Over the years, I've used several means of keeping track of my DCC installations. I started with just an MS WordPad file listing loco number, decoder brand and type, and any special CV settings. When I started with JMRI DecoderPro and an NCE PowerCab, I used the NCE onnection to the USB port on my desktop to read each decoder into the roster file, which was pretty easy provided I remembered to do it. But when I upgraded my NCE installation to an SB5 with the PowerCab morphing into a ProCab, I could no longer use the program track to communicate with JMRI, since the JMRI connection was to the layout bus running from the SB5, not the former PowerCab.
So I more or less went back to the WordPad manual file, except I frequently forgot to update entries for new locos, new installs, or changed CVs. Finally I decided my best option was to go back, manually compare the JMRI roster entries with the WordPad file, and fill in other gaps as I discovered them. In effect, this project was to review and update a complete roster of my lifetime loco collection, not a trivial task. I also decided to add a photo in the DecoderPro roster file for each entry. Thus each entry will soon have a photo section that looks like this:
Ever since I got a digital camera, I've had the intent of taking at least one photo of every loco in my collection, but as with the case of roster entries, this has frequently fallen through the cracks. But in recent days I've been catching up. Here are some examples:
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