My railfan logs contain relatively detailed records of all trains I see and
photograph. I have been keeping locomotive number information since I was
eleven (in 1988) and train symbol information since approximately 1992. I
have written several roster database programs to assist me in this task -
the latest version is Railinfo 1.0 for Windows
written using VisualBasic 4.0.
The information contained within these records is correct to the best of my
knowledge. Some conventions I have used:
Numbers such as this: #S42.11 or #P03.23-26 are photgraph catalog
numbers (you may notice that most of my images have these for filenames).
#S means slide (usually Kodachrome 64) and #P represents a print of some
kind.
When a digit is missing from a locomotive number, replace it with an X:
67x3.
In most cases I have all locomotive numbers in a consist recorded. The
two-digit number (one of the middle columns) represents the place of that
locomotive in the power consist: 03 is the third engine. Sometimes the
first digit will be replaced with a letter; C represents a rail car (not an
engine) and P represents pusher or helper engines.
An entry enclosed in brackets [] is a reported entry - either by sight
(with no engine numbers) or by radio.
At the right end of a locomotive listing, you might see former owner
initials. If these are enclosed in parentheses () the locomotive was
painted in that paint scheme. Otherwise the initials simply represent
former owner. Parentheses can be used to show commemorative paint schemes:
(OLYM) - Olympic, (OL) Operation Lifesaver (CR Q) Conrail Quality, etc.
For occasions when I only had a partial train symbol, the unknown part
is represented by zeros or underscores (when a numeric portion) or lowercase
x when alphabetic.
Special Note: Locomotives painted in CPRS Dual Flags scheme have CPRS
reporting marks. Locomotives purchased since the CPRS name (ex-NS, ex-GATX,
etc) also have CPRS reporting marks. CP Pac-Man and related schemes have CP
marks. In retrospect I should have been more specific when taking that
info...
