Hello everyone,I am working on creating a Excel Inventory list for my model railroadng equipment and keeping track of it. I have some category ideas, such as keeping track of what and how much I paid for. Do have a look and please tell me what you think and what I should add or remove.
My sheet just has:
1) ROADNAME
2) REPORTING MARKS
3) CAR NUMBER
4) BASE KIT MANUFACTURER
That is all I need to know. I see no point in keeping track of where an item was purchased, or how much I paid.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
you really don't want to know how much you have invested in the hobby, lol
I see no point in keeping track of stuff liek shipping and tariffs. I do record purchase price if I remember it.
Other important info - coupler type, weight. wheel type, wheel manufacturer, truck type, truck manufacturer.
Pretty much everything is neatly in Dave Husman's Access database. It's called Car Card Generator buit it also inventories everything - locos, rolling stock, structuures, etc. and has handy reports including a simplified list to take to train shows to avoidf buying duplicate equipment. Older versions didn;t have this built in so I made my own.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinkerOther important info -
Coupler type: All Kadee
Weight: Under 50': 4 ounces. 50': 5 ounces. Over 50': 6 ounces
Wheel type: All RP-25
Wheel manufacturer: All Kadee
Truck type: 90% Bettendorfs or ASF Ride Control (I can't tell these two apart)
Truck manufacturer: All Kadee
No need for me to keep track of any of these.
You have lots of data points rolled into the same field, which will make them less useful for figuring anything out, to make it worthwhile, you need to break the individual data elements out.
A lot depends on what the purpose of the database is for. This seems to be an financial profit and loss balance sheet rather than "model railroad" inventory. The entire thing appears to be about the cost or value rather than the use. That's fine, but I can't really offer too much advice on whether these are the right fields because most the of the databases I've built were for model railroad, rather than financial, purposes.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Spread sheet software makes me nuts......
I have a simple list typed up in a word doc that is easy to edit.
I have no interest in automaticly calculated totals.........
It is broken down first by roadname, then by car/locomotive type, then each item is listed with the following data on a single line:
Road number
Description
Prototype year of manufacture
Color/scheme
Model manufactrurer
Model part number
Aprox cost/value
Availablity code - is it ready for the layout, or still to be built.
I have separate data on locos which documents more detailed prototype info, modifications, measured specs and performance testing.
Sheldon
wvg_ca you really don't want to know how much you have invested in the hobby, lol
Prehaps I should leave that work to keeping invoices and something else.
Engi1487 wvg_ca you really don't want to know how much you have invested in the hobby, lol I see. I should have mentioned this (as my screen kept disappearing to the left and deleting my progress) but I want to keep track, to see ho pricing changes and flucuates, as I wish to compare the retail price of say, a walthers goldline autorack to its model train show price. Prehaps I should leave that work to keeping invoices and something else.
I see. I should have mentioned this (as my screen kept disappearing to the left and deleting my progress) but I want to keep track, to see ho pricing changes and flucuates, as I wish to compare the retail price of say, a walthers goldline autorack to its model train show price.
Well I don't know where you are, or what kind of train shows you have/had in your area, but tracking train show prices vs retail prices is true folly.
Train show prices are based on the individual situation of the seller. Some are serious businesses trying to make a profit.
Other sellers are just in the "train show" business as a "hobby", not really needing to make money.
Others are people just getting rid of stuff they no longer want.
Some are true "junk" collectors in the "yard sale" business.
Fact is today, most new product can be had for 20% to 30% off retail, sometimes more.
Why worry too much about that?
Other fact you should understand, you are young correct? Adjusted for inflation, and considering the improvements in quality and detail, model trains cost the same or less today than what they ever have in the last 50 years - trust me, I was behind the counter of a hobby shop selling them 50 years ago, and I know what wages were 50 years ago.......
I guess I am doing this all wrong. I only have the four columns, and never wanted to keep track of anything else.
