Legacy K-Line Website - Online/Offline

Agree on your points 1 and 2.

I sent an e-mail using their Contact Us page asking if they would like me to scan the pages from the missing 2001 Second Edition and have yet to receive a reply.

Are there really only 180 pages in all the catalogs on the site?

I believe this is the work of a single individual. Likely life changes brought about this situation. I would give him a break.

Pete

I hear you and am not complaining. That person will respond - maybe. If not, that's fine. I intend to post on the forum when the spreadsheet is updated. That will take some time (to add missing catalog and separate 2004).

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Are there really only 180 pages in all the catalogs on the site?

Maybe I should have said when I printed each of the web pages that make up the "Catalogs" section, to PDF, I ended up with 180 files.

I'm developing some new toy train inventory software called Inventory Express (feel free to check it out at https://inventoryexpress.xyz).  I'm currently adding a "Product Index" that will hold basic date (catalog #, years produced, gauge, etc) plus a thumbnail pic of items produced by various manufacturers.  I've been wanting to include K-Line data, and have been trying to contact the legacykline site owner, but have never found the site up and running.  So a friend alerted me to this string.  If anyone has K-Line data they'd be willing to share (or any other manufacturer for that matter), I'd be most grateful if you'd give me a shout. 

Or if anyone has contact information for the legacykline site owner, and could either let me know how to get in touch, or pass my contact info along to him, I'd truly appreciate it.

The person who set this up is forum member MojoMark. You can find his contact info by searching on his name. His last post here was 2 1/2 years ago.

Pete

Many thanks.

Clint posted:

I'm developing some new toy train inventory software called Inventory Express (feel free to check it out at https://inventoryexpress.xyz).  I'm currently adding a "Product Index" that will hold basic date (catalog #, years produced, gauge, etc) plus a thumbnail pic of items produced by various manufacturers.  I've been wanting to include K-Line data, and have been trying to contact the legacykline site owner, but have never found the site up and running.  So a friend alerted me to this string.  If anyone has K-Line data they'd be willing to share (or any other manufacturer for that matter), I'd be most grateful if you'd give me a shout. 

Or if anyone has contact information for the legacykline site owner, and could either let me know how to get in touch, or pass my contact info along to him, I'd truly appreciate it.

I like your inventory system.

I finally gave up with all the available train inventory systems. I have previously used MITrains by Seahawk Software (now offline) and Yard Office (which hasn't been updated in years).

I finally decided to tackle the task my self and created a Microsoft Access database with the info I wanted. It is quite comprehensive but doesn't include all the fields in your database. It isn't as compact as it should be as I have problems trying to populate fields from tables. Have never quite figured it out. For example, I have a field Category. It is a 2-character field. If I enter an F then I'd like my database to fill in the next field describing what the F stands for - in this case Freight Car; General.

I have that situation in several  field. It's not perfect but it gets the job done.

Let me see what I can do to send you more info about my Access database.

That would be great, thanks.  And feel free to download IE and give it a trial run.  It's still in the Beta-test phase and it's free to download, register and test.  The "Product Index" isn't yet in the current test version, but it will be in the next (and I hope last) Beta release -- probably in a month or two.

Jeffrey,

I have MITrains and I believe it has the full MTH/Lionel/K-Line catalog listed in an Access Database up to the point that they stopped supporting it (I don't know the exact date).  Do you want me to email you the DB?

That would be great!  I would also need to contact the MITrains folks as I would be hesitant to use their data without their permission.  If the software includes contact info, I'd appreciate it if you could pass that along.

Many thanks!

Jeffery,

I just sent you the database and the last email I had for Lou Galli at MI Trains.

C&O Allie posted:

Jeffrey,

I have MITrains and I believe it has the full MTH/Lionel/K-Line catalog listed in an Access Database up to the point that they stopped supporting it (I don't know the exact date).  Do you want me to email you the DB?

When I purchased MITrains the purchase price included ONE manufacturer's database. I then went online to add my K-Line and MTH items. After they took MITrains offline, I was left with no option to value those items.

I'd love to have a copy of your database especially if it does include MTH and K-Line. Are they in separate databases? If I remember correctly, when I downloaded MITrains, it did not include any manufacturer's databases; they were downloaded separately or e-mailed separately.

paulp575 posted:

C&O Allie posted:

Jeffrey,

I have MITrains and I believe it has the full MTH/Lionel/K-Line catalog listed in an Access Database up to the point that they stopped supporting it (I don't know the exact date).  Do you want me to email you the DB?

When I purchased MITrains the purchase price included ONE manufacturer's database. I then went online to add my K-Line and MTH items. After they took MITrains offline, I was left with no option to value those items.

