Updates

6/9/2023

6/8/2023

Following units have been out of service/scrapped for a long time. 

Removed - AMTK 42 - Veterans
Removed - AMTK 90208 - Veterans
Removed - AMTK 822 - Phase III
Removed - AMTK 197 - Big Game Train
Removed - AMTK 162 - M. Kempf Memorial Unit
Removed - AMTK 156 - Phase I

Following units have been unwrapped

Removed - AMTK653 - Harry Potter - Unwrapped 
Removed - AMTK634 - Harry Potter - Unwrapped 

6/7/2023

6/5/2023

6/3/2023

6/2/2023

Removed - BNSF1772 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

5/31/2023

Removed - AMTK641 - Harry Potter - Wrap Removed 

5/30/2023

Removed - AMTK638 - Harry Potter - Wrap Removed 

5/29/2023

Removed - BNSF 9657 - Executive/Grinstein Paint - Sold to BUGX

5/27/2023

5/26/2023

We've unlocked NW611 for reporting in preparation for it's return trip back to Virginia.

5/24/2023

New Web Cam - Houston, TX (T&NO Junction) by https://livetrains.com

5/22/2023

Removed - BNSF 1980 - BN Paint - Repainted

5/19/2023

UP Steam Club just announced the UP4014 (Big Boy) will be running June 7th to July 3rd.  We'll enable this unit for reporting the day before on June 6th.  Below as the schedule shared within the email.  For more details please visit the UP Steam Club web page.

• June 7 – Albin and LaGrange, Wyoming, overnight in Gering, Nebraska
• June 8 – Broadwater and Lemoyne, Nebraska, overnight in North Platte
• June 9 – North Platte layover
• June 10 – Cozad, Kearney and Grand Island
• June 11 – Columbus and Fremont
• June 15-21 – Omaha, public display
• June 24-25 – Omaha, public display
• June 29 – Fremont, Columbus and Grand Island
• June 30 – Overton and Gothenburg, overnight in North Platte
• July 1 – North Platte layover
• July 2 – Ogallala and Chappell, overnight in Sidney
• July 3 – Kimball, Nebraska and Pine Bluffs, Wyoming

5/16/2023

5/14/2023

Removed - IC 2466 - Blue Devil - Being scrapped

5/13/2023

5/10/2023

5/9/2023

Removed - BNSF 642 - ATSF Warbonnet - Repainted

5/8/2023

When reviewing another problem with notification rules; I discovered numerous notification rules where the location name was set correctly (example... "Columbus, OH") but didn't have any geo-coordinates on the rule.   This resulted in the rule never correctly working.  

I've fixed the root cause of the bug and updated a majority of the notification rules within the system.  Thus if you're one of the persons within this group, you'll start receiving notifications again going forward.

Note that email notification rules can be setup at the following link @ https://www.heritageunits.com/user/settings/notify

Brian =)
HeritageUnits.com

5/6/2023

NS8099 Southern unit is repainted and sitting outside the shops. Reporting on the unit has been unlocked.

5/5/2023

Removed - BNSF 625 - ATSF Warbonnet - Repainted

5/4/2023

0er AltoonaWorks, NS1071 has been released and thus we're unlocking reporting on the unit.

5/3/2023

4/30/2023

4/30/2023

CPKC sub divisions and routing are now 95% configured and operational within the HU system.   Please note that I'll be providing more milepost detail to sub divisions as time permits.   Any questions or if you see anything that needs tweaked please reach out to me via the contact page.

Brian :)
HeritageUnits.com

4/23/2023

With the CPKC merger I'm starting work on mapping out all the CPKC lines within Canada and building out the routing matrix.   This will take a few weeks to complete but please note that routing between stations may be off as I configure things during this timeframe so, please be patient as I bring things online. 

Brian :)
HeritageUnits.com

4/29/2023

4/28/2023

4/27/2023

Added - SDNX2105 - Coaster F40PH-3C & unlocked ATSF5704 in preparation for their move from SCRM to Commerce, CA.

4/24/2023

Removed - BNSF 167 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

4/23/2023

4/21/2023

Removed - BNSF 174 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

4/20/2023

4/19/2023

4/18/2023

Added - NKP190 - Nickel Plate PA1  

Per the Genesee Valley Transportation page, the NKP190 will be doing a cross country trip from Oregon to Scranton, PA.  We'll be temporarly adding the unit so it maybe tracked during its trip.

4/17/2023

4/16/2023

4/15/2023

4/14/2023

As many of you know; the Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern merger is effective today creating CPKC railroad.  We're actively merging the two railroads together within the HU system today and below are the current changes.  