-Kwevin
Here's a screen capture of the spreadsheet I created to produce car cards for my layout. Minimal info, but enough to adequately describe things for operators to identify. Info can be sorted and arranged using the usual spreadsheet commands. I suppose I could have gone gung-ho and included all kinds of additional info, but I can always add more columns later if I ever get some spare time.
Regarding the first few entries in the table . . . Atlas produced the Omya pressure-aide hoppers in only two road numbers. I wanted more than two, so there are some duplicates. Happens a few times elsewhere farther down in the spreadsheet (doesn't show up on this screen capture).
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
ROBERT PETRICKMinimal info, but enough to adequately describe things for operators to identify.
That information would be very useful for model railroad operations. Minimal, and not cluttered.
I do not understand why someone would want to keep track of all the purchase prices, shipping, taxes, tarriffs, tips, discounts, coupons, and so on.
I do not have a budget for the trains. Sometimes I have money for them, other times I do not. I really do not want to ever look at exactly how much I have spent in the past 35 years.
I tend to get carried away when making spreadsheets, for most any purpose. For the ones I make and find most useful, I would agree - less is more.
The spreadsheet I use most often is for my budget - or more correctly, expense tracking. I have a broad category for "Recreation and Hobby", which includes RR stuff, but also everything else spent on fun and games.
I don't want to break it down further. Being retired and single, I only have to answer to myself, but it is insightful to see what's spent on stuff overall. Have some heavy months, have some light months.
Ed
I agree with Kevin. All you really need is the model rr manufacturer, car type, railroad name, car number and description. I do add the manufacturer style number to avoid duplicates. For engines, I add the wheel arrangement (4-8-4 -- for diesels I add what type -- GP40). That's all I need. All rolling stock has Kadee couplers and metal wheels. I don't need to know what I spent or what the going market rate is at a particular time.
When it's my time to go to that freight yard in the sky, my nephew gets it all. Let him worry about it!
Neal
I fiqure I broke even over the years hobby wise. Data base only needs type, make, number and if you want cost, include everything.
I have a spreadsheet, but the important things are road name and road number. I bring a copy along to train shows.. Remember those?
I don't want duplicate road numbers. I have enough of those. I have been increasing my supply of home-road boxcars, and fortunately Accurail comes out with another Milwaukee boxcar about once a year, so knowing what I already have comes in handy.
My locomotive roster includes decoder type and I've added CV settings in case I ever have to reset them.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I have yet to make a spreadsheet for my freight/passenger cars, but here's mine for my locomotives:
Brand - engine manufac
Prototype - loco company, loco class, wheel configuration
Number - road number
Steam/Diesel
Orig/Ebay - market price for the engine at the time of purchase. Original is Hobby shop price, Ebay is the average used price
Sale price - how much I paid, and notes if it came with sound/dcc, or other things
Mechanical (if it runs) - marked green if runs fine, light green/orange means it needs upgrades( gearbox, motor, etc)
Detail/Paint - marked green if its fine, light green/orange if it needs paint, or additional detail
DCC/Sound - whether if it has DCC or Sound. Orange if current decoder is unsatisfactory, and may want replacement.
Lights - if the engine has incandecent bulbs, or otherwise unsatisfactory lights. Working LEDs gets the green.
Coupler - proper coupler height, and kadees gets the green.
Keep - Green if I plan to keep the engine for the foreseeable future.
Sell? - temporary column, helps me determine which engines I care for the least and are candidates for selling. Usually these were impulse buys
Modifications- green are things I've already done, blue are things still yet to be done.
If all columns ("mech" through "keep") are green, then the entire row turns green.
----------------------------
this isnt my entire list (I also have a list for locos I sold with sale price), but it gives a good idea. I like to keep track of everything I've worked on an engine, so its a bit more detailed and confusing than most. But it works for me!
