UK Rail Log Website

[The_Train]

Checked on my laptop and there is no problem - just a tablet thing.

I've had a look into this and this appears to be an issue with viewing in 'desktop view' on either a mobile or a tablet. Basically, by stretching the tables to fit full width of the screen on a desktop PC or laptop I have gone beyond the limits for keeping everything in view on smaller screens such as mobiles and tablets. Obviously on a mobile this can be negated by switching to mobile view and using the features on that but (from a cursory glance around the net) it appears that Wix will only show a website on a tablet in 'desktop view' (which I wasn't aware of until now). I will do some further digging tomorrow to see if a compromise can be reached

 

[The_Train]

I've just been looking at it and not having a photo as the background definitely speeds up the loading times for all pages. Having a DMU page is nice and I look forward to seeing more additions made to it, but I'm not too sure if I like the pink tables: it might be because I've got used to the blue ones from the loco pages, but it also helps in reading it for them to be blue I think. Obviously it's your site to change!

-Peter

The pink/red is pretty aggressive. If I was going with pink I'd probably go for a much lighter pink with dark text, just to improve contrast.

The colour scheme has been amended to match that of the other tables in the loco section.
The red/pink scheme was the standard colours that came with the table and I decided against spending time changing that around as I was more interested in getting feedback regarding comparisons between the loading times of pages with the original style table and this new table. However, I have completed the cosmetics of the DMU 139-144 tables now - hopefully these are a little more favourable

 

[The_Train]

It occurs to me that a lot of the problems are coming from the use of Wix. I'm not sure what your experience is with coding techniques, or your appetite for learning new technologies. You would be able to achieve something a lot more usable without a massive spend though if you were willing and able to go a bit more technical

Wix became my choice purely because it seemed to offer the best options for me to be able to develop the structure of the website in a fairly simplistic way. I originally started on Wordpress but gave up on that when it appeared that I would need to learn their code just to change font sizes. Wix offers a very basic way of actually building a website and is ideal for complete novices like me who has not so much as tried to build a website since GCSE I.T. when computers were still fairly new to the world. Am I willing to go more technical? Yes I am! Am I able to go more technical? I'm impressing myself with what I have already learnt and achieved in terms of coding but before this process, I had not so much as seen Javascript - there is probably only so far anyone can go just through the help of YouTube videos and by getting help from a 'coding community' that is only really there to generate money from people wanting help with their websites. In terms of your reference to little spend - there is to be no further spend by me on this project in the near future. I've already spent money upgrading my Wix account and that runs for 12 months and as this is, in essence, a bit of a hobby as opposed to a business venture I can't really justify throwing lots of money at it, not to mention the time involved to start from scratch again elsewhere. It is literally this site or nothing!


I must admit, I have become slightly intrigued by your recent feedback on the site. This is not a dig in any sense as all feedback is welcomed but your feedback does seem to be at the extreme end of things compared to what I hear from others. Is it that others are tip-toeing around things and you are being brutally honest? If so, I'd prefer everyone to be just as brutal so I'm not wasting my time As an example, a few have said they noticed loading was a bit slow and then your feedback involved the phrase 'outrageously slow' and in the post I have quoted here you've stated 'a lot of the problems' - suggesting there are a multitude of issues - and 'a lot more usable' - suggesting it is not very usable at the moment. As I say, this is not a dig at you or your feedback but it does create confusion with me when one person feeds back in such a different manner to everyone else that I felt I had to post my thoughts on it to see what yours and everyone else's take on this is. If things are as bad as some of your posts suggest, then I would much prefer to just put this to bed!

 

[takno]

Wix became my choice purely because it seemed to offer the best options for me to be able to develop the structure of the website in a fairly simplistic way. I originally started on Wordpress but gave up on that when it appeared that I would need to learn their code just to change font sizes. Wix offers a very basic way of actually building a website and is ideal for complete novices like me who has not so much as tried to build a website since GCSE I.T. when computers were still fairly new to the world. Am I willing to go more technical? Yes I am! Am I able to go more technical? I'm impressing myself with what I have already learnt and achieved in terms of coding but before this process, I had not so much as seen Javascript - there is probably only so far anyone can go just through the help of YouTube videos and by getting help from a 'coding community' that is only really there to generate money from people wanting help with their websites. In terms of your reference to little spend - there is to be no further spend by me on this project in the near future. I've already spent money upgrading my Wix account and that runs for 12 months and as this is, in essence, a bit of a hobby as opposed to a business venture I can't really justify throwing lots of money at it, not to mention the time involved to start from scratch again elsewhere. It is literally this site or nothing!


