Hi, I have been thinking about this for awhile but today one of the guys said he had lost his train records so what do you do?
Do you keep records of you trains and if so how and what do you record?
I use a spreadsheet in Excel. All train rolling stock on the layout or on the shelf and everything on the table right down to the grass. I keep item description, year produced, cost or value if known, date purchased, MFG and Part # of the item. TCA grading, and who will get what it in my passing.
I keep a copy in our safe deposit box for insurance reasons. Am I nuts?? [%-)] [(-D]
I also keep a record in Excel. I bought an inventory program that had a place for photos, but I can do the same in excel. I stopped using the inventory program because after a year they wanted more money to update the program that I already paid for and it just upset me so much that I will not buy programs like that.
Anyway I keep record for two reasons. One because I have so many trains that I can’t remember them all and when I see stuff on eBay I have to check to see if I already have it.
The second and most important to me is that I’m getting older and if something happened to me I want my children to be able to sell them for a reasonable price.
My neighbor had a sudden heart attack that not even his doctor could foresee and his wife had no idea of what he had or its worth. I found a ton of his valuable stuff sitting out on the curb for the garbage man. I fear that my family may do the same because they have no idea of the value in my stuff
Since 1986 I have done the same thing. If you have a loss, you have records. I also photograph each piece as well.###### Remember your regular homeowners normally will not cover a loss, you need to either schedule your collection with the insurance company, or purchase model train insurance.
I never thought about the pictures but I started today inserting pictures into the Excel file and making a folder for them too. This will take some time to complete. I don’t have any of what I would call high end stuff but it all adds up. I will start with the sets and then loose engines, then rolling stock. With well over 500 line items, not all rolling stock, I am glad I am retired so I will have the time to do it. [^o)]
And I had better give the INS guy a call to see what is covered. [banghead]
Hi KRM, I have kept a green columnar notebook listing my trains, books & railroad collectables including HallMark Christmas ornaments since I started in the hobby in 1966. I record the description of the piece, condition at purchase, book value at the time of purchase cost as well as date sold & price. I entered all the data into a Windows database in 2004 and keep it up to date but update my notebook also. Pictures are a good idea that I will pursue in my database record.
If your trains are highly collectable or you have a great number of pieces the safe deposit box is great. I keep my record in a fire resistant safe in our home even though my collection’s runners & repaints. I have enough good pieces that I want the record kept safe.
I spent most of my day adding pictures to my Train Inventory Excel spreadsheet. I added 133 pictures and I am not even half way there, just the stuff I have on the table. You computer guys give me a hand here. The file size went from 194KB to 65,284KB Is that a lot??? I plan to copy all of this on a couple of thumb drives one for back up to the PC and one for the safe deposit box. What do you think??
I have a program that came with my camera. What I did was first cropped the photo to just the size of each Loco or car which reduced the photo size quite a bit by removing all that extra on top and sides. I then reduced the pixel size using the export to internet function of the software. That changed the photo size from 3.3 MB down to 59 KB for each photo.
Also I wanted all the photos to be the same size so I made a little photo taking table so that all the photos were taken at the same distance to start with.
Kev - Flash drives are real cheap. A 32GB flash drive cost under $25 and will hold more pictures than you have trains. Even if you shoot them at a high resolution it will hold thousands.
You can get a larger flash drive and back up your computer and file the flash drive away in a fireproof safe.
AF53 is correct - the drives are cheap and you don’t have to worry about image size. I’ve done exactly the same thing he has - one for backup and one stored in a safety deposit box. I update both of them from time to time.
Your reading my mind. I picked up two travel / flash drives and will have one here one in the safe deposit box. I also made two files. One with the pictures and one without.
I will keep the one without pictures on the PC and both on the flash drives.
40 years ago i worked at Prudential insurance and their largest IBM 370 computer had an amazing 2M memory. this machine took up the space of a medium size bedroom. …i can’t even imagine the cost.
40 years later 16,000+ times that much memory can hang from your keyring and costs less than a steak dinner.
i might yet make it another 40 years.
i wonder what home computers will be like then.
16GB flash drive will hold (from a practical standpoint) about 4,500-4,700 photos, highest resolution @ about 5MB per photo. That is what the memory card in my camera informs me. If you fill up a 32 GB flash drive with photos, you have more trains stuff than anyone in the Western hemisphere or what appears on ebay!! [(-D]
I just had a long talk with the Ins dude and he said all of the trains are covered under the home owners policy if there were to be a fire or tornado, stuff like that. He is going to work a number up for a attachment policy cost per thousand covered. I had to send him a copy of the spreadsheet so he can work the number.
It will be for just trains because when you get into large numbers for say just trains it takes away money from other things that may run you out of coverage money before everything gets replaced. He also said that the attachment would cover a train if it fell off of the table and got trashed. Something that the home owners policy will not do. He said there is a $2,500 limit on my home owners for guns. Will see what he comes up with. He also assured me that making a spreadsheet is the best way to make sure to cover them.
Very good information Kev, thanks for sharing. I’ve been pretty busy with work and Christmas so I haven’t had a chance to talk to anybody, but I am very interested in what he comes up with.
I told him it could wait till after the holidays but I will share the information when he gets back. With young Grand Kids I like the idea it will pay if somethings falls on the floor. [:O] [;)]
I also use the excel spreadsheet for inventory. The two other pieces of information that I include on it is the last time I service the train and a column for any parts I may need. That way when I go to a train show I will have it to tell me what parts I may be looking for.