Charles
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Modeling the PRR & NYC in HO
Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/@trainman440
Instagram (where I share projects!): https://www.instagram.com/trainman440
Engi1487 Hello everyone,I am working on creating a Excel Inventory list for my model railroadng equipment and keeping track of it. I have some category ideas, such as keeping track of what and how much I paid for. Do have a look and please tell me what you think and what I should add or remove. Manufacturer. Locomotive Type & Class. Livery & Lettering. Real Prototype Manufacturer - Examples being GE, Baldwin, Lima etc. Real life length. Scale Length, and scale ratio. What hobbyshop, online retailor, or model train show I might this from. The price and what countrys dollars I bought it in, and translated to my countries dollars, and the extra amout I had to pay. Shipping, taxs and tarrifs payed. Rolling stock and type (include if piece was ex road) If locomotive was installed with DCC, or DCC ready. Also include what make of decoder installedIf I tell a piece of equipment, how much did I sell for it, and how much did I loose? Also include shipping to customer who bought it from me.
1 - can be helpful to identify what you have
2 - if you're rostering locos, important
3 - optional/not required. Probably best in an optional "note" field
4 - optional/interesting but not required unless you're trying to make sure
5 - if I record length, i usually record the "scale" length. (The difference between a 40' and 50' boxcar makes more sense than 6 or 7 1/4 inches...)
6 - I don't get this. Scale ratio? Unless you're building multiple layouts in multiple scales, this would all be the same. If you are doing multiple scales, make a copy of the document/sheet and track HO and N etc. separately.
7 - who cares
8 - could be good for insurance purposes to ballpark things, but your "replacement" value ten years from now will NOT be the same as what you bought it for...
9 - who cares
10 - type (boxcar, flatcar, etc.) obviously pretty important for rolling stock. "ex road" would fall under #3.
11 - hoo boy, several things lumped together here. You might or might not find it useful to record which decoder brand is installed. Could be helpful to record for programming/configuration/etc.
Sale prices etc. for sold equipment? Who cares? If i sell or get rid of something it gets REMOVED from my roster lists entirely. I'm not running a business...
And as a few others have noted, your list is missing the MOST important fields which is roadname/reporting mark and number.
But yeah, I mean, you're making the inventory for YOU, so just include whatever data is important to YOU. You don't need to add something unless knowing it means something.
My inventory spreadsheet is also used to generate car cards for operation, so a few extra fields are there specifically for the car cards. Mine looks something like:
- record ID (for lookup functions for printing/re-printing cards)
- reporting mark
- number
- type (AAR code)
- description
- length
- colour
- note (for printing on car card)
- empty-return destination (for printing on car card)
- manufacturer
- coupler brand
- a few columns indicating whether the car has been weathered, whether a car card has been printed for it..
- one or two columns for my own notes, etc.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Well I don't know where you are, or what kind of train shows you have/had in your area, but tracking train show prices vs retail prices is true folly. Train show prices are based on the individual situation of the seller. Some are serious businesses trying to make a profit. Other sellers are just in the "train show" business as a "hobby", not really needing to make money. Others are people just getting rid of stuff they no longer want. Some are true "junk" collectors in the "yard sale" business.
And some are just out to lunch...
The only reason I keep track of what I paid for something was for insurance purposes. I have pictures of most of my engines, and can correlate the pictures to the spreadsheet. My biggest fear is if there was a fire, and being able to prove my loss.
For my Access databases, which started out as Excel spreadsheets, this is what I keep track of:
Locomotives:
I use the same fields for my freight and passenger cars. Also, each record in Access has a picture of each car or locomotive.
