This is our story.

Dear visitor,

My name is Carsten, founder of Yard Tower, since 2018.

Back then I helped a friend catalogue his model railway collection. There were loads of model railway locomotives, wagons and even more accessories. It had got a bit out of hand. Sounds familiar?

Mobile phones and tablets were not new, but good inventory software for model railways did not yet exist. Many desktop programs were built in the 90s and no longer worked, or were not user-friendly.

This software did not help us get a clear overview, especially because we also wanted access to the data on our smartphones.

We needed a better way to catalogue and organise model railway stock, wagons, scenery, prices, maintenance, and more. So we built our own model railway database from scratch, running in the cloud.

We focused on easy data entry and on being able to customise how this information is shown. In a way that does not become a copy of a spreadsheet, but offers more, such as images and standard data like manufacturers, scales and categories.

We made the system available online, called Yard Tower. A "Yard Tower" is a tower used at a railway yard. In this tower, staff keep an overview of trains and wagons.

People started using it and sent us positive messages.

We made improvements, smoothed off the rough edges, and launched the Pro subscription. It was a success.

It turns out that thousands of people with model railways struggle to catalogue their collection and need what we have built.

Based on feedback and our own ideas, we have made hundreds of improvements over the years, with much more to come.

It has been a great journey so far, and I have many people to thank. I feel responsible for making the best system for people with model railways who are looking for a better way to collect.

Thank you for reading and for trying Yard Tower. You can always contact me if you have a question. I look forward to hearing from you.

Carsten Alsemgeest

Founder