I'd love to have a copy of your database especially if it does include MTH and K-Line. Are they in separate databases? If I remember correctly, when I downloaded MITrains, it did not include any manufacturer's databases; they were downloaded separately or e-mailed separately.

Paul,

I don't see your email in your profile.  Please email me and I will be happy to send you the database.  K-Line, Lionel, and MTH entries are all in one database (MS Access Format).

Jeffery,

I think the user database out of MI Trains is in the same format as the master database I sent you.  Will it be easy to import my data to the new database?  I would rather use/support a software that is active.  

Yes, you can import the data into Inventory Express, but it's a 2-step process from Access.  First you'll need to export the Access file to an Excel or CSV format. (Excel is preferable, as CSV can give import errors if your data includes a bunch of commas or quotation marks.) Then you can use the Import function of IE to import the data.  Be sure to look at the import help topic in IE first, as it gives a bunch of (I hope) helpful hints.

I hope IE works well for you.  If you have any problems, see any bugs, or just have a feature you'd like to suggest, just let me know.  The "Product Index" isn't yet in the Beta version, but it will be in the next version which should be available for download in a few weeks.

Best,

Jeff

C&O Allie posted:

paulp575 posted:

C&O Allie posted:

Jeffrey,

I have MITrains and I believe it has the full MTH/Lionel/K-Line catalog listed in an Access Database up to the point that they stopped supporting it (I don't know the exact date).  Do you want me to email you the DB?

When I purchased MITrains the purchase price included ONE manufacturer's database. I then went online to add my K-Line and MTH items. After they took MITrains offline, I was left with no option to value those items.

I'd love to have a copy of your database especially if it does include MTH and K-Line. Are they in separate databases? If I remember correctly, when I downloaded MITrains, it did not include any manufacturer's databases; they were downloaded separately or e-mailed separately.

Paul,

I don't see your email in your profile.  Please email me and I will be happy to send you the database.  K-Line, Lionel, and MTH entries are all in one database (MS Access Format).

Just updated my profile so you should now be able to see my e-mail address.

If the file is too big for e-mail (many systems have a 25 MB file size), post it on Dropbox or elsewhere and send me the link.

Thanks

Hi Paul,

I just sent you the database.  It was only just over 8 MB.

C&O Allie posted:

Hi Paul,

I just sent you the database.  It was only just over 8 MB.

Got it - thanks.

What do I do with it? I already have MITrains installed with the Lionel database.

paulp575 posted:

C&O Allie posted:

Hi Paul,

I just sent you the database.  It was only just over 8 MB.

Got it - thanks.

What do I do with it? I already have MITrains installed with the Lionel database.

Paul,

Go to where MITrains is installed and make a new folder to copy the two .mdb files into (just as a backup).  Then copy the database I sent you which will replace the one that is there.  That should update your default database, but not affect what you have entered.

C&O Allie posted:

paulp575 posted:

C&O Allie posted:

Hi Paul,

I just sent you the database.  It was only just over 8 MB.

Got it - thanks.

What do I do with it? I already have MITrains installed with the Lionel database.

Paul,

Go to where MITrains is installed and make a new folder to copy the two .mdb files into (just as a backup).  Then copy the database I sent you which will replace the one that is there.  That should update your default database, but not affect what you have entered.

Thanks - it's working!

Rather than copy the files to a sub-folder, I added -ORG to the filename and prefaced it with z- so I would recognizethese re replaced files.

You somewhat confused me when you said to make a backup of the two .mdb files. I did that and when I ran the program it said it could not find mitrin.mdb So I made a copy of the mitrin.mdb and changed it back to the original name.

Now I just have to learn how to search for K-Line and MTH items.

paulp575 posted:

Was curious if the website cataloged all the items from the years 1999 thru 2005 (I have all the major catalogs during that time plus a few "minor [smaller] catalogs). I searched the list for all 29 items I have. Some of them - which ARE in the catalogs - are not on the website.

I wonder if there is a reason some items in the catalogs are not on the website. Maybe the original website didn't catalog them? Anyone else notice their K-Line item is not on the Legacy K-Line website?

Not sure if I want to pursue this further - although it would be interesting to add the missing items (including the missing 2001 Second Edition) and split the 2004 1st and 2nd editions.

It's possible some of those items in the catalogs were not produced.  Obviously all 29 in your collection were produced, but that's not to say all of the others were.  One way to find out is for someone to produce a list of those items that aren't on the web-site, post the list so K-Line collectors can check it, and then to do Google searches to check the images that appear.  I suspect nearly all of them would be likely to show up if they were produced.  Any that didn't show up in Google searches could then be scrutinized by collectors to find out if any of them had knowledge of those few remaining ones.

phrankenstign posted:

paulp575 posted:

Was curious if the website cataloged all the items from the years 1999 thru 2005 (I have all the major catalogs during that time plus a few "minor [smaller] catalogs). I searched the list for all 29 items I have. Some of them - which ARE in the catalogs - are not on the website.

