I just got this email from Jack Carter, the creator of Yard Office model railroad inventory software. Recently, some Forum members were asking about software to keep track of their rolling stock, so I thought I would post this. (Other than being a satisfied Yard Office user, I have no affiliation with it or Jack.)
The new version of Yard Office (3.0) is now on our website: http://www.musicmixradio.com/yardoffice/download.html You can download it free to update your current version, and it will retain your data as well as remember that you are a registered user. (I still always recommend backing up before upgrading anything.) Hope you like it! Please share your comments with me. -Jack Carter New In Version 3: Virtually every new feature in the latest release comes from a suggestion made by a user. Thanks, everyone, for the great ideas! Yard Office has really captured the interest of model railroaders, and I value greatly all of your support and comments – both pro and con. I appreciate all of you who have recommended the program to fellow modelers, club members, and all the kind words on various forums. Especially thanks to those who have registered the software. Here’s a quick look at the new features: Option To Remove Price from Some Reports: The suggestion was made that sometimes an inventory roster or labels sheet would be nice to share with fellow modelers or club members, but we don't necessarily want to share the financial data. A new "Include price?" check box is included on some of those reports. New Simple Roster Report: Turns out, even our "Brief" roster report wasn't that brief... so I added a couple of new simpler rosters. Margins For Binders: Someone pointed out that a lot of rosters will wind up in a three ring binder, but our margins were too narrow to accommodate that. Fixed. Custom Reports: Some really advanced users have always wanted the ability to design their own custom reports. I've included a custom report generator in the new release. Some will find it rewarding to create reports laid out exactly as you want. Others, I'm sure, will just find that sort of thing tedious. For them: use the existing reports that I designed, and use the time to run trains! Multiple Instances of Same Road Names: It's been pointed out that sometimes it would be nice to use different road heralds (railroad logos) for the same road name on different types of cars. Yard Office won't let you enter two instances of the same road name. A new feature allows you to create one road, say "BNSF (old)" and another "BNSF (modern)" with the swoosh logo. On screen you'll see the road names exactly as entered to avoid confusion. But on reports, only "BNSF" will print. (Anything inside of () will be removed for reports.) This feature may be turned on or off so that you can also choose to print them as is. Multiple Databases: A continual request I've had is the ability to use multiple databases for different layouts (mine and my grandson's or my HO and my N). I've always resisted this one since I like the idea of just using filters to control such things and keeping it all in one database. But for those who want it, I've added it. Quantity Calculations: Another feature that I've resisted is the use of the "Quantity" field. Some users have asked that reports with financial data respect the Quantity entry and calculate accordingly. It makes sense, so Yard Office now does that. Why do I resist? I like entering a separate record for each car so that you can track maintenance, price differences, etc. separately for each. But for those who still choose to use it, Quantity now calculates correctly. Model Manufacturers Logos: I've added the ability to show manufacturer logos on inventory screens... a nice quick way to see who made the model. "Repairs Needed" Tracking: A new "To-Do" check box has been added to Maintenance Logs to allow noting repairs that need to be done but are not yet completed. Notice a problem with a locomotive? Create a log entry describing it and check the "To-Do" box to address it later. When you're ready to get to work, run the new "Scheduled Repairs" report. As you do the repairs, set the filter to "Repairs Needed" and only those pieces with "To-Do" checked will appear.