Rail Data - About - Ways to Help

About - Ways to Help

Here are ten ways in which you could help to make this website better:

1. Register for an account and start adding information
Registration is free and easy, and you can then post sightings and notes about almost anything on this website (there is an initial probationary period during which your contributions will be checked before appearing, for more details see the page about account permissions). You can post as much or as little as like; all contributions will be appreciated.

2. Let me know what you think of the site
The design and functionality of this website were refined over a period of several years of (off-line) development. But it is all based on how I think it should work. If you have any suggestions for items that could be added or changed, I would be interested to hear from you.

3. If you see something that doesn't look right.... let me know
Have you found some information that you believe to be incorrect? Is there a feature that doesn't work, or doesn't work well? Let me know about it (by e-mail, using the Contact Us page or by posting a note) and I will endeavour to amend or improve it. See it, say it, sorted!

4. Send in photos
Although I have added several thousand photos, there is no way I can cover more than a small fraction of the rolling stock that has operated on BR over the years. If you have photos that you would be willing to share, particularly of older types or ones not yet covered, I would be pleased to hear from you. I don't mind if the photos have already appeared on other websites, but you must hold the copyright of any images submitted. Any photos used will be credited to you, unless you request otherwise. I have not included a function to upload photos directly; if you would be interested in contributing photos, please contact me by e-mail (tom 'at' ltsv.com).

5. If you have a lot of information, please get in touch
If you have a large amount of information (for example multiple sightings or TOPS reports) and it is in an electronic format, please get in touch by e-mail (tom 'at' ltsv.com). It would take a long time to manually input such items but it would be much easier for admin to 'bulk load' them.

6. Become an approver
Once you have completed your probationary period, you can post notes and sightings directly. However, you will also be able to approve (or reject) posts made by other members. Doing this will help these members to complete their probation, while also reducing my own workload.

7. Good with graphics? I need some help with icons
Icons (side views of rolling stock items either in colour or line diagram format) are used throughout this website, sometimes for decoration, mainly for information and identification. I have made several hundred icons myself but lots more are needed. If you are handy with a computer graphics package, and you have some free time, please get in touch.

8. Can you fill some of the gaps?
I am aware that certain sections of the data are incomplete. For example, information on the numbers of early TOPS private-owner wagons and early RIV wagons are both somewhat scant. Any help to improve these would be welcomed. The main focus of my work so far has been rolling stock in the TOPS era (ie from about 1974 onwards), but the website has been designed to also allow for coverage of older types. If you are an expert in (say) pre-nationalisation coaching stock, then it would be great to have you on board.

9. Spread the word
If you like this website, please let others know about it. Mentions in club newsletters, on website forums, or even between friends, should increase the amount of visitors, and hopefully also the number of people registering and contributing content.

10. Volunteer as a tester
Since the site is now going to be launched in stages, it would be useful to have a couple of people on hand to test new features as and when they are added. That way (hopefully) any bugs could be quickly identified and fixed. You don't need to know much about trains or computers, though it might help. If you are interested, please get in touch.