Trains.com

anyone else had a problem getting signed on here after having a profile for years

4353 views
46 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
RME
  • Member since
    March 2016
  • 2,073 posts
Posted by RME on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 11:15 AM

MrLynn
A week or so ago my iMac running OS 10.8.5 and Safari 6.x lost the automatic login to this Forum and to the Trains website. Turns out, says David Lassen at Kalmbach, they did a server update and " Safari 6 wasn’t on our list of browsers that were tested. According to the Trains analytics stats, the number of users that use that version of Safari are low compared to the most recent ones. "

They had best remember that, until they get around to providing the 'early Mac adopters' of the Trains Complete Collection with their 'free' update that runs on more modern systems, they should expect those Mac users to continue using older OS and associated older software...

On the other hand, Firefox v.44 still installs on OS X 10.6.8 (which I need to support due to a very large codebase written for PPC Macs), and presumably that is still 'latest and greatest' as far as site-programming APIs are concerned...

bml
  • Member since
    April 2016
  • 3 posts
Posted by bml on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 10:59 AM

Sunnyland

My name did not come up and Welcome Back and I tried to sign in a number of times with my old name. It kept asking for e-mail and when I gave old password,it was rejected.   I finally signed up for a new account with same e-mail and changed password and now I'm connected again with my same name Sunnyland. Not sure what happened, but Trains must have done something to Forum access and wondered if anyone else had the same problems. I had never logged out, so not sure what was going on.  Thanks. 

 

i cant get on trains site wihtout my email and password asked for each time. didnt used to be that way

  • Member since
    September 2007
  • 192 posts
Posted by MrLynn on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 9:05 AM

I haven't read all this thread, but in case this is relevant:

A week or so ago my iMac running OS 10.8.5 and Safari 6.x lost the automatic login to this Forum and to the Trains website.  Turns out, says David Lassen at Kalmbach, they did a server update and

Safari 6 wasn’t on our list of browsers that were tested.  According to the Trains analytics stats, the number of users that use that version of Safari are low compared to the most recent ones. "

My MacBook Pro running OS 10.9.5 and Safari 7 had no problem (that's what I'm using at the moment).  Guess I'm going to have to update my iMac—when I get a chance.

/Mr Lynn

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • 4,612 posts
Posted by M636C on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 6:17 AM

daveklepper

Once you got your customer number, you should have no problem!

 

 

As suggested by Narig01 above, I used the access code from the electronic version of the May issue, and got access apparently for two months. Hopefully the details from my hard copy subscription should appear by then and I'll have access until December or so...

I was vaguely aware of the access code but never needed it until my login and subscription details parted company. 

I am disappointed that my requests for help from Kalmbach did not get any response. I am extremely unhappy about not being able to use the mailing address option since clearly I know my mailing address.

Thanks Dave and others. I've just tracked down the new "Thomas the Tank Engine" characters from the News Wire story.  Despite having written a book on Chinese locomotives I'm not sure which Chinese locomotive the new character represents, and I'm not certain why a British "Sentinel" shunting locomotive represents Brazil.....

M636C

  • Member since
    June 2002
  • 20,096 posts
Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 4:08 AM

Once you got your customer number, you should have no problem!

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • 4,612 posts
Posted by M636C on Monday, April 4, 2016 11:31 PM

blue streak 1
 
 

The following e mail came from Trains when I explaine exactly how others have posted  about the log in problems. Must have been close to first person with problem and IT just blew me off with the following . BTW had tried the e mail suggestions with no result and then a few days later everything worked OK but never did get a return with e mail lost password..

 

Trains Customer Service <Trains@customersvc.com> Thank you for contacting TRAINS Customer Service. For future reference, your account number is xxxxx. Thank you for your inquiry regarding the magazine website. 

 
 
 

 

I wonder if the "Zip/Postal Code" accepts entries of values outside the USA and Canada...

Or even accepts four digit post codes as we have in Australia...

