# 2009 LGB Items in www.gbdb.info database



## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Hello Everyone -

We have now added all the 2009 LGB items to the Garden Railroad database at www.gbdb.info.
The easiest way to pull them all up (if you are not looking for a specific one) is to type 2009 into the search field.
That will also bring up two or three 2009 items from other manufacturers, but the rest is LGB.
The only items missing are the ones where no picture of the model exists and the LGB brochure shows a photograph of the prototype.
We basically only show pictures of models in the database.

The entries and information should be current as of today, if anyone finds any errors, I would appreciate if you let me know and I will correct them.

Knut


----------



## thekollector (Jan 2, 2008)

The Garden Railroad Database is a laudable effort, but I do have some reservations about it being a forum for makers projected models. There are hundreds of past models that are yet to be placed on the database and I think more effort should be devoted to past products. Likewise I think the member contribution of photos is a sound basis for the future of the website. Personally I would bar makers catalog photos. This is just my opinion and not meant to be a criticism. 

Jack


----------



## stanman (Jan 4, 2008)

Great job, Knut! Thanks.


----------



## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Posted By thekollector on 03/16/2009 10:10 AM
The Garden Railroad Database is a laudable effort, but I do have some reservations about it being a forum for makers projected models. There are hundreds of past models that are yet to be placed on the database and I think more effort should be devoted to past products. Likewise I think the member contribution of photos is a sound basis for the future of the website. Personally I would bar makers catalog photos. This is just my opinion and not meant to be a criticism. 

Jack




Hi Jack,

You certainly have a valid comment - and if the LGB insolvency hadn't happened, there would be no LGB manufacturer pictures in that database.
This database was started about a year and a half ago by a fellow in Germany who had some spare time on his hands. It was originally in German only and was meant to only include model pictures from members.

I became interested shortly after the database was born, pushed for the English Version that people in Germany (obviously) had little interest in and also had the database moved from a German server to a North American server because the German server was too unreliable - thus the change of the URL from gbdb.de to gbdb.info - although the gbdb.de will forward to the .info domain.

As you know, there are a few other people who have started an LGB specific database years ago, like this one: http://www.lgb-bibliothek.info/ but because they are always run by only one individual, none of them will ever have a hope to even cover all of LGB since the number of items is just too great.

By having people sign up and contributing to the gbdb database, it is hoped that with a team effort, eventually at least all LGB will be covered.

The gbdb database was sort of humming along low key until the official LGB database disappeared from the web. Suddenly there was a lot more interest, specifically on the LGB product end. And even though there are a number of web sites that have copied the old LGB web database, they have not maintained or expanded it, so the gbdb base people received a lot of requests to include all new and planned LGB items in the gbdb database.
We discussed this at length within the admin group - and the discussion went from No - definitely not, to maybe, to, let's see if we can even get Märklin's permission to use their photographs.

So - after Märklin agreed, we decided to publish whatever products were available or planned except for items where there was only a picture of the prototype. The understanding was that we would replace the factory pictures with member pictures as they become available and that is happening. 
Unfortunately, I find that a lot of the member pictures are not very clear or in focus which makes it hard to delete a good factory photograph for a blurry member one.
So much for the LGB photographs.


As to including past products........if any one has any pictures and information to contribute that is not already in the database, I would love to hear about it. 
We have contacted a number of high volume LGB Ebay sellers to get permission to include their items if they are not already in the database. Some have agreed and some have declined.

For one, we are looking for good pictures with a size of at least 800 pixels - that leaves out a lot of sellers because they are not willing to send us their photographs and even if they give permission to use their Ebay picture - that is not good enough.
Picture size was limited to 650 pixels until recently - we decided to increase it to 800 pixels to show more details.


So again - if you have something to contribute, you can either sign up as a member and add the picture and information to the database yourself or you can send the picture to me and I will add it to the database.
But first, please make sure that the item is not already in the database - even now we have duplicates that we need to sort through. If however, you have a better picture than what's in the database already, I would be happy to consider replacing the existing picture.

We are basically looking for pictures with a neutral background and taken at a slight angle so that mostly the side, and a bit of the front and top is visible. If the livery on the two sides of the model is different, we would like pictures of each side and will add both to the database.

Remember - this is a volunteer effort, so take it for what it is.


Regards, Knut


----------