I must admit, I have become slightly intrigued by your recent feedback on the site. This is not a dig in any sense as all feedback is welcomed but your feedback does seem to be at the extreme end of things compared to what I hear from others. Is it that others are tip-toeing around things and you are being brutally honest? If so, I'd prefer everyone to be just as brutal so I'm not wasting my time As an example, a few have said they noticed loading was a bit slow and then your feedback involved the phrase 'outrageously slow' and in the post I have quoted here you've stated 'a lot of the problems' - suggesting there are a multitude of issues - and 'a lot more usable' - suggesting it is not very usable at the moment. As I say, this is not a dig at you or your feedback but it does create confusion with me when one person feeds back in such a different manner to everyone else that I felt I had to post my thoughts on it to see what yours and everyone else's take on this is. If things are as bad as some of your posts suggest, then I would much prefer to just put this to bed!

You definitely shouldn't put it to bed, and please don't take my feedback to heart! I've been doing stuff like this my whole life, and I'm afraid I'm a bit used to just being able to burn through and get everything running pretty quickly. Coming from a complete novice background you've achieved a huge amount in a short time, and it sounds like you're learning fast!

The issues that seem to be most outstanding are the limitations on layout which Wix seems to enforce, and load speed, which is much better than it was but is still a bit slow just through the sheer volume of different libraries the various Wix tools are bringing in. That was why I was wondering whether moving in another direction was an option. As it isn't an option I'm sure you should be able to iron out the issues on the current path

As a matter of interest, since the data on the screen is displayed as a number of separate tables, I was wondering if they are separate tables or files on the server. Looking at the shunters page for example, there is a separate request and a separate CSV file coming from the server for each class of locomotive, which adds quite a lot of overhead when the page is loading. If the search also needs to search through dozens of separate files on the server that might make it run a good bit slower.

Sorry I can't be more specific about where to look for the answers to these questions - I've never built any really complex solutions in Wix so I don't really know exactly how the data solution is supposed to work

 

[The_Train]

You definitely shouldn't put it to bed, and please don't take my feedback to heart! I've been doing stuff like this my whole life, and I'm afraid I'm a bit used to just being able to burn through and get everything running pretty quickly. Coming from a complete novice background you've achieved a huge amount in a short time, and it sounds like you're learning fast!

I had a feeling from your responses that you had a background in this sort of thing - that is why I wanted to probe your responses a little further. I've done lots of jobs where reacting to feedback is quite a key aspect (not web development based) and I've always queried one person/organisation's feedback if it stood out so much from other feedback - as was the case with yours.

The issues that seem to be most outstanding are the limitations on layout which Wix seems to enforce, and load speed, which is much better than it was but is still a bit slow just through the sheer volume of different libraries the various Wix tools are bringing in. That was why I was wondering whether moving in another direction was an option. As it isn't an option I'm sure you should be able to iron out the issues on the current path

At the end of the day I think I always knew that heading down the route of Wix, Wordpress, Foursquare etc, I was going to face limitations. As I said, I started to build this on Wordpress but ultimately the development itself was problematic for a novice and that is why I moved to Wix as it allowed me to develop the structure of the site fairly easily and then to add other features such as the search by learning a bit of the basic coding (and obtaining help from @mrmatt on here). The layout limitation that @xotGD found yesterday looks to be one that I may just have to accept although I have not had chance to really look into it today as of yet and obviously load speed is an issue as I am sharing a server with plenty of others. I have found lots of resources which offer tips on improving load speed and I have definitely seen an improvement all over the site since I made the recent changes. I have done my own load speed tests and most pages are loading within 1-2 seconds, the new DMU page is around 3-4 seconds - it is just the locomotive fleet data pages which are still at 8-10 seconds, although this is down from around 12 seconds prior to the removal of background pictures. And this is on 4g so hopefully those on half decent wi-fi will see a slight improvement on those timings as well.

As a matter of interest, since the data on the screen is displayed as a number of separate tables, I was wondering if they are separate tables or files on the server. Looking at the shunters page for example, there is a separate request and a separate CSV file coming from the server for each class of locomotive, which adds quite a lot of overhead when the page is loading. If the search also needs to search through dozens of separate files on the server that might make it run a good bit slower.

