I am brand new to model railroading (N Gauge) and as I start buying rolling stock and locomotives, I know I am going to need to keep track of it as well, especially wish lists and values for insurance. As I live in a tiny apartment, I will only be running on my train club's layout as I don't have space for one. I did find find this one The Software for Model Railroaders: Stecotec Model Railroad Collector Pro (modelrailroad-software.com) but I am very leary about buying software through Ebay Marketplace, even if it say new. Any suggestions on data bases you use?
I use google sheets, I can update it via the desktop or the mobile app. You can set up as many sheets as you want for different things, and set up the columns as you see fit. And best of all, its free
Trovestar [ https://www.trovestar.com/generic/group.php?Collection=4 ] has a database function, though I've not used it. It's a great site to bookmark, as it contains what is likely the largest listing of N Scale items on the planet.
I had mine in Excel, but the collate feature didn't always work. I have mine in Word, using the tables, sorted by manufacturer and stock numbers. Can make it hard to find specific road name and number sometimes, but I rarely buy things without original box. New entries just insert a new line in proper place and enter. I also keep a print copy that I take to shows, so I only need to print new pages from the new entry on back.
I should have added that my only problem using Excel is that it's on my PC. I'm not technically savvy enough to know how to get it onto my cell phone for access at train shows.
You don't need to be, I'm not either, so I don't use the spread sheets to their full extent, for mine, on my freight car tab, I have one column for reporting marks, one road number, car type, manufacturer, manufacturer ID number, then additional columns for whether they have metal or plastic wheels, body or truck mounted couplers. I moved my file to google sheets, and can access it via an app. Took 2 seconds to copy it to google, just uploaded the excel sheet over.
But what I am looking for is a fill in the blank idiot friendly data base that also tracks current values so IF I decide to sell anything, I have and idea of what it SHOULD be worth. Values are not exactly 100% unfortunately, but it does help with insurance.
Tracking current values won't be free. Maintaining bots to periodically pull data, even as vendors change their websites, gets expensive, let alone developing the bots in the first place.
Trovestar (as mentioned in above posts) provides a Market Price on its listings when it can find records of sales. It's the third column from the right in this example.
The problem with trying to sort in Excell are numbers. All numbers have to have the same number of digits otherwise things get wonky For example, if I have 100 items, I have to start numbering with 001 until I get to 099 and finally 100 so it sorts properly.
Also use Excel. Super easy and super powerful once you get the hang of it. Not bad for someone who's a Luddite with personal tech but work in a high-tech job...
Format the cells as numeric, not text, and they will sort correctly, regardless of number of digits. However, you may have problems if you need varying numbers of leading zeroes. You have to format the cell to get that. They will still sort numerically correctly though. You can format numeric columns/rows/rectangles or individual cells, to always display x number of digits (with leading zeroes as needed), but you would need unique cell formatting for 009 and 0099.
just to back up that thought. i use google sheets on my phone to make my Excel databases accesible. Not just model records but also my Book lists ( Hopefully won't buy the same book twice anymore !) They are kept on google drive so they update on both the P.C and the phone cheers kev
