ontrackplant.com 25th Anniversary
26th December 2024
The Christmas period sees the anniversary of the website, and this year we celebrate the massive Silver anniversary - 25!
How It All Started
Back in 1999, OTP wasn't really covered in any of the railway enthusiast magazines and there hadn't been any books published since 1995 so I felt that there was a bit of a gap that needed filling. Inspired by other popular websites like The Doctor's "gbrail", I decided to work on a site specifically about OTP. After several months of work I launched the website on 26th December 1999 under the name of "OTPnet" (the name was dropped a few years later but people still use it!). The Doctor mentioned the website and a few people came along and started contributing their sightings and photos.
In the early days, the website was very time consuming to operate. I would receive 2 or 3 emails per day, and re-type it all up into the "recent sightings" and "list" formats. Likewise I'd have to resize and re-upload any photos sent in. The number of emails grew to 10-20++ per day and it soon became ridiculously hard to manage. This led to the creation of the "database" which enabled people to add sightings & photos by themselves and the website be updated automatically! Without these automatic features, I honestly don't think I would have had the will to continue!
Over the years the website has grown significantly with the ever-changing plant requirements on the railway network - this led to inclusion of road-rail vehicles, trailers, attachments and all sorts of other machines. On top of basic sightings and photos, features were added including news articles, machine names, discussion forums & commenting, location profiles, email alerts, headcodes, and more recently the extremely useful "scheduled movements" feature.
The Evolution of the Website Over The Years
It would be impossible to show all of the old designs of the website - many variations and colour changes/tweaks have been lost to time, but hopefully this is a fair snapshot!
For an added dose of nostalgia you can click on any of these to see the old designs in action with all of today's features - and not just the homepages - the entire site...
Where it all started!
Time For A Change
To celebrate the 25th anniversary, it is time for a new design! Gone are the dark & light blues which have been a common theme for the last 20-or-so years, and yellow is now in (again) - reflecting the main colours of the machines covered by this website.
This new version of the website also includes some changes to the homepage and photos section - replacing the "random daily gallery" concept in favour of photos now being published as they're uploaded. Along with this, the "favourite photos" functionality has been reintroduced - just click any "star" icon on a photo to add it to you favourite photos.
Statistics
Who doesn't love some good statistics?! Here is where we are now (compared to the 20th anniversary in brackets).
Sightings: 1400000 (1000000).
Vehicle records: 12670 (11500).
Photos: 24000 (16000).
Most Reported On-Track Machines
Eddie King continues its reign as most reported machine with 1562 sightings. Having spent most of 2024 out of use in Rugby depot, it remains to be seen how much longer it'll retain this crown!
Catching Eddie up is Mercury with 1504 sightings.
1334 sightings.
A relative newcomer is this machine with 1312 sightings.
Thank You
I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who contributes to the website - without your sightings, photos, news, updates and information we wouldn't be where we are today.
A special thanks also goes out to all the companies & managers for allowing enthusiasts around your depots.
Thank You!
Vince
Get Involved
If you haven't started contributing yet (or have lapsed for whatever reason) then there are several ways you can get involved (again):
Logging your sightings allows you to keep track of what you've seen and what you need. Your fellow members may also find your sightings helpful in their quest tracking down any machines they need.
Sharing your photos. We always enjoy seeing your photos, especially vintage or historic machines, but new photos are welcome too!
Categories
Comments
All comments are the opinions of their respective authors, and do not reflect the opinions of ontrackplant.com. If you find an offensive comment and want it removed then please contact us with details.
Comments
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Ben Williams Editor
Posted: 26 December 2024, 09:22
Well done on 25 years! Great to see all the old versions of the site although now feel quite old...
Thanks for all your work on the website and to all the contributors out there.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all.
Jarrod Barker
Posted: 26 December 2024, 09:32
And his mornings update to the site, well WOW! Thankyou Vince for continually building the site and making it a great place to be apart of. More power to your elbow.
gsg66036
Posted: 26 December 2024, 09:51
Fantastic achievement Ben, such a great site. Hope you had a fab xmas and a very Happy New Year to all!
Roy Hennefer
Posted: 26 December 2024, 09:59
A great achievement by Vince and the team - keep going please. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Dennis Graham
Posted: 26 December 2024, 10:29
Can I add my congrats to Vince for everything over the 25 years. I can't remember went I first started but it was close to the beginning as I found out via the Doctor. I doubt I'll see all of the next 25 but hope the site does.
Paul Moseley
Posted: 26 December 2024, 18:20
Thank you for creating such an invaluable resource which goes from strength to strength, and congratulations also on reaching it's 25th anniversary Vince...long may it continue to prosper!
Greg Hartle
Posted: 27 December 2024, 01:17
I'm now heading into my 10th year of using this brilliant site and without it I wouldn't have become the 'plant enthusiast' I am! OTP are a vital part of my spotting days out, I'm always keeping a beady eye out for the 'yellow'.. Visiting plant sites feels like the old days of copping locos at depots! Makes me very happy indeed so I must applaud everyone who's involved in keeping this highly informative website running, and may it continue.. Thankyou!
Roger Harris
Posted: 27 December 2024, 12:35
I started collecting OTP in 1976 when there was only one book available to buy, and luckily I kept a note of everything I saw, and then halleluyah !, I came upon OTPnet by chance, and have never looked back since. How Vince has coped with everything thrown at him, I don't know, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all the work that has gone into it over the years. The scheduled movements page is an absolute godsend. I would also like to thank Ben for all his work on departmentals too.
william poleson
Posted: 27 December 2024, 13:44
Congratulations to all for 25 years of Ontrackplant.
Long may the site continue.
Gerry Desmond
Posted: 28 December 2024, 13:43
Congratulations to all involved with this fantastic site. And Happy New Year to everyone.
Cristoff
Posted: 28 December 2024, 21:15
I can only add my name to the long list of those who have benefitted and appreciate this incredible website/resource. It really adds to the enjoyment of seeing and finding out about the myriad of machines and trailers that make up the railway scene.
Well done Vince, Ben and everyone else.
Best wishes for the future
Chris
Nick Tompkin
Posted: 29 December 2024, 00:31
Congratulations on 25 years of such a great website and very interesting to see how it's evolved over the years. Here's looking forward to the next 25 years and a Happy New Year to all contributors.