On the locomotive fleet data screens (where the original style tables are), this information is stored in a Google Sheets spreadsheet and each tab (each class has it's own tab) is linked to the table using the 'Publish to Web' function. It operates on a live system (probably wrong terminology) which means that when I update in the relevant tab, the data automatically updates in the tables without me having to visit the editor. This is a 3rd party app which has been produced by someone away from Wix and is available on the Wix 'app store' for free but if I am being honest it doesn't have great reviews for many reasons - I decided to give it a go though as the automatic updates along with the automatic realigning of columns was a big plus to me. However, during my research on speed improvements, I found out that 3rd party apps are hosted on external servers and not the Wix servers and therefore will load lots slower than the pages with data coming direct from the Wix servers. On top of that, I guess that a request to load any of those pages will also require each table to search my Google Spreadsheet for the relevant data. And the speeds stand out here as the pages with these tables on can be in double figures for loading time!

In terms of the search function on the Home Page and the results page users are directed to when they conduct a search, this is done through one database collection within Wix that houses all of the locomotive data in one place. So any search request is searching through one collection of information that is already on the Wix servers.

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Just a small update tonight (18th August - my post has merged with the last one I posted which seems to be an annoying new feature on here) as I have added search bars to each of the tables on the Class 139-Class 144 page so that you can now search relevant data for each class - for example, if you are wanting to see which Class 142's have been scrapped ( ) then go to the Class 142 search bar and type "scrapped" in and you will see the data begin to filter and show the scrapped units.

The ability to be able to search this data sitewide will follow soon!

 

[Peter C]

Just a small update tonight (18th August - my thread has merged with the last one I posted which seems to be an annoying new feature on here) as I have added search bars to each of the tables on the Class 139-Class 144 page so that you can now search relevant data for each class - for example, if you are wanting to see which Class 142's have been scrapped ( ) then go to the Class 142 search bar and type "scrapped" in and you will see the data begin to filter and show the scrapped units.

The ability to be able to search this data sitewide will follow soon!

Sounds really cool! This new forum feature meant I only found out about this through the "Forum Upgrade Complete" thread (!) but hopefully things will change.
Anyway - this sounds very promising. Also - I used the site on mobile for the first time the other day and I really like the layout. Tapping on an engine to find information makes it really easy to see everything all in one go, especially on a fairly small screen.

-Peter

 

[The_Train]

Sounds really cool! This new forum feature meant I only found out about this through the "Forum Upgrade Complete" thread (!) but hopefully things will change.

Yeah, hopefully some sort of compromise can be reached with regards to the change.

Anyway - this sounds very promising. Also - I used the site on mobile for the first time the other day and I really like the layout. Tapping on an engine to find information makes it really easy to see everything all in one go, especially on a fairly small screen.

-Peter

And talking of compromises, the feature you refer to on the mobile version (of which I also like massively) would disappear if I use the new style table which I have used on the 139-144 page across the site as it is part of the design of the table which seems to be creating slow loading speeds. So it would have to be a compromise in that we would have the slower loading speeds on the tables, but would still have the inbuilt search function which is a little quicker than the one I added to the 139-144 page yesterday (as this requires some coding) and also have the ideal setup on mobile devices as you have found out

To give you an idea of what I mean, if you visit www.ukraillog.co.uk/139-144 on your mobile you will see how the new style table works in mobile view compared to the original style tables used for the locomotives.

 

[Peter C]

To give you an idea of what I mean, if you visit www.ukraillog.co.uk/139-144 on your mobile you will see how the new style table works in mobile view compared to the original style tables used for the locomotives.

I've just had a look at that page on a mobile and it works, but not as well as the locomotives page. Although, to be honest, I don't think I'll personally need to look something further to the right on one of those tables than the status column, so its not too bad.
If there is a way of making it so that the units tables can work like the locos tables as they do at the moment, that would be excellent. But if you can't do that then mobile browsers allow you to see the desktop site anyway and you can always turn your phone landscape!

Hope this helps,

-Peter

 

[The_Train]

I've just had a look at that page on a mobile and it works, but not as well as the locomotives page. Although, to be honest, I don't think I'll personally need to look something further to the right on one of those tables than the status column, so its not too bad.
If there is a way of making it so that the units tables can work like the locos tables as they do at the moment, that would be excellent. But if you can't do that then mobile browsers allow you to see the desktop site anyway and you can always turn your phone landscape!