I wonder if there is a reason some items in the catalogs are not on the website. Maybe the original website didn't catalog them? Anyone else notice their K-Line item is not on the Legacy K-Line website?

Not sure if I want to pursue this further - although it would be interesting to add the missing items (including the missing 2001 Second Edition) and split the 2004 1st and 2nd editions.

It's possible some of those items in the catalogs were not produced.  Obviously all 29 in your collection were produced, but that's not to say all of the others were.  One way to find out is for someone to produce a list of those items that aren't on the web-site, post the list so K-Line collectors can check it, and then to do Google searches to check the images that appear.  I suspect nearly all of them would be likely to show up if they were produced.  Any that didn't show up in Google searches could then be scrutinized by collectors to find out if any of them had knowledge of those few remaining ones.

Yup; sometimes cataloged items never get produced.

As mentioned above, I have converted all the catalog pages to a spreadsheet. Now I'm adding those items from the 2001 Second Edition catalog that is not on the website. Then I'm going to take the comtined 2004 1st and 2nd editions and split them to be in their specific catalog. Finally, will add those items I have that are not on the website to the spreadsheet. At that point I will likely post the spreadsheet file here.

Haven't decided to cross-check the Catalog pages with the other pages on the website. May in the future as time permits.

paulp575 posted:

C&O Allie posted:

paulp575 posted:

C&O Allie posted:

Hi Paul,

I just sent you the database.  It was only just over 8 MB.

Got it - thanks.

What do I do with it? I already have MITrains installed with the Lionel database.

Paul,

Go to where MITrains is installed and make a new folder to copy the two .mdb files into (just as a backup).  Then copy the database I sent you which will replace the one that is there.  That should update your default database, but not affect what you have entered.

Thanks - it's working!

Rather than copy the files to a sub-folder, I added -ORG to the filename and prefaced it with z- so I would recognizethese re replaced files.

You somewhat confused me when you said to make a backup of the two .mdb files. I did that and when I ran the program it said it could not find mitrin.mdb So I made a copy of the mitrin.mdb and changed it back to the original name.

Now I just have to learn how to search for K-Line and MTH items.

Paul,

Sorry for the confusion - I just wanted to make sure you had a backup of their catalog and your collection in case something went wrong.  

C&O Allie posted:

paulp575 posted:

C&O Allie posted:

paulp575 posted:

C&O Allie posted:

Hi Paul,

I just sent you the database.  It was only just over 8 MB.

Got it - thanks.

What do I do with it? I already have MITrains installed with the Lionel database.

Paul,

Go to where MITrains is installed and make a new folder to copy the two .mdb files into (just as a backup).  Then copy the database I sent you which will replace the one that is there.  That should update your default database, but not affect what you have entered.

Thanks - it's working!

Rather than copy the files to a sub-folder, I added -ORG to the filename and prefaced it with z- so I would recognizethese re replaced files.

You somewhat confused me when you said to make a backup of the two .mdb files. I did that and when I ran the program it said it could not find mitrin.mdb So I made a copy of the mitrin.mdb and changed it back to the original name.

Now I just have to learn how to search for K-Line and MTH items.

Paul,

Sorry for the confusion - I just wanted to make sure you had a backup of their catalog and your collection in case something went wrong.  

Not a problem.

The only other question I think I have is what date would you assign to the values in MITrains? For the lack of a better date because I know the database wasn't updated a while before it went off-line, I was using the same random date for the values.

When I enter items that were made after 2010 (the date of the database), I just leave the date blank.  If I were to update the items, I could just search for the part number on the MTH site and open each one as they list the catalog date.

C&O Allie posted:

When I enter items that were made after 2010 (the date of the database), I just leave the date blank.  If I were to update the items, I could just search for the part number on the MTH site and open each one as they list the catalog date.

I ws using a random date in 2015. I think I'll just leave it at that.

This project is turning out to be interesting. Took a look at the items that are listed as "2004 1st and 2nd Editions" with the intent of separating them into their appropriate catalogs.

Created a separate worksheet with just the 2004 items and sorted by SKU. Opened the 2004 1st Edition catalog and looked at the first item and then to see it on the spreadsheet. Not there. Second item; not there; third item; not there.

After about 6 or 7 items found one in the catalog that was listed on the website.

I wonder what's going on. I think I may give up - at least for now - on separating these items. Too many are missing.

I was eventually go through all the K-Line catalogs I have and add them to the spreadsheet, but this very short exercise tells me there may be a lot of items in the catalogs that never made it to the website - or at least the Legacy K-Line website. Just don't have time right now to do that.