• Created CPKC Railroad
• Migrated all CP/KCS Divisions & sub divisions into the CPKC railroad
• Moved all tracked locomotives under the CPKC railroad but they will retain their current reporting marks (KCSM, KCS, CP, etc...) until they are officially changed.
• Changed the CP train symbol prefixes to CPKC.  Note that we're hearing that the KCS symbols will be abolished once the current trains running under them arrive at their destination and they will be sticking with CP train symbols.  Thus will be removing KCS symbols from the HU system within 48 hrs. 
• Routing engine will also update later this evening to adjust for the new train symbols. 

If you have any knowledge of any division/subdivision changes or have a recent train symbol listing; please reach out to me via the contact page so we can get everything sync'd up as fast as possible. 


Brian =)
HeritageUnits.com

4/12/2023

4/10/2023

4/8/2023

4/7/2023

4/6/2023

3/31/2023

3/29/2023

NS1067 - Reading has been repainted in fresh paint per AltoonaWorks FB page.  We'll be activating this unit when it returns to road service which should be shortly.

3/27/2023

3/23/2023

3/22/2023

Renumbered NS 4654 to NS 6654 (Operation Lifesaver)
Renumbered NS 4655 to NS 6655 (Operation Lifesaver)

3/20/2023

Removed - KCS 1908 - KCS Grey - Repainted

3/19/2023

Removed - BNSF 1475 - BN Paint - Repainted

3/16/2023

3/11/2023

3/9/2023

New Web Cam - Columbus, OH (NS Dayton District) by Private Railfan

Removed - BNSF 660 - ATSF Warbonnet - Scrapped
Removed - BNSF 624 - ATSF Warbonnet - Scrapped

Removed - BNSF 181 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted
Removed - BNSF 189 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted
Removed - KCS 2014 - KCS Grey - Repainted
 

3/8/2023

Removed - BNSF182 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

3/6/2023

Removed - KCS 2964 - KCS Grey - Repainted

Removed - AMTK 184 - Phase IV - Repainted

3/1/2023

Per our Altoona Works Facebook post.  NS8099 (Southern) repairs are almost complete.  As soon as it returns to active road service; we'll enable the locomotive to be reportable again. 

2/27/2023

There has been issue with reporting locomotives on Android devices running 8.1 or older operating systems where the locomotive selection screen acts sporadically.  I was able to replicate the issue and have a fix coming in HU app version 3.20 (Android only).   This will become available within the app store within the next day.   Many thanks to those who reached out about the issue.

Brian =)

2/20/2023

2/19/2023

2/18/2023

Removed - AMTK 157 - Big Game Train - Stickers removed

Added - KJRY3010 - Honoring Our Veterans and Troops

2/16/2023

There was a bug within the 3.17 iOS release that has been fixed.  This bug would only occur on the reporting screen and only if a popup was displayed for a second time it would be blank.  Sample popups would be selecting a locomotive, subdivision, etc..

A new version of the iOS (3.18) should be available in the Apple app store as of this morning.   Note that Android phones are not affected by this bug.

Brian =)

2/15/2023

Removed - BNSF 1659 - BN Paint - Repainted

2/12/2023

Removed - KCS 2902 - KCS Grey - Repainted

2/7/2023

2/6/2023

Added - BNSF8231 - BN Sticker Unit

2/3/2023

Removed - BNSF178 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

1/27/2023

Renumbered NS GP59 Units that are in Operation Lifesaver paint schemes.  

Removed - KCS2823 - KCS Grey - Repainted 

1/26/2023

Removed - BNSF 185 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

1/17/2023

Removed - BNSF 1973 - BN Paint - Repainted

1/15/2023

Removed - KCS 2898 - KCS Grey - Repainted

1/14/2023

1/12/2023

Removed - BNSF 190 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

1/7/2023

Railfan Arizona who currently runs many cameras in & around Arizona has a setup a GoFundMe to setup a new camera in Needles, CA.  If you wish to help support them at the GoFundMe page, the URL is https://gofund.me/a6a8fb0c

Current update on train routing algorithms.  We have completed CSX, NS, BNSF, KCS routing configurations and we're actively working on the UP and Amtrak configurations.    Please note that if you view a train route and it's incorrect; please reach out to me at the contact link on the site or within the mobile app. 

There is likely small configuration tweaks that need to be done so the server can calculate the route correctly (note train routings are auto recalculated every 24 hrs).  Once we have Amtrak/UP configurations completed we'll then look to release the Train ETA functionality. 

Brian =)
HeritageUnits.com - Founder/Developer

1/3/2023

If you received a report submission error between 7PM EST (1/2/23) and 7AM EST (1/3/23) this issue has been resolved.  The error was around assigning a train # behind the scenes and would only occur if train number was not found within the system.  Thank you to everyone that reached out that had a problem.