Hope this helps,

-Peter

Thanks Peter, your post here actually links in to something I have been working on today.

So for all, I have added an extra Class 01 - Class 17 page in the locomotive section. You will find the button for the new page above the picture on the Locomotives Home page or alternatively, the link to it is https://www.ukraillog.co.uk/copy-of-class-01-class-17. This idea stemmed from something @takno said previously regarding the amount of info being loaded by these tables and so on this new page, there is just one table with all locos in the classes 01 -17 included. I have added a 'Class' column to identify the class of loco as this is not always obvious and this also allows you to search via class (be aware though that a search for '02' will return all class 02 locos but also any others with 02 in their number). This obviously means a lot more scrolling down one table but you can obviously use the search for any data to narrow down what is shown in the table.

So with this, I believe I have now exhausted all options in terms of the layout of these pages with the 3 options that are now live on the site.
We have:

• The original setup which all of the locomotive pages are set up as which seems to have the longest loading period but comes with each class having it's own table, the search function and what I think is the best table for mobile view as you can tap the number and it drops down to then show all information related to that loco - an example can be found here

• Then we have the new version of the above in the Class 01 - Class 17 section which is one table consisting of all locos in the 01-17 classes. So more scrolling and more data in one place, but the search function can narrow down what you are looking at and again it keeps the most suitable table for mobile view. A quick load test of this page earlier yielded a result of 5-6 seconds from clicking the link which is not fantastic but is 50% less than that of the original setup - the example can be found here

• And the final one is the setup in the DMU section for the classes 139-144 where I have used a different style of table and added the search function myself using some coding. I actually quite like how this looks on the desktop version and it has generated the fastest loading times during my speed tests - usually loading in 3-4 seconds. However, these tables don't adapt to the mobile version as well as the others and so require scrolling around the screen to be able to see everything - the example can be found here

Unfortunately, it does appear that I will need to compromise in terms of not being able to have everything I would like to fall into place thanks to restrictions with using Wix. So I accept that having something that is good kept in place is likely to negatively impact something else and so that is why I am begging you guys for feedback on which is the better of the 3 options above - if you have the time to check them out and post your thoughts then please do so

Thanks

 

[Peter C]

Thanks Peter, your post here actually links in to something I have been working on today.

So for all, I have added an extra Class 01 - Class 17 page in the locomotive section. You will find the button for the new page above the picture on the Locomotives Home page or alternatively, the link to it is https://www.ukraillog.co.uk/copy-of-class-01-class-17. This idea stemmed from something @takno said previously regarding the amount of info being loaded by these tables and so on this new page, there is just one table with all locos in the classes 01 -17 included. I have added a 'Class' column to identify the class of loco as this is not always obvious and this also allows you to search via class (be aware though that a search for '02' will return all class 02 locos but also any others with 02 in their number). This obviously means a lot more scrolling down one table but you can obviously use the search for any data to narrow down what is shown in the table.

So with this, I believe I have now exhausted all options in terms of the layout of these pages with the 3 options that are now live on the site.
We have:

• The original setup which all of the locomotive pages are set up as which seems to have the longest loading period but comes with each class having it's own table, the search function and what I think is the best table for mobile view as you can tap the number and it drops down to then show all information related to that loco - an example can be found here

• Then we have the new version of the above in the Class 01 - Class 17 section which is one table consisting of all locos in the 01-17 classes. So more scrolling and more data in one place, but the search function can narrow down what you are looking at and again it keeps the most suitable table for mobile view. A quick load test of this page earlier yielded a result of 5-6 seconds from clicking the link which is not fantastic but is 50% less than that of the original setup - the example can be found here

• And the final one is the setup in the DMU section for the classes 139-144 where I have used a different style of table and added the search function myself using some coding. I actually quite like how this looks on the desktop version and it has generated the fastest loading times during my speed tests - usually loading in 3-4 seconds. However, these tables don't adapt to the mobile version as well as the others and so require scrolling around the screen to be able to see everything - the example can be found here

Unfortunately, it does appear that I will need to compromise in terms of not being able to have everything I would like to fall into place thanks to restrictions with using Wix. So I accept that having something that is good kept in place is likely to negatively impact something else and so that is why I am begging you guys for feedback on which is the better of the 3 options above - if you have the time to check them out and post your thoughts then please do so

