Cheap Bachmann Rolling Stock

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Being basically a low-tech kinda guy, I just have a simple Word document for an inventory of my rolling stock.

It had to be done because the collection reached the point where there was no way I could remember what car or locomotive was stored in which box.

Now, at least, if I can't remember in which box I've stored the Mantua 1890 D&RGW passenger cars, I can "search" the Word document and quickly find them. Each entry in the document includes what the item is (e.g., "steam locomotive, 4-4-0"), the road name, the model manufacturer, and the box where it's stored (I use computer paper boxes and I've numbered each box--don't ask me how many boxes I have--currently  ).

Once I got the first document completed, I then created a second document where I listed the stock by road name.

Like I said, it's kinda low tech, but it does what I need.

[Stephen D. Richards]

All, I tried a "program" once and very quickly realized that I could do much better just setting up a spread sheet on Excel.  Works great.  Cheaper too, if you already have the MS software.     Stephen

[WGL]

Barry,
Yes there is such a program.  My son, who collects slot cars, sent me a link to a free program to keep inventory of trains. The site has lots of other useful utilities.

http://www.gregorybraun.com/RRTrains.html 

  Thanks, Bob.  I downloaded & installed the program.  It looks good, & will be, if I get around to entering all of the information.   

[BIG BEAR]

  Ray,
   I did not buy this, even though it was just $16 total.
   Did you look at seller's other items? He almost always puts one at a time up & than the next 10 day one after the 1st one finishes. This is an extremely detailed program. If one has several $K invested in train stuff, I might want this for insurance & Sharing (show-off) purposes.
   The program Bob shared with us is not so detailed, but a great program for organizing & record keeping. It would suffice for most of us out there who don't want to do the excell or word, or don't know how to. I have done several items like this, IE. schedules, check-lists, and inventories, like this would be. Lately haven't had the ambition to so.
    Does anyone have any other options?

          Enjoy,
             Barry

         

[CNE Runner]

Good morning Barry,
I didn't get a chance to see who bought the program as the eBay page came up as "bidding has ended on this item". I'm sure it is an outstanding program...it may be more than you need. Personally, I use Excel for all sorts of things related to recordkeeping. If you want to see a guy who has gone off the deep end in that regard check out http://www.westportterminal.de/operation.html as it is amazing to see the amont of paperwork this guy has designed!

Your insurance carrier will want a detailed, up-to-date inventory of your collection. This does not mean that you can't simply use Excel and generate your own spreadsheet. I would advise that you contact your agent and find out what the carrier requires to be included in the inventory (as well as how often it needs to be updated). To play it safe, we kept all the receipts, for the collection, in our safe deposit box...although it was never asked for (then again I never had to submit a claim)...remember: in the event of a claim the insurance company does not want to be the one left holding the bag!

Regardless of what option you select the inputing and deletion of data is time-consuming. With a large Lionel collection, I found I was acting more like a bookeeper than a model railroader. Now that I am exclusively in HO, I only keep a fairly accurate inventory for my own purposes.

To quote an old PC saw: Garbage in = garbage out.

Ray

[stang_crazy]

Johnson Bar Jeff if you would shoot me an email, i tryed sending ya a pm but noticed it must not be working or something.


mike87gt@neb.rr.com

thanks Mike

[Paul M.]

You know it would be neat to have a site here where members could maybe put up some of their stuff for sale........but don't think Bachmann would go for that idea.

The Trainboard forum (www.trainboard.com) has something like that in place already, they call it the "TrainShop". It doesn't have as many people as eBay, but it's free to list! I sometimes put things for sale on there. - I think the link's in my signature.