Filters
Map Gallery Trip reports Imprint
Sign in Register
Train classes Operator Vehicle families

Language

Appearance

Imprint

Details of this website's operator, as required by Swiss UWG Art. 3 lit. s.

Responsible
The operator's name and postal address as an image, to keep them from being harvested automatically. The operator's name and postal address as an image, to keep them from being harvested automatically.
Email
The email address as an image, to keep it from being harvested automatically. The email address as an image, to keep it from being harvested automatically.

Copyright

All photos remain the property of the photographers who took them. Every photo states its licence on its own page; unless a licence says otherwise, all rights are reserved and reuse without permission is not allowed.

Photos imported from Flickr groups remain the property of their authors and are shown with their name and a link to their Flickr profile. If you would like a photo removed, please contact us using the details above.

Liability

Content is prepared with care, but no warranty is given as to its accuracy or completeness. The operators of linked external websites are solely responsible for their content.

Privacy and cookies

RailPics uses no advertising or analytics cookies and embeds no trackers. The following cookies are used solely for security, sign-in, language and one-time notices. Their contents are not evaluated for advertising or to create usage profiles.

Cookies

csrftoken
Protects forms against forged requests. The cookie contains a random security value and remains stored for no more than one year.
sessionid
Keeps a sign-in and security-related processes such as Google sign-in together. The cookie contains only a random session identifier and generally remains stored for up to 14 days or until you sign out.
django_language
Stores the selected language until the browser session ends.
messages
Carries one-time status messages, for example after saving or deleting, to the next page and is removed after display.
railpics_development_notice_seen
Is set only on dev.rail-pics.com and remembers until the browser session ends that the pre-release notice has already been shown.

Local browser storage

Appearance, map layers and map tools, the last map position for ten minutes, the displayed map tour and local backup copies of trip-report drafts are stored in your browser's localStorage or sessionStorage. These entries remain on your device and are not used for tracking; you can delete them through your browser data.

Data collected and stored

Technical access data
When pages are viewed, Cloudflare and the web server process in particular the IP address, time, requested address, referrer, browser identifier and response status. These data are used for delivery, error analysis and security. Server logs are automatically rotated with a size limit.
Accounts and profiles
When you register and sign in, we store your username, email address, a password hash and sign-in times. We also store voluntary profile details, settings, roles and Google or Flickr identifiers if you connect those services. The plain-text password is not stored.
Images and metadata
For uploads, we store the original image, generated image sizes and entered image data. We read available EXIF and XMP details such as capture time, GPS coordinates, camera and exposure values from the image file. Titles, descriptions, tags, licence, vehicle and route data are also stored and may be public depending on publication status.
Contributions and use
We also store trip reports and their drafts, comments, mentions, likes, saved photospots, email settings, moderation actions and necessary security events. We count photo views only as a total per photo and day; no record is created for each person viewing a photo.
Flickr imports
From approved public Flickr groups we import public photos, names, Flickr identifiers, descriptions, tags, licences, capture details and, where available, location details. These details come from Flickr and are linked to the Flickr profile.

Purposes and retention

We use these data to provide accounts and content, associate uploads and comments, operate the map and search, send notifications, prevent misuse and moderate the platform. Account and content data remain stored for as long as the relevant account or content exists. Deleted photos remain in a recoverable bin for 30 days and are then permanently removed automatically. An administrator can permanently delete them earlier when necessary. Technical logs are rotated with a size limit.

Third-party services

Cloudflare protects and transmits every page view and receives the technical access data in the process. To deliver account and notification emails, Brevo receives the recipient address and the content of the relevant message.

On the homepage and map pages, your browser connects to Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, OpenTopoMap, OpenRailwayMap, Esri, swisstopo and Amazon S3 depending on the selected view. Nominatim processes search terms or coordinates for place searches. For direct browser requests, the providers receive in particular the IP address, time, requested address and referrer. For server-side requests, they receive the submitted search terms or coordinates. Their own privacy policies also apply.

If you use ‘Sign in with Google’, we receive a stable account identifier, your verified email address and your name from Google. When you connect Flickr, we process the public Flickr identifier and profile details. If you request an automatic translation, we send the relevant description text or trip report to DeepL; RailPics caches the result.

Access, correction and deletion

You can view the details stored for your account in your account and change or delete many of them yourself. For access, correction, complete deletion or other privacy questions, use the contact details given above.

Map data

All map sources, elevation data and licence notices