Thanks

I've had a look at the page with the one big table seems a bit unwieldy. I can see how it would be beneficial, but for me having all of the engines in one place is a bit much. A way of fixing this could be, I suppose, by separating each class of engine by an empty row in the table - it would make it easier to quickly see that you've got to a new class. A way of fixing the search issue could be to get the search box to perform an SQL query on the database (assuming it's set up to allow for that) and allow "wildcards" - these being the * character, which is used in a search to say "I don't care what takes this spot", e.g. if I want to find every Class 66 in the 667xx number range, I'd search for 667**. An example of a site which allows wildcards, AND, OR, and NOT functions, and a few others, is www.hondawanderer.com. Try searching for something like "Oxford" AND 198* to get all photos of Oxford in the 1980s and so on.

In my opinion, if the third of the options you've given will allow for the quickest loading time, I think going for that one will be the best. I've had a look at it on mobile and it seems to do the job - you have to scroll around but that's not an issue. I'd much rather have to do some scrolling when the page loads but have it load much quicker than have it all presented to me but have the page take forever to load up. But that's just my opinion.

I suppose as more and more information is added, and the site has to search and request more and more data, searches and page loading times will naturally get longer: that's just something I suppose you'll have to work with.

And I just thought of this: completely unrelated to the current topic of discussion, but if I don't post it now, I'll forget
Not having photos for the backdrops does make the site look a bit bare at times, but it's understandable that they need to be removed to improve loading time. However, to still have photos on the site (the photos you used looked quite interesting actually), maybe you could have a gallery section? Either to represent one of each class covered on the site, with a rotating "cast" of engines shown each week/month, or a photo of every engine/unit covered on the site? You could ask people to send in photos and see which ones would work best. Just a thought!

Hope this is useful,

-Peter

 

[The_Train]

I've had a look at the page with the one big table seems a bit unwieldy. I can see how it would be beneficial, but for me having all of the engines in one place is a bit much. A way of fixing this could be, I suppose, by separating each class of engine by an empty row in the table - it would make it easier to quickly see that you've got to a new class. A way of fixing the search issue could be to get the search box to perform an SQL query on the database (assuming it's set up to allow for that) and allow "wildcards" - these being the * character, which is used in a search to say "I don't care what takes this spot", e.g. if I want to find every Class 66 in the 667xx number range, I'd search for 667**. An example of a site which allows wildcards, AND, OR, and NOT functions, and a few others, is www.hondawanderer.com. Try searching for something like "Oxford" AND 198* to get all photos of Oxford in the 1980s and so on.

I must admit that the full table is not something I like all that much. Your idea of an empty line as a divider may work but I still think it will just look like a large and unappealing clump of text.

In terms of the search function on the original tables (ie the locomotive tables), there is no coding on these so it is what it is as they are produced by a 3rd party. I am sure there would be a way of making the above work on the DMU tables where I have coded the search function though. One for me to look into as it will be another thing for me to learn in respect of the coding side of things

In terms of the site wide search (using the search bar on the Home Page) I have a new search as work in progress at the moment. It is nearly complete barring one final hurdle so I hope to have it live soon - I think this may do something similar to what you have mentioned above as well. And whilst I mention this, because of the pending changes, I have not incorporated the DMU stock into this search yet so none of these will show up on a search from the Home Page.

In my opinion, if the third of the options you've given will allow for the quickest loading time, I think going for that one will be the best. I've had a look at it on mobile and it seems to do the job - you have to scroll around but that's not an issue. I'd much rather have to do some scrolling when the page loads but have it load much quicker than have it all presented to me but have the page take forever to load up. But that's just my opinion.

I think I agree with these sentiments. As much as the original tables are better for the mobile view, it doesn't seem a great reason to stick with something that is taking 12+ seconds to load.

I suppose as more and more information is added, and the site has to search and request more and more data, searches and page loading times will naturally get longer: that's just something I suppose you'll have to work with.

It is something that I will just have to monitor as I add more data. If, in 12 months time, the site speed is down but viewing numbers are good (and this is already a lot better than I envisaged) then I may have to consider options away from Wix as so long as people are visiting then it would be worthwhile to check other options out.

