REVIEW

Product Details

Installation & Environment

The Windows 98 test computer was a generic desktop Pentium @ 166Mhz with 64MB of RAM. The NT 4.0 test computer was a Dell Laptop Pentim II @ 500MHz with 256MB of RAM.

Using the software

When you first open the database, the records are presented in the order in which they were entered into the database. You can re-sort the database by any of its fields except 'notes', which the touch of a button. On the slow machine this took about 30 seconds and on the fast machine about 5 seconds. The ability to sort the database will make it easy to scroll through the available records to find what you are interested in if you do not have enough detail to search.

A text search is available which seems to search all fields, for example I entered the name of my favorite locomotive 'Puffing Billy' which the database found for me about 5 seconds later. The only complaint I have about both the search and sort sections is that the software does not change the cursor to the traditional hour glass to inform the user that the software is busy handling their request. The user is left not knowing what (if anything) is happening until the query is completed. This is a trivial oversight and does not detract from the quality of the product once you are used to it.

You are not restricted to viewing the database page by page, the software has a listing feature which produces a report using the most recently selected sort of all items. I could not find any way to report on only a subset, for example all two truck Shays which would be a handy feature for the future. This is mitigated somewhat by the lack of protection on the database which means you can open the database “in the raw” using Microsoft Access and run any kind of query you want on the existing tables. In fact, while doing this I found a section of the database which lists many of the locomotives from the TV series "Thomas The Tank Engine"!

The Content

• Number;
• Class;
• FM Whyte's Wheel Arrangement;
• Gauge;
• Builder;
• Builder's number;
• Build year;
• Current Location;
• Line the locomotive operated on;
• Brief Notes; and
• A picture (500 of the entries have pictures).

Mining through the data I discovered that all 17,579 records are for locomotives (as the title would suggest), there do not seem to be any sundry entries. The database truly does span the world, there are 128 countries in the database and the breakdown is as follows:

AGO 4	ALB 10	ARG 301	ATG 7	AUS 614	AUT 246	AZE 4	AZO 2
BEL 70	BGD 3	BGR 94	BIH 60	BLR 84	BOL 53	BRA 191	BUL 1
BWA 10	CAN 207	CHE 188	CHL 118	CHN 1872	CIV 1	CMR 1	COK 1
COL 9	CRI 3	CUB 398	CYP 1	CZE 101	DEU 1248	DNK 113	DOM 11
ECU 17	EGY 5	ERI 11	ESP 378	EST 41	ETH 2	FIN 132	FJI 9
FLK 2	FRA 355	GAB 1	GBR 1546	GEO 3	GHA 3	GLP 2	GRC 99
GTM 6	HND 2	HRV 7	HUN 139	IDN 575	IND 370	IRL 20	IRN 1
IRQ 2	ISL 2	ISR 3	ITA 325	JAM 3	JOR 17	KAZ 9	KEN 9
KHM 13	KNA 1	KOR 12	LAO 1	LBN 21	LIE 1	LKA 32	LTU 12
LUX 18	LVA 27	MDA 44	MDG 2	MEX 102	MHL 1	MLI 1	MMR 115
MNG 4	MOZ 85	MTQ 2	MUS 4	MWI 2	MYS 10	NAM 8	NCL 4
NIP 684	NLD 108	NOR 42	NPL 13	NZL 121	PAK 69	PAN 2	PER 24
PHL 56	POL 468	PRK 17	PRT 100	PRY 31	PYF 4	REU 1	ROM 479
RUS 672	SAU 3	SDN 17	SER 123	SGS 1	SLE 4	SLO 39	SLV 2
SUR 9	SVK 46	SWE 257	SWZ 2	SYR 27	TGO 3	THA 35	TKM 1
TTO 2	TUN 1	TUR 233	TWN 60	TZA 3	UGA 4	UKR 289	URY 50
USA 1801	UZB 3	VEN 18	VNM 60	ZAF 778	ZAR 1	ZMB 60	ZME 4
ZWE 100

I expect that there are more locomotives surviving in the world than are available in this database, but I also expect that as this database spreads around the world, the readers will submit updates to the Author to expand the product. Right now it is undoubtably a useful reference for the engine chaser; the modeller; and the historian. Surviving Steam Locomotives would be a good start for anyone seeking a particular class of locomotive, or indeed even a particular locomotive. Putting it simply, I would buy this product.

Surviving World Steam Locomotives is produced by James Heffner with data from Wes Barris and Geof Coward.

Note 1: F. M. Whyte's system of classification is used to describe the wheel arrangement of conventional steam locomotives. In this system, the first number is the number of leading wheels, and the last is the number of trailing wheels. The middle number (or numbers) give the number and arrangement of drivers. A "T" at the end indicates a tank engine; C indicates a camelback engine; cog indicates a cog or rack engine, F indicates a fireless engine; VB indicates an engine with a vertical boiler; and CA indicates a compressed air locomotive.