Paul,

Please consider this as an explanation for missing items in certain catalogs.  Maybe an item is only listed in the year of its first catalog appearance.  Why would a database want to repeatedly list an item that appeared in multiple catalogs?

Chuck

Clint posted:

That would be great, thanks.  And feel free to download IE and give it a trial run.  It's still in the Beta-test phase and it's free to download, register and test.  The "Product Index" isn't yet in the current test version, but it will be in the next (and I hope last) Beta release -- probably in a month or two.

Attached is the documentor from my Msoft Access database train collection.

It's not the preetiest database, but gets the job done (now if I could figure out how to populate a field given values in another field).

Thanks for sharing this.  I don't really work in Access, but database front-ends are largely similar.  If you give me a little more idea of exactly what you're looking to do - an example -- I might be able to at least point you in the right direction.  Feel free to send to the regular email in my profile.

Best,

Jeff

Clint posted:

Thanks for sharing this.  I don't really work in Access, but database front-ends are largely similar.  If you give me a little more idea of exactly what you're looking to do - an example -- I might be able to at least point you in the right direction.  Feel free to send to the regular email in my profile.

Best,

Jeff

I really wasn't sure what info I wanted in my database so I took what I liked from MITrains and Yard Office and created my own database.

With an extensive train collection now numbering close to 1,000 individual pieces (each track piece counts as an item), I needed to do something.

As for Inventory Express, I just downloaded and tried to use it then realized before I can enter anything I needed to register it. So I did.

I have begun to enter any info as I'm still looking at where the data fields in my record correspond to your data fields.

If you can output your data from Access to an Excel spreadsheet - or CSV file, you can import it into Inventory express without having to enter most if the info by hand.  Instructions are at https://inventoryexpress.xyz/help/importdata.html.

All the best,

Jeff

It's not the export of data from my database to your (I've done that many times before) - in fact years ago I set up an automated process to import data from raw reports into a database. It's the fact I have problems figuring out - in MY database - how to populate one field based upon the value in another field so I'm storing both a code in one field and the translation of what that code is in another field rather than in an accompanying table. For example, the type rail car (FT) and the description (Tank Car) in another field. It would make my massive database much smaller if I could have a table of car types and then when I enter FT, when the value was displayed - either on the screen or in a report - it would show FT - Tank Car.

Yes, I can point you in the right direction - though I wouldn't know the step-by-step for Access.

You'd need to create the second table with fields for each code and its related description.  Then you create a query with the main table as the parent table, and the code table as the child table, and link the tables by the code field (which would exist in both).  Then when you execute the query, either for a report or on-screen, the linked description would automatically move to the correct one as you move from record to record (or when you save a new record) in the parent table.

Each database type (Access, MySQL, dBase, etc) have slightly different rules and command syntax for linking Parent and Child tables, but the concept is the same in all of them.  I believe Access has a graphic interface where you can just drag a field between the two tables to create the linked query.

If there are different code sets for different fields in your main table, you would create a child table for each.  You can link as many child tables as needed to the main table in your query.

Hope that helps a bit.

Best,

Jeff

Clint posted:

Yes, I can point you in the right direction - though I wouldn't know the step-by-step for Access.

You'd need to create the second table with fields for each code and its related description.  Then you create a query with the main table as the parent table, and the code table as the child table, and link the tables by the code field (which would exist in both).  Then when you execute the query, either for a report or on-screen, the linked description would automatically move to the correct one as you move from record to record (or when you save a new record) in the parent table.

Each database type (Access, MySQL, dBase, etc) have slightly different rules and command syntax for linking Parent and Child tables, but the concept is the same in all of them.  I believe Access has a graphic interface where you can just drag a field between the two tables to create the linked query.

If there are different code sets for different fields in your main table, you would create a child table for each.  You can link as many child tables as needed to the main table in your query.

Hope that helps a bit.

Best,

Jeff

Appreciate the notes. One of these days I need to just take some time and study my Access book and the help files and set this up.

No prob - and sorry I don't know Access better.  I've played with it a bit, but never really worked in it.

J

Clint posted:

No prob - and sorry I don't know Access better.  I've played with it a bit, but never really worked in it.

J

Access is a tough program to master. I was given the opportunity to take some Access classes as part of my work way back in 1999 thru 2003. If you don't keep at it you can forget some of the things. I keep my books, but have upgraded to Access 2010.

The other thing I'd love my database to have is a thumbnail for each item rather than embedding the pictures in the database. I tried linking to the pictures, but couldn't figure out how to display the thumbnail so when you clicked on the thumbnail a window would open and you'd get the full-size picture.