Report the posting you made with the error as a Bad Spot. Our system automatically deletes posts reported as erroneous by the person who posted them. You may then enter a new one with the correct information.
If you have seen a Heritage or other noteworthy locomotive yourself in the field. We accept postings the day of or the day after the observation.
Yes. However, HeritageUnits' photo section does not accept screen captures from Web cameras (see Photography FAQ).
No. Please list only the time and place where you observed it. Trains' locomotive consists sometimes change en route, for a variety of reasons.
Please do not post guesses. However, you may be able to determine which locomotive(s) you have seen based on previous postings. For example, if one of two engines with the same or similar paint was recently observed a long distance from your location, chances are you saw the other one.
Please list first the community and the two-letter postal abbreviation for the state or province. That way, our geo-coding system will correctly place the report on our map. Spelling out state names or including other information may confuse the system. Spots that end up in the wrong place on the map are subject to deletion. Place other information (yard names, interlocking locations, etc.) in the Comments field.
If you know what kind of a train the engine was pulling (or pushing), a brief description (coal train, tank-car train, container train) is appropriate. If you have no such information, leave this field blank. Please do not place the locomotive number in the Train No. field - that serves no purpose and in some cases creates bad information - and please do not guess at train symbols.
For this or any other field for which you have no information, just leave it blank unless the system requires an entry (engine number, location, day, time, direction).
Use N/A in these situations. If you wish to say which direction the engine was facing - useful information for photographers - include that detail in the Comments field.
Postings are removed by moderators when they contain inaccurate or misleading information. The level of inaccuracy warranting removal of a post is at the moderators' discretion. Some posts that are inaccurate but not misleading may be left up at least until there are later posts of the same subject, so that visitors who use this site to track engines' progress on a particular train do not lose that information. People who habitually post bad information may have their posting ability restricted. Those who deliberately post false information will be banned.
Generally any photo submitted to the site for final approval by by the user must meet minimal requirements. All images submitted, must be approved by either the site manager or moderators, it can contain one or more of the currently tracked units.
Users are asked to provide the Heritage/Special Interest Unit number using the same format as reporting (Example AMTK822, CSXT5000, etc.), date the shot was taken, and a brief description.
To prevent any copyright concerns, the photo must be owned by the user submitting the image. Watermarks, and copyright labels applied by the owner of the image are permitted provided the original image that is watermarked or copyrighted is owned by the person submitting the image. HeritageUnits.com will apply a secondary copyright at the bottom of the image once it has been approved, and will identify the user.
Premium members are unrestricted and can upload as many photos as they want. Free basic accounts are limited to 10 photos maximum.
Yes, we have no restrictions on the date the image was taken. We ask that as much information be entered as can be recalled.
At this time most all formats except Camera Raw are permitted. File sizes should be kept moderate in size, as the website software resizes and reformats the image to the requirements for display.
We ask that the user rotate the image for the correct orientation in advance if possible. However, at the time the image is being uploaded, a preview screen that allows the user to enter the image information, a “Rotate Image” button will display giving the user an opportunity to rotate the image prior to sending it for final approval. In addition, original images in either landscape or portrait will be accepted as long as the image orientation is correct.
Due to copyright concerns, HeritageUnits.com does not accept railcam screenshots due to ownership questions. Generally, railcam feeds are copyrighted by the owner of the railcam, therefore when a user submits something that is already copyright protected by someone else, the image the user submitted would be rejected based on copyright violation.
Depending on several factors, the image may still be approved. The site manager or moderators will review the shot and decide if it merits approval. If the shot is very dark and hard to see the unit being displayed, or if the image is overly out of focus, or in the case of night shots, being hard to see the unit being presented, then it will be up to the approver to make the final call. We are only subjecting the image to minimum requirements. The unit number must be viewable in the image. If the image is clear and the unit being presented can easily be seen and identified, then most likely the image would be approved. The final decision to approve or deny a submission will be at the discretion of the staff.
HeritageUnits.com does not accept Railcam or CCTV images (screenshots) due to copyright ownership. Railcam feeds are owned and copyrighted by the owner of the Railcam/CCTV system. We have a long standing policy and will not accept images that are the property of others. Furthermore, HeritageUnits.com will not accept written permission submitted by a user allowing them to use an image (screenshot) by the owners of the Railcam/CCTV system. Any submitted image we determine that appears to be a screen shot of a Railcam/CCTV image will be rejected and the submitting user will be notified of a site use violation.
No. HeritageUnits has a long standing policy on photo submissions and only images owned and photographed by the actual registered user may be submitted. HeritageUnits.com will not accept images on behalf of others even though permission has been granted by others no matter the circumstances. Any submitted image we determine appears to not be owned by, or an image submitted by a user on behalf of others will be rejected and the submitting user will be notified of a site use violation.
All photo submissions are subject to final review and approval by the moderators, and there may be casees where images may be denied for any reason.