Exporting your roster

Export your cars or locomotives to keep a backup, edit them in a spreadsheet, or move them into JMRI Operations. Cars and locomotives export separately, the same way they import.

Export a file

1. Go to Cars or Locomotives.
2. Open the ⋮ menu next to New Car / New Locomotive.
3. Select Export CSV or Export JMRI.

The file downloads right away. It always includes your whole roster, sorted by reporting mark and road number. Search, filters, and sorting on the page don't narrow it down.

Screenshot: the Cars page with the ⋮ menu open, showing Import, Export CSV, and Export JMRI in the list.

Export CSV

A spreadsheet in the same layout Rail Ops imports, named something like cars_20260927-1430.csv. It's the easiest way to make a lot of changes at once:

1. Export your cars or locomotives.
2. Edit the file: change values, add new rows at the bottom.
3. Import it back with Update existing rows.

Because every column is already filled in, you won't accidentally clear anything you didn't mean to touch.

The car export carries every field the car import reads, including empty and loaded weight and rebuild date. The locomotive export includes an extra BuildDate column that's always blank; it's harmless to leave in when you import.

Decoders, photos, and waybill assignments aren't part of the export.

Export JMRI

A file laid out for JMRI Operations' roster import, named something like cars-jmri-20260927-1430.csv. In JMRI, load it through the car or locomotive roster's CSV import.

Car weight and owner are left blank. JMRI wants weight in ounces, which Rail Ops doesn't track yet.

Note: A JMRI file is only meant for JMRI. To get data back into Rail Ops, use Export CSV instead.

Next

Need to bring changes back in? See Importing locomotives or Importing cars.