The one linked to the News Wire definitely doesn't.

These guys need to think about such things...

M636C

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • 4,612 posts
Posted by M636C on Monday, April 4, 2016 11:29 PM

Duplicate Post

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Georgia USA SW of Atlanta
  • 11,919 posts
Posted by blue streak 1 on Monday, April 4, 2016 9:14 PM
 
 

The following e mail came from Trains when I explaine exactly how others have posted  about the log in problems. Must have been close to first person with problem and IT just blew me off with the following . BTW had tried the e mail suggestions with no result and then a few days later everything worked OK but never did get a return with e mail lost password..

 

Trains Customer Service <Trains@customersvc.com> Thank you for contacting TRAINS Customer Service. For future reference, your account number is xxxxx. Thank you for your inquiry regarding the magazine website. To access the subscriber only conte

To
  

 

 
Mar 25 at 2:14 PM

 

  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Hope, AR
  • 2,061 posts
Posted by narig01 on Monday, April 4, 2016 5:37 AM

M636C

I just rechecked my electronic subscription sign on page:

There is no "access code" listed or asked for.

I log in there with the same username and password as I use here which does not give me access to the news wire...

M636C

 

The access code should be on page 3 on the electronic version. At least that is where it is on the copy I get on my Amazon Kindle

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • 4,612 posts
Posted by M636C on Monday, April 4, 2016 4:51 AM

I just rechecked my electronic subscription sign on page:

There is no "access code" listed or asked for.

I log in there with the same username and password as I use here which does not give me access to the news wire...

M636C

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • 4,612 posts
Posted by M636C on Monday, April 4, 2016 12:31 AM

narig01

If you have login problems contact customer service. They can connect you to who is handling these problems.

      One problem is if you were using a simple password, IE that only uses small letters. Once you get in change your password.

      If you have an E subscription thru either Kalmbach or Amazon go to the News wire to enter your access code(the grey popup that asks for subscription)and if you have a simple password, change it to one with numbers and letters. 

 
I have been using passwords with numbers and letters since I first signed on in 2003. I have no problem logging on using the password but my subscription is not recognised.
 
I sent a message to customer service asking for my subscriber number a week ago. No response yet. Since it takes four weeks for the magazine to get to the other side of the world and the problem occurred just after I discarded the address sheet from the last issue I am not happy.
 
I indeed have an e-subscription through Kalmbach (as well as hard copy) which is delivered through a service called "Zinio". It asks me for the same password that logs me on here and doesn't show me any subscription number (nor asks me for one).
 
So it seems to me that I'm a good customer who should get access to the things I've paid for but I can't. Of couse I know my mailing address, but as I've pointed out, the "mailing address logon option" requires you check one of the USA or Canada State or province options and doesn't let you enter your real state or province if it isn't on the list.
 
Assuming my subscriber number is on the mailout, I will only have missed a month of Newswire and other subscriber extras for which I have paid more than any USA subscriber.
 
What I don't understand is why the system that used to tell me what the last magazine in my subscription was every time I logged on can't even recognise that I'm a subscriber now. This is clearly not progress. Why have we gone so far backward with a single change?
 
Who thought that limiting subscriber addresses to the USA in the logon was a good idea. Why hasn't that been fixed?
 
For the record, I have tried logging on on machines using Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 8.1 using both IE8 and Chrome on the older systems and IE11 on the 8.1 machine. I don't think this is relevant to my case. The system can't find my subscription and I can't help it because neither of the subscriber logon options meet my needs.
 
M636C
  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Hope, AR
  • 2,061 posts
Posted by narig01 on Sunday, April 3, 2016 4:04 PM

If you have login problems contact customer service. They can connect you to who is handling these problems.

      One problem is if you were using a simple password, IE that only uses small letters. Once you get in change your password.

      If you have an E subscription thru either Kalmbach or Amazon go to the News wire to enter your access code(the grey popup that asks for subscription)and if you have a simple password, change it to one with numbers and letters. 