Brian =)

1/2/2023

Removed - BNSF 1604 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

1/1/2023

Removed - BNSF 1960 - BN Paint - Repainted 

12/30/2022

Removed - BCOL 4612 - BC Rail Paint at LTEX

12/29/2022

Removed - BNSF 176 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

12/26/2022

Removed - BNSF 2849 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

12/24/2022

12/23/2022

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share what I've been working on with HU over the past year and what I'm intending to release within 2023.

Train Symbols

Currently you can view the train symbol database only within the mobile app.  I will soon be releasing this onto the web (browser) where additions/modifications can be updated by the HU community. Currently modifications can only be submitted via the app. 

Train Routing 

I'm sure many of you have seen the prompting for a nearby sub division and milepost when reporting a locomotive.  This is needed to assist with the train routing algorithms.  Over the past year since releasing the new mobile app I've been working hard to import all the major class I railroads and milepost data within the HU system.

I've also been coding the routing algorithms and building the routing grids for each major railroad.  This has been an extremely time consuming to do but we're getting very close to having this setup.  Note that you might see a 'View Route' button when viewing a report on the mobile app and it displays map of the routing path.  This is the result of all this work...   

Note that I've currently been working on routing within the USA.  I will be expanding this to our Canadian friends in the future. 

Train Estimated Arrivals/Notifications

This has been my dream since writing the 1st piece of code for HU over 10 years ago. 

This is actively working behind the scenes and the server is predicting when a train will arrive at a location and an estimated timeframe.  I'm still tweaking things out and polishing off the design and adjusting for timetable speeds.    My goal would be to have this feature available in the future where the mobile app can provide you a potential heads up on when a locomotive is inbound to your location or a web cam.   I hope to report back on this in the future... but I'm very excited about this. 

Web Camera Logs

Web cameras have been a fantastic addition to the railfan community!  It's been requested by many if I could create train logs where the community can record trains that they’ve seen go by a camera.  

This is something that I will be adding to the site in the near future and new train log additions can be directly added via the website but only for web cameras.   Normal reporting of tracked locomotives will still require the mobile app because the security architecture.  I will be trialing this with a few cameras before expanding it out to all.

Apologies for the long message but just wanted to share and I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s!

Brian =)
HeritageUnits.com - Founder / Developer

12/21/2022

City of Kyle, TX (host of the webcam) has taken down their feed.  We'll be removing the camera from our system but please reach out if the a new camera in Kyle, TX becomes active again. 

12/19/2022

Removed - CSXT 4589 - Spirit of Nashville - Repainted

12/5/2022

Removed - BNSF 1836 - BN Paint - Repainted

12/4/2022

Removed - KCS 2967 - KCS Grey - Repainted 

12/3/2022

Removed - CN 2115 - 15th Anniversary - Sold (likely for scrap but not confirmed)

11/30/2022

Removed - BNSF 2787 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

11/29/2022

11/25/2022

Removed - BNSF 173 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted 

11/21/2022

11/18/2022

Removed - BNSF 159 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted 

11/16/2022

Resolved an issue where the was throwing an error when submitting train symbol changes (Adds, Updates and Deletes).  

BNSF721 has been reactivated for reporting

11/15/2022

Removed - AMTK606 - King Tut - Unwrapped

Removed - AMTK662 - Phase III - Train Sim World 2 - Unwrapped

11/13/2022

11/12/2022

11/11/2022

Fixed a bug when viewing a certain locomotives the page may have not displayed.  

11/9/2022

Added - UP5511 - Steam (2-10-2), UP3985 - Steam (4-6-6-4) and reactivated UP6936. 

This is for the scheduled move from Cheyenne, WY to Silvis IL on Friday November 11th.   Note that once the locomotives arrive at Silvis, IL we'll be removing these locomotives from the app. 

11/7/2022

New Web Cam - Houston, TX (UP Houston West Sub) by LiveTrains.com

We've added back BCOL 4609.  We received bad information of it being possibly scrapped.  Many thanks to everytone that reached out to assist with more detail. 

11/4/2022

Removed - IC 2460 - Blue Devil - At LTEX to be scrapped

Removed - BNSF 1920 - BN Paint - Repainted 

11/2/2022

Removed - BNSF 187 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted 

10/28/2022

Removed - BNSF 180 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

10/25/2022

10/24/2022

NS4656 is now NS6656.  Unit has been renumbered for future AC-DC conversions of Dash 9's. 