And I just thought of this: completely unrelated to the current topic of discussion, but if I don't post it now, I'll forget
Not having photos for the backdrops does make the site look a bit bare at times, but it's understandable that they need to be removed to improve loading time. However, to still have photos on the site (the photos you used looked quite interesting actually), maybe you could have a gallery section? Either to represent one of each class covered on the site, with a rotating "cast" of engines shown each week/month, or a photo of every engine/unit covered on the site? You could ask people to send in photos and see which ones would work best. Just a thought!

The photos I have used on the site are ones I have taken using my phone - thought it would be easier using my own than risk copyright claims haha. A gallery had been on my mind prior to the speed issues - it is still there as a thought but will be on the backburner for now. What I had thought of to compensate the loss of photos was to run monthly competitions where I'd get so many to send a pic in and then use Twitter (once I finally get active on it) and maybe this thread to create a vote with the winning picture becoming the Home Page photo for a month - also including the winning persons social media handles into the pic for a bit of free advertising for them. Based on your ideas, the runners up could then appear on a separate page in a rolling gallery for the month or something along those lines

 

[Peter C]

I must admit that the full table is not something I like all that much. Your idea of an empty line as a divider may work but I still think it will just look like a large and unappealing clump of text.

In terms of the search function on the original tables (ie the locomotive tables), there is no coding on these so it is what it is as they are produced by a 3rd party. I am sure there would be a way of making the above work on the DMU tables where I have coded the search function though. One for me to look into as it will be another thing for me to learn in respect of the coding side of things

Ah OK - if making the search functions work using SQL queries takes a long time then I'd say it's not worth it just for a search function. If the current system for the DMU tables will work, then I'd say go along with that.

In terms of the site wide search (using the search bar on the Home Page) I have a new search as work in progress at the moment. It is nearly complete barring one final hurdle so I hope to have it live soon - I think this may do something similar to what you have mentioned above as well. And whilst I mention this, because of the pending changes, I have not incorporated the DMU stock into this search yet so none of these will show up on a search from the Home Page.

Sounds interesting! Building up from basic beginnings seems to have worked well so far on the site, so I look forward to seeing what else you can do.

It is something that I will just have to monitor as I add more data. If, in 12 months time, the site speed is down but viewing numbers are good (and this is already a lot better than I envisaged) then I may have to consider options away from Wix as so long as people are visiting then it would be worthwhile to check other options out.

Definitely. Website-creation sites will often allow you to move a URL from one host to another, so hopefully if the need arose for a change, it wouldn't be too bad.

The photos I have used on the site are ones I have taken using my phone - thought it would be easier using my own than risk copyright claims haha. A gallery had been on my mind prior to the speed issues - it is still there as a thought but will be on the backburner for now. What I had thought of to compensate the loss of photos was to run monthly competitions where I'd get so many to send a pic in and then use Twitter (once I finally get active on it) and maybe this thread to create a vote with the winning picture becoming the Home Page photo for a month - also including the winning persons social media handles into the pic for a bit of free advertising for them. Based on your ideas, the runners up could then appear on a separate page in a rolling gallery for the month or something along those lines

Having competitions sounds interesting, definitely. If you're getting lots of people viewing the site on a regular basis, people will be more interested in sending in their photos if it means they might get more people viewing their sites and social media. I imagine the end result would be something like the "Photo of the Month" competitions on here - you could even ask the winners of those if you could use their photos!

-Peter

 

[The_Train]

Just a small update today to let you all know that the Class 150 - Class 159 page on the DMU data fleet section is now live along with the 139-144 page which was updated the other day

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Not sure anyone will see this as it will merge but just a quick note to let you know the loco stock has been updated today for any of you who want to check it out. The full detail is in the Railway News section (which to avoid any confusion is accessed by selecting the year and then month from the dropdown lists and then once in the month you have chosen, there is another dropdown to select the date of updates )

 

[Peter C]

I've just had a look and it looks really good. The "Railway News" section of your site is really amazing - it's the first time I've seen "gen" listed in such an easy-to-read and find format. I think the forum now gives notifications for merges of posts as I was notified of you making a post around 40 minutes ago, and your post was last edited at around that same time.

-Peter

 

[The_Train]

I've just had a look and it looks really good. The "Railway News" section of your site is really amazing - it's the first time I've seen "gen" listed in such an easy-to-read and find format. I think the forum now gives notifications for merges of posts as I was notified of you making a post around 40 minutes ago, and your post was last edited at around that same time.