  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Allentown, PA
  • 9,810 posts
Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Sunday, April 3, 2016 3:31 PM

Paul of Covington
[snipped - PDN] I'm baa-ack!   For the past week I've been reading the comments on problems signing in, and I couldn't even call up the sign-in box. . . . Then I saw that others were reporting problems, but not the same as mine, so I didn't know whose changes caused my problem.   After mulling it over and trying a few things, I happened to remember that a few years ago I had problems and had to switch to compatibility mode.   Thinking that the changes made might have cleared the compatibility mode, I checked it and found that it was still in compatibility mode.   On a whim I cleared it, and everything worked fine.   I don't know if this helps anybody else, but.... 

"+1" Yes, it did - thank you !!!  Bow Bow Bow

Additionally, whenever I tried from my home computer, I kept getting a message: "Content failed to load" for both Log-In and Register.  But I was able to sign on from my computer at work. 

Like others here, I'm not going to buy a new computer or a lot of buggy MS software just to get access again.  I'd lose more than I'd gain (esp. a good photo compression application).  Plus, I can tell my typing skill has degraded  . . . 

- Paul North.  

"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)
  • Member since
    April 2007
  • 4,557 posts
Posted by Convicted One on Sunday, April 3, 2016 1:02 PM

Norm48327
It's an off-the-wall thought but could IT have rigged it that way to keep a certain troll from posting?

 

That really was what I was thinking as well. Or "keeping track" of that person. Since cookies send back information about the host they are located on.

The site's staff indifference to finding a solution to this problem makes me suspect that might be part of it as well. ie they know it's happening, and know why it's happening, and intend for it to continue happening.

 

A 'troll' cookie?   

  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Western, MA
  • 8,571 posts
Posted by richg1998 on Sunday, April 3, 2016 12:50 PM

Semper Vaporo

I wondered about the need to store Cookies, but I see Cookies being stored for Trains.com (and variations thereof) on my PC, but I still must have the "Keep Me Logged-In" checkbox 'checked' in order to log-in at all.  If that box is not 'checked' then it just returns to the page I see before I attempt to log-in and I am limited to "read-only" status and cannot get to many features.

Maybe it is requiring the Cookie to be stored, but since the checkbox is 'unchecked' it is not storing anything or at least not storing a Cookie that lets it complete the log-in.

Winders 10, "IE-11" or "Edge", same problem.

 

I don't use the keep me logged in option. Just sign in when I need to post anything. Still using my original info from some years ago.

Rich

If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Southeast Michigan
  • 2,983 posts
Posted by Norm48327 on Sunday, April 3, 2016 12:27 PM

SV,

It's an off-the-wall thought but could IT have rigged it that way to keep a certain troll from posting?vWink

Norm


  • Member since
    April 2007
  • From: Iowa
  • 3,293 posts
Posted by Semper Vaporo on Sunday, April 3, 2016 12:14 PM

I wondered about the need to store Cookies, but I see Cookies being stored for Trains.com (and variations thereof) on my PC, but I still must have the "Keep Me Logged-In" checkbox 'checked' in order to log-in at all.  If that box is not 'checked' then it just returns to the page I see before I attempt to log-in and I am limited to "read-only" status and cannot get to many features.

Maybe it is requiring the Cookie to be stored, but since the checkbox is 'unchecked' it is not storing anything or at least not storing a Cookie that lets it complete the log-in.

Winders 10, "IE-11" or "Edge", same problem.

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • 4,557 posts
Posted by Convicted One on Sunday, April 3, 2016 11:48 AM

Wondering if this might be all the result of a "cookie" issue? As in the site is requiring that a new cookie be set in order to log in? And the "keep me signed in" function is required to set the new cookie?

I wonder this because I tend to access this place through two seperate machines. One accepts and keeps cookies, the other accepts cookies but deletes them every time the machine is rebooted. I had to check the "keep me logged in" box on both machines in order to log in the first time this problem became evident.   Ever since the machine that accepts and keeps cookies logs in with zero problem, but the machine that wipes the cookie cache clean every new session, I have to keep checking the "keep me logged in" checkbox everytime I try to log in.

