I’m trying to organize my rolling stock by printing up log sheets and keeping a binder of freight cars in my layout room.I divided the log into two sections,the first has road name,car type,car number,weight(NMRA weight),coupler type coupler height,truck type,and wheelset type. The second half has car cleaned,wheels cleaned couplers inspected,truck tuned,truck inspected,and truck lubed,with boxes to wright in the inspection date. Before I print a bunch of these out I would appreciate some feedback from you ,if you have a similar system or if you have additions or subtractions you would make from my form.
I haven’t done this with rolling stock, but I keep something similar for my locos, starting from when they get programmed. Your log seems like an extension of the same thing – though much more in-depth – and keeping records is never a bad idea. If you’re computer-friendly maybe an excel spreadsheet (or a series of them) would keep your basement from becoming a binder-farm.
I have thought about doing this for locos. I really don’t have room in the layout room for a confuser; but, a small spirol note book would work good for recording information on them. Freight and Passinger equipment that doesn’t work right is moved to a RIP track and repaired when the bug to do so hits me. All my cars have Kadee couplers and P2K metal wheel sets, so there is no question about these items.
I agree, keeping a log book is very helpful. I do it on my R/C airplanes and have found times when I can see trends, that if let go, would lead to catastophic failure. However, I’m more anal about breaking my airplanes, then a failure that would simply leave a loco stalled on the tracks.
Sounds like a good idea. I keep a “Repair Log” for my rolling stock and locomotives. A sample page has date, Road name and number, manufacturer and remarks. It is a simple spiral notebook divided into two sections, the other section being the “Paint Shop” so I can keep track of what I stripped and painted and the decals I used. I do keep a binder for my rolling stock and locomotive parts diagrams and I also find this useful when repairs are needed or someone asks for assistance with a parts question.
I have done it for years, diesels and freight cars both, on Excel worksheets. I keep the same kind of info as you, some differences, and find it very helpful since I do have a rather large inventory of cars and diesels. My freight car worksheet also includes waycars, MofW and business cars. I don’t run passenger trains.
As a firm believer in the KISS principle, I keep each car’s maintenance record on the back of its car card. That way, card and record are always together and I don’t have to get out of the, “Quick fix and away,” mode to hunt up a notebook or file (whether paper or electronic) to record what’s been done. Of course, on my layout locomotives, passenger stock and non-revenue cars also have car cards.
Maybe it’s a rebellion against the voluminous documentation that was an integral part of aircraft maintenance when I was wearing stripes on my sleeves. I know that the information’s useful, but printed forms give me hives…
I feel your pain Chuck. The thorn in my side is the Navy’s Trouble Failure Report. Anyhow. I don’t worry about forms for my trains. I just fix problems when they arise and leave it at that.
I keep a log book (8.5x11) with a printed data sheet for each of my locos with DCC decoder data and dates as well as some purchase info.I also store the decoder mfg sheets with the pages. I keep 4x6 printed index cards of all rolling stock and list as much info as I can, with dates and mfg ID for couplers, wheel sets and NMRA weights. good to have this info on all rolling stock.
Gidday Phillip, This is my attempt at a roster/ maintenance record. It is a work in progress, though I think I’m happy with it, and is on Microsoft Word.
As far as I’m concerned it is a given that my rolling stock is weighed to the NRMA standard, so while not specifically mentioned you will note that that the weight required to bring it up to spec is in the mod section. Correct coupler height is also a given so that is also not mentioned.
This is also for Jerry.
[#offtopic] While not a “blue suiter” things have definitely not improved, the current maxim seems to be that when the paperwork meets or exceeds the max. all up weight of the aircraft, then the aircraft is “safe” to fly. [sigh]
Well, that was my first attempt to post anything besides words into this forum. The log is created in word, and isn’t this shape , but is two logs printed side by side on your normal 8 1/2 x 11 size paper with color coded headings, and then 3 hole punched to go in a binder. Maybe some day I will take the time to figure out how to upload phtos. I always enjoy looking at your stuff, so I imagine you feel the same.
In the October issue of MR, (the one that came out a month ago,) there’s an article about setting up a layout for Operations. I’ve always found “how to’s” about Operations to be kind of thin on details, but this one really does go through a more step-by-step approach. I’d suggest reading the article, and using it as a guide to creating your rolling stock roster.
Having done nothing like this myself, I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.
I keep a log book for my locomotives but never thought about the rolling stock. For loco’s I keep when it was last serviced, decoder type, CV settings and the number of hours on it.
This is a terrific idea and it looks like an Excel spreadsheet would do the trick. I already have one set up for the CV settings for all the locos so this is just an extension of that sheet. Thanks!!
For several year I kept maintenance reports on the freight car index card and finally realized freight cars can run for months/years without needing maintenance.
I now keep a maintenance record on my locomotives and a simple list of the cars I own.
I agree that once a car is set up correctly to a certian set of standards it will run for a very long time without needing mantainance. ; I am in the proccess of building a new layout,which necessitated buying some new cars., Now I have a few new cars, cars in boxes bought years ago and cars in service on the layout, all in various states of readiness, or up to standards. The purpose of a log is to end my confusion by having all the cars listed by their number, and a list of everything that has been, or needs to be done to the car.
What a number of folks do in this area is to paint a tiny green dot on the underside of each car that has been checked and brought up to standards. Then it’s easy to check any particular car to see if it needs any additional tuning. These dots are completely hidden in normal operation.
Bad Order Tickets. I have some from Micromark, they are small and sticky like post it notes. Actually plain Post-it notes would work fine, the specially printed Bad Order tickers just look cooler. When a car or locomotive goes bad, few of us stop what we are doing and fix it right then and there. Instead we take it off the layout and put it in the “to-be-fixed” location/drawer/box/whatever. If you write down what is bad about the car or loco, while you can remember, then some time later when you get the time, you can see what is broke. E.G “derails too often”, “random uncoupling”, “sparks flew”, “truck came off”. With this info, there is a much better chance that you will fix something, rather than look it over and say “Looks OK to me”.
I keep a spread sheet (Excel) on my rolling stock. Partly 'cause it’s a pleasant rainy day hack, and partly to keep me from buying seconds and thirds of the same old thing. I have a column for maintenance history, but it doesn’t get used all that much. More useful is a column for modifications, where I list where I got the decals, what shade of paint I used, where I got the detail parts. Just in case I might want to do a simular project again some year.