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
cv_acr Engi1487 Hello everyone,I am working on creating a Excel Inventory list for my model railroadng equipment and keeping track of it. I have some category ideas, such as keeping track of what and how much I paid for. Do have a look and please tell me what you think and what I should add or remove. Manufacturer. Locomotive Type & Class. Livery & Lettering. Real Prototype Manufacturer - Examples being GE, Baldwin, Lima etc. Real life length. Scale Length, and scale ratio. What hobbyshop, online retailor, or model train show I might this from. The price and what countrys dollars I bought it in, and translated to my countries dollars, and the extra amout I had to pay. Shipping, taxs and tarrifs payed. Rolling stock and type (include if piece was ex road) If locomotive was installed with DCC, or DCC ready. Also include what make of decoder installedIf I tell a piece of equipment, how much did I sell for it, and how much did I loose? Also include shipping to customer who bought it from me. 1 - can be helpful to identify what you have 2 - if you're rostering locos, important 3 - optional/not required. Probably best in an optional "note" field 4 - optional/interesting but not required unless you're trying to make sure 5 - if I record length, i usually record the "scale" length. (The difference between a 40' and 50' boxcar makes more sense than 6 or 7 1/4 inches...) 6 - I don't get this. Scale ratio? Unless you're building multiple layouts in multiple scales, this would all be the same. If you are doing multiple scales, make a copy of the document/sheet and track HO and N etc. separately. 7 - who cares 8 - could be good for insurance purposes to ballpark things, but your "replacement" value ten years from now will NOT be the same as what you bought it for... 9 - who cares 10 - type (boxcar, flatcar, etc.) obviously pretty important for rolling stock. "ex road" would fall under #3. 11 - hoo boy, several things lumped together here. You might or might not find it useful to record which decoder brand is installed. Could be helpful to record for programming/configuration/etc. Sale prices etc. for sold equipment? Who cares? If i sell or get rid of something it gets REMOVED from my roster lists entirely. I'm not running a business... And as a few others have noted, your list is missing the MOST important fields which is roadname/reporting mark and number. But yeah, I mean, you're making the inventory for YOU, so just include whatever data is important to YOU. You don't need to add something unless knowing it means something. My inventory spreadsheet is also used to generate car cards for operation, so a few extra fields are there specifically for the car cards. Mine looks something like: - record ID (for lookup functions for printing/re-printing cards) - reporting mark - number - type (AAR code) - description - length - colour - note (for printing on car card) - empty-return destination (for printing on car card) - manufacturer - coupler brand - a few columns indicating whether the car has been weathered, whether a car card has been printed for it.. - one or two columns for my own notes, etc.
Hey thanks, I will look at these. This is what I mean by scale ratio.The scale ratio of a model represents the proportional ratio of a linear dimension of the model to the same feature of the original. Examples include a 3-dimensional scale model of a building or the scale drawings of the elevations or plans of a building.
Yes, the scale ratio of all HO models is 1/87 or 1:87, however you prefer to write it. Why would you need this info for each model unless you are modeling in more than one scale? At which point separate lists would make more sense?
I was puzzeled by your thoughts on documenting equipment you sell off, but then again, I have been at this for 50 years and have only sold off about 5 items.
ATLANTIC CENTRALYes, the scale ratio of all HO models is 1/87 or 1:87, however you prefer to write it. Why would you need this info
Well, most of my equipment is 1:87 scale, but lately I have seen some manufacturers claim there equipment is 1:87.1 scale.
I did not keep track of what is what, so now I might be mixing the two scales.
Polite request to the OP.
Could you please edit your heading to correct the context of the word impute to what I believe you intended, input?
Thank you!
Cheers Ed
ATLANTIC CENTRAL I have a simple list typed up in a word doc that is easy to edit. I have no interest in automaticly calculated totals......... Sheldon
Same here. As a financial analyst by training, I have always used excel for aggregating numbers, or sorting data into various buckets, then totaling the buckets to produce reports...colored pie charts...percentages of the total, etc.
Lists are a word processing function. I have a simple Word doc broken into several easily printable pages, separated into locomotives and rolling stock. Adding rows or columns to a Word table is easy.
I keep an inventory just to avoid duplication when shopping. Three big columns per row as to avoid a long running list grouped down on the left side of the page. Each column (cell) contains the following type of info:
ATHG GP50 TP&W #5010.
ATL 4650 Covered Hopper THIELE #50600.
Printed out to take to train shows. Big font. Hate blowing up the screen on my phone to see numbers.
The most recent version of the list hasn't even been updated on the desktop. Last print out has items added and others crossed out in pen.
- Douglas