Perhaps the site people are now using cookies to confirm user identities? Just a thought.

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Greendale, WI
  • 52 posts
Posted by saguaro on Saturday, April 2, 2016 5:15 PM

Paul, everyone. I had the same problem, but found that if I checked "Stay Signed In" the site would let me log in. Otherwise not. I email Kalmbach about the problem but never got a reply.

  • Member since
    July 2010
  • From: Louisiana
  • 2,310 posts
Posted by Paul of Covington on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 10:19 PM

   I'm baa-ack!   For the past week I've been reading the comments on problems signing in, and I couldn't even call up the sign-in box.   It started when MS loaded 18 updates to my system (W-7), and when I brought it back up, not only could I not sign in, but when reading the forum it was a mix of little letters and giant letters.   Then I saw that others were reporting problems, but not the same as mine, so I didn't know whose changes caused my problem.   After mulling it over and trying a few things, I happened to remember that a few years ago I had problems and had to switch to compatibility mode.   Thinking that the changes made might have cleared the compatibility mode, I checked it and found that it was still in compatibility mode.   On a whim I cleared it, and everything worked fine.   I don't know if this helps anybody else, but....

_____________ 

  "A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • 4,612 posts
Posted by M636C on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 5:39 PM

I have no problems logging on.

However, not having my subscriber number means I can't read the news wire.

Two separate requests using different methods to Kalmbach haven't got me my subscriber number yet, and occasional checks back to see if overseas subscribers can use the "Mailing Address" option have shown that it is available to USA and Canada users only (still)!

M636C

  • Member since
    June 2003
  • From: South Central,Ks
  • 7,170 posts
Posted by samfp1943 on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 1:10 PM

Note{ He says, waving a white flag }  Just jumped in to see if anything had changed....DIDNOT SIGN IN as Forum Member.. Went to Newswire  and pulled up the article on E. H.H. and the NS's most recent response to "The merger w/ CP".   Got the whole article ! Then read the next one, and got the request to sign in... Tghought the problem with The Subscriber Data Base was fixed...NOT! Bang Head

 

 


 

  • Member since
    June 2002
  • 20,096 posts
Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 12:52 PM

Another matter, Junior Yardmaster.   Your computer may be slower and slower in retreaving your password and email address.  Does your computer Defrag regularly?  I do it manually whenever things seem to slow down, but some have it done on a regular schedule.  What that schedule should be might depend on the size of the hard-drive memory and the type of system.  I have the old standby Windows XP, and yours is probably a newer system.

Finally, there may have been some change in your server that was not explained. Sometimes servers add features that I don't find useful but that add to the occupation of the working memory and thus slow things down.  Then when they get enough complaints they install a fix.

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,022 posts
Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 9:05 AM

junior yardmaster
I spend too much time on this site anyway.

Nah - you can never spend too much time with trains.... (at least not if you're a fan)

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

  • Member since
    June 2002
  • 20,096 posts
Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 7:46 AM

OK   Here is another suggestion.  When you log in, take some time, say thirty sedonds, half-a-minute, between each step.

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • 47 posts
Posted by junior yardmaster on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 3:23 PM
Nope! I still had to go through this same rigamarole once before the proper login sequence let me in. No big dea; I spend too much time on this site anyway. Junior Yardmaster
  • Member since
    June 2002
  • 20,096 posts
Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 12:50 PM

Junior Yardmaster:   And now is it OK?

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 11:10 AM

tree68

You're probably not holding your tongue right....  Hmm

 

You know, that might help. Back when I was painting windows, I would find myself holding my mouth right as I trimmed around the glass--seldom did I have to wipe paint off the glass.

Johnny

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,022 posts
Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 10:53 AM

You're probably not holding your tongue right....  Hmm

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy