNOBOL4 is my favorite.


good advise. Put them in spreadsheet and "save as" CSV format. Just don't use commas in the text in the spreadsheet.
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My first was PUFFT, Purdue University Fast Fortran Translator. It was made to run on IBM 7094. We had three of them named Air, Oil, and Mobile. Air was air cooled, Oil was oil cooled, and Mobile was a donation from Mobile Oil. We also had CDC equipment, 6000 series, 6400, 6500, and 6600. The IBMs and CDCs were all discreet logic, core storage. The CDCs had a motor powered by 240V AC, this motor spun a generator that delivered DC to the computers. So we had DC and DCC too! :)
 
timlange3 said:
I've been working with computers since '73, databases, spreadsheets, programming in more languages than I can remember. The number of items you are talking about is not big. A spreadsheet will work, a database will work. I find in most cases a plain text file, with the columns separated by tabs or commas will give you what you need. You can sort it, you can search it, you can edit it with tools you already have. You can import it into other applications. You can share a text file with anyone no matter what type of computer and software they have.
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Started myself in '72 with COBOL and Assembly on IBM360's. That was enough of 'getting feet wet' for me to continue off and on throughout the Years. Now do mostly Assembly on AtMel devices.
 
Got you all beat, even earlier than the 7094. My first job was operating and programming an IBM 1401, and the associated unit record equipment using cards (sorter, collater). Software wasn’t a bad gig, though coding is tedious and frankly unimportant, compared to design and architecture. Eventually I moved on to embedded code, systems engineering and software quality.
 
Canalligator said:
Got you all beat, even earlier than the 7094. My first job was operating and programming an IBM 1401, and the associated unit record equipment using cards (sorter, collater). Software wasn’t a bad gig, though coding is tedious and frankly unimportant, compared to design and architecture. Eventually I moved on to embedded code, systems engineering and software quality.
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Wasn't the 1401 series the one BIG step above the cord boards, allowing portable programs (like on punched cards and magnetic tape)?
 
Yes that’s right, card reader/punch and the workhorse 1403 printer, with about 10k core memory. Development ended in 1962, support in the 70s. We had the last one that IBM had installed in upstate NY, in 1974, though there were a few privately owned ones around. 1401 was IBMs first big commercial success. They followed with 360/370, which had an actual operating system. IBM kept speeding up the 1403 printer and put them on 360s and 370s for many years, what a tank that was.
 
Canalligator said:
Yes that’s right, card reader/punch and the workhorse 1403 printer, with about 10k core memory. Development ended in 1962, support in the 70s. We had the last one that IBM had installed in upstate NY, in 1974, though there were a few privately owned ones around. 1401 was IBMs first big commercial success. They followed with 360/370, which had an actual operating system. IBM kept speeding up the 1403 printer and put them on 360s and 370s for many years, what a tank that was.
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Tank it was-but it could really spit out paper.
 
I just use an Excel spreadsheet. Subdivide into a main page, then subordinate pages by road name, road number, decoder short address, long address, and by type. Once you have one sheet, then making the others is cut and paste, then sort by XXX.
 
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