CMQ9021 is now CP9021.  Unit has been repainted and relabeled to "SD40-2F (CP PAINT)"

Removed - BNSF 1609 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

10/23/2022

10/21/2022

10/15/2022

10/13/2022

Removed - CSXT 8077 - Colonel Philip Hooper - Rebuilt to a ET23 it is now CSX 1727 

10/11/2022

Removed - BCOL 4602 & 4622 - BC Rail Paint - Sold LTEX for scrap

New Web Cam - Richville, MN by Northern Transcon Railcams-Otter Tail Channel

10/9/2022

New Web Cam - Neenah, WI by Steel-Highway.com

10/8/2022

New Web Cam - Cincinnati, OH (Union Terminal) by Cincinnati Railroad Club

10/1/2022

Removed - BNSF 175 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted 

Removed - IC 2457 - Blue Devil - In dead line at Lordstown

9/24/2022

Removed - CSXT173 - Spirit of West Virginia - Rebuilt as CSXT7274

9/16/2022

New Web Camera - Sedalia, MO by Steel-Highway.com

9/11/2022

9/8/2022

9/5/2022

New Web Camera - Waupaca, WI by Steel-Highway.com

9/2/2022

2 New Web Cameras added - Perham, MN & Wadena, MN - Both provided by Northern Transcon Railcams-Otter Tail Channel

8/31/2022

Added 2 new web cameras by Steel Highways

Trempealeau, WI (Trempealeau Hotel)
Manly, IA (Manly Junction Museum)

8/30/2022

8/28/2022

Removed - BNSF 165 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

Removed - BNSF 166 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

8/26/2022

Removed - BNSF 172 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted 

8/22/2022

We've updated the NS train symbols to match the new intermodal symbols effective today. 

8/14/2022

Hi everyone,

The HU team is getting the system ready for the upcoming NS intermodal train symbol changes on 8/22.  We'll execute scripts on that day to update all the symbols in the system.  Please note that you can submit train symbol changes to us via the mobile app.  Head to "More" > "Train Symbols" and run a search.  If the train symbol is not found then you'll be presented with the option add one.

Couple notes... 

• Always prefix the train symbol with railroad code "NS 23N",  "CSX M500" or "KCS IDAAT"
• Please enter in the location as City, ST.  Example would be "Phoenix, AZ".  
• If there is a specific yard at a orgin/destination then please add that after the city state "Cincinnati, OH (Queensgate Yard)
• If the train has additional stops on it's way to the destination then please place those in the notes field.

With this information our team can review the change help build out the database.  Note that you may see routing paths generated for trains.  Our system regenerates these routing paths every night.  If you see a routing path that is incorrect, please let us know via submitting a train symbol update.  Note that we're expanding the routing functionality everyday to include more railroads but note this is still experimental as we're constantly tweaking the algorithms. 

Brian =)

Removed - KCS 2023 - KCS Grey - Repainted

8/5/2022

New Web Cam - Kyle, TX by City of Kyle, TX

7/29/2022

7/27/2022

New Web Cam - Grand Mound, IA by Steel-Highway.com

7/23/2022

Removed - BNSF 183 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

7/22/2022

New Web Cam - Greeley, CO by Private Railfan

7/18/2022

New Web Cam - Gallup, NM by RailfanAZ.com

7/15/2022

If you attempted to validate your email within the last few days and where unsuccessful; please try again.  This developer/human (=P) had a bug within the code that was preventing verifications which has been resolved as of 7/15/22 @ 7:15AM EST.  

If you need to generate a new verification email, please log into your profile on the web site or open the mobile app and click on the yellow email verification banner on the top.

Brian =)

7/14/2022

Removed - CSXT 323 - L&N Emblem - Rebuilt to CM44AC 7272

7/13/2022

Removed - DH 7303 - CP - Delaware & Hudson - Scrapped

7/11/2022

New Web Cam - Selma, NC by RailStream.net

7/5/2022

Removed - CMQ2001 to 2006- Central, Maine & Quebec (BNSF)

7/4/2022

New Web Cam - Dunn, NC

7/3/2022

6/30/2022

6/27/2022

6/25/2022

Added - CN Ex-CREX ES44AC purchased in early May (CN2750-2796)

6/21/2022

6/20/2022

Added new web cam by RailfanAz.com at Kingman, AZ

6/19/2022

Removed - BNSF 197 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted 

6/17/2022

6/14/2022

Added - ATSF 5704 - Bicentennial. 

Please note reporting is locked on this unit until it starts its journey west.  Please contact support when this occurs.

6/12/2022

Removed - BNSF 171 - ATSF Bluebonnet - Repainted

6/11/2022

Added new web cam by Steel-Highway.com at Grinnell, IA