-Peter

That's good news about the notifications showing up still. That is basically what I said in the forum upgrade thread when discussing it - ensure notifications still show up after the merge and it is fine

As a side note, I was going to add the Class 165-Class 172 page of the DMU section today but unfortunately Wix seems to be having some problems with the editor so I can't unfortunately. It is ready to go so will get it live as soon as I can

 

[Peter C]

That's good news about the notifications showing up still. That is basically what I said in the forum upgrade thread when discussing it - ensure notifications still show up after the merge and it is fine

As a side note, I was going to add the Class 165-Class 172 page of the DMU section today but unfortunately Wix seems to be having some problems with the editor so I can't unfortunately. It is ready to go so will get it live as soon as I can

I've spoken to an admin and I'm not sure if it is a change or if the forums had a bit of a moment when I got the notification. Oh well
The 165-172 page sounds brilliant - I like how you're regularly updating the site!

-Peter

 

[The_Train]

The Class 165 - Class 172 fleet data page is now live in the DMU section.

Access it via the DMU button at the bottom of the Home Page or direct at www.ukraillog.co.uk/165-172

As with all of the DMU pages, this is a lot harder to keep up to date with than the locomotives so if you see anything that is incorrect, either because I have inputted something wrong or because something has changed recently, then please let me know in this thread, via PM or by using the 'Gen Submit' section of the site. I've already had plenty of great contributions from people on here but would love more (ideally, eventually I'd love to have contributors from all corners of the rail network to be my eyes and ears in their local areas).

All contributors will now get a mention in the Railway News section as well so if you do contribute then let me know which name you'd like to use - can be a twitter name, YouTube name, username on this forum or any other form of social media for a bit of free advertising for you (obviously anonymous is fine if you so wish)

 

[Peter C]

I've just had a quick look and it looks really good.
A note regarding 165032 - it's not currently active as it's at Long Marston for something or other (I forget what). It went on Saturday IIRC. I don't know when it's returning to Aylesbury DMU Depot.

Hope this helps,

-Peter

 

[The_Train]

I've just had a quick look and it looks really good.
A note regarding 165032 - it's not currently active as it's at Long Marston for something or other (I forget what). It went on Saturday IIRC. I don't know when it's returning to Aylesbury DMU Depot.

Hope this helps,

-Peter

Peter, apologies for the delay in responding (the music feature I mentioned to you is taking up most of my spare time at the moment).
Thanks very much for the info on 165032 - as my tardiness has seen a few days pass since you passed this info, have you any info as to whether it remains at Long Marston or whether it has returned to service please?

Also, for everyone - after a busy week, I finally managed to get another loco update complete yesterday if anyone wants to check it out

 

[Peter C]

Peter, apologies for the delay in responding (the music feature I mentioned to you is taking up most of my spare time at the moment).
Thanks very much for the info on 165032 - as my tardiness has seen a few days pass since you passed this info, have you any info as to whether it remains at Long Marston or whether it has returned to service please?

Also, for everyone - after a busy week, I finally managed to get another loco update complete yesterday if anyone wants to check it out

That's alright - I'd forgotten I'd even posted a comment!
I think 165032 is still at Long Marston - they tend to be there for a couple of weeks or so before returning. I check RTT for the Cotswold Line regularly so I'll see if anything pops up. The last working went to Long Marston on a Saturday and returned a couple of weeks later on the Wednesday IIRC; that might give some indication for as to what's happening with 032. Anything could change though!

-Peter

 

[The_Train]

That's alright - I'd forgotten I'd even posted a comment!
I think 165032 is still at Long Marston - they tend to be there for a couple of weeks or so before returning. I check RTT for the Cotswold Line regularly so I'll see if anything pops up. The last working went to Long Marston on a Saturday and returned a couple of weeks later on the Wednesday IIRC; that might give some indication for as to what's happening with 032. Anything could change though!

-Peter

I've logged it as being at Long Marston and put it down as being under maintenance as it must have moved for something along those lines - are the 165s undergoing any PRM compliance work?

 

[Peter C]

I've logged it as being at Long Marston and put it down as being under maintenance as it must have moved for something along those lines - are the 165s undergoing any PRM compliance work?

I believe it's for hybrid conversion work (hydrogen power rings a bell) but I'm not sure. As far as I know the 165s are PRM compliant.

-Peter

 

[The_Train]

The Class 175 - Class 196 page of the DMU section is now live

Access it direct at https://www.ukraillog.co.uk/175-196 or go via the DMU button on the Home Page.
There was also a loco update yesterday in case you want to check it in the Railway News section and hopefully there will be another one tomorrow.

 

[Peter C]

I think 165032 is now back at Aylesbury DMU Depot following work at Long Marston - https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/K04563/2020-09-12/detailed

-Peter

 

[The_Train]

Thanks once again @Peter C - I have amended 165032 accordingly.

For anyone interested, I have just added the Class 201 - Class 230 page on the DMU fleet data section so this is now available. Just leaves the 1st gen preserved DMU stock to add now and the DMU section will be complete

 

[Peter C]

Thanks once again @Peter C - I have amended 165032 accordingly.

For anyone interested, I have just added the Class 201 - Class 230 page on the DMU fleet data section so this is now available. Just leaves the 1st gen preserved DMU stock to add now and the DMU section will be complete

You're welcome
165028 has gone from Aylesbury DMU Depot to Long Marston as another bit of "gen" from this evening's spotting.
The new page on the site sounds interesting - I'll have a look.

-Peter

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Love it! Have bookmarked the page.
Keep up the good work!

Yes love it. Great work

 

[The_Train]

Love it! Have bookmarked the page.
Keep up the good work!

Yes love it. Great work

Thanks both, glad you find it of interest and hope the info is of some use to you

You're welcome
165028 has gone from Aylesbury DMU Depot to Long Marston as another bit of "gen" from this evening's spotting.
The new page on the site sounds interesting - I'll have a look.

-Peter

More "gen" - love it, keep it coming
Thanks as ever, Peter

 

[Peter C]

More "gen" - love it, keep it coming
Thanks as ever, Peter

Again - you're very welcome
This means that it will probably be not this Wednesday coming, but the Wednesday after that which will see 165028 return to Aylesbury and another unit go to Long Marston. From what I've seen it seems to alternate between Wednesdays and Saturdays for when the units move but I may be entirely wrong!

-Peter

 

[The_Train]

I have managed a loco/units update this afternoon so everything is as close to up to date as I can make it.

Full list of the updates is in the Railway News section as always


------------Post below added 13:23 on 17/09/20-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon all, I have made some amendments to the Home Page now. Hopefully the new structure makes it look slightly less cramped and easier to navigate the different areas.

I am also excited by the NEW search function that has replaced the original search bar on the Home Page. This new search function allows you to pick which areas of information you wish to include in your search - the more information input, the more precise your results will be. For example searching "60" in the 'Search Class' bar will produce all class 60's whereas searching "60" in the 'Search Class' bar and "gbrf" in the 'Search Operator' bar will produce a result narrowed down to show the class 60's which are operated by GBRf.
You can literally search using any one of the search bars, or by using multiple search bars or if you have all information to hand, by searching all of the search bars. Just input your search info in whichever search fields you wish to search and then click the magnifying glass (enter is not working at present) and your results will show.

Just a quick note as well, the search is currently only for Locomotives and not for any other section. I want to get the DMU fleet data section fully updated and then I will look to add this to the search function as well.

I would also like to add that this new search would not have been possible without the help of @mrmatt who has been superb with his JavaScript support after I spent literally weeks (if not months) trying to, unsuccessfully, find a solution to a problem I had encountered. The fact that so many people are willing to take time out of their own lives to assist in different ways, really does highlight how good our little community can be and I, for one, am extremely thankful for the help and support people have been offering in different ways

Finally here is a quick summary of the recent Home Page amendments below:

• Site News and Railway News button brought up to just below the photo instead of right at the bottom.
• The Fleet Data buttons have now been boxed together with a header title to indicate what the buttons actually are for as I realised this might not have been immediately clear.
• The new search function is now at the bottom of the page.
• A button is now available in the Header of each page which will take you to the search section on the Home Page from wherever you are on the website.

I'm really happy with the new look Home Page and very happy with the new search function but as always happy to receive any feedback on how it looks to anyone else

Thanks

www.ukraillog.co.uk


----------------------Post below added 16:53 on 18/09/20-----------------------------------------

After the recent changes to the Home Page and search function, I've now completed the Class 100 - Class 111 page of the DMU Fleet Data section and also just finished another stock update

www.ukraillog.co.uk