Terms of use
As of 23 August 2026
1. What RailPics is
RailPics (rail-pics.com) is a platform for railway photography: photographers show their pictures, anyone may visit. The site is run privately and without commercial intent; who is behind it is stated in the imprint.
2. Your photos remain your photos
Every right to a photo remains with the person who took it. By uploading, by adding a photo to the connected Flickr group pool or by writing a report, you grant RailPics the non-exclusive right, revocable at any time, to display the work on rail-pics.com, to create resized variants of it, and to make it findable in listings, on the map and in image search. Nothing more: no sale, no passing on to third parties, no editing beyond resizing.
Every photo carries the licence its creator chose. Anything beyond simply viewing it is governed by that licence; where none is shown, all rights are reserved and you ask the creator.
3. The Flickr import
RailPics regularly imports the photos from a connected Flickr group pool. Whoever adds a photo to that pool consents to its publication on rail-pics.com under these terms; the group description says so as well. Every imported photo credits the Flickr name and links to the original on Flickr.
Remove a photo from the pool and it disappears from the public site at the next sync. Link your Flickr account to a RailPics account and have the link verified, and every photo already imported is yours here too: you can edit it, delete it and decide about downloads.
4. Downloads
Whether and at which size your photos may be downloaded is your own setting, in five steps up to the original file. For imported photos without a linked account, downloads are disabled: that person was never asked, so nothing is offered. A download transfers no rights; the photo licence continues to apply.
5. Accounts and comments
Anyone may register. Commenting requires approval by the operators; photographers are approved automatically. Only accounts the operators have entered as photographers can upload.
In comments the obvious applies: no spam, no insults, nothing unlawful. The operators may remove comments and revoke approvals without having to give reasons.
6. What does not belong on the site
Upload only photos whose rights you hold. No images that violate personality rights, and nothing unlawful. Photographs are taken at your own responsibility; RailPics is not an invitation to enter tracks or ignore barriers.
7. Deleting, and being deleted
You can delete your photos, trip reports and account at any time. Deleted photos can be restored for 30 days and are then permanently removed automatically. The operators may remove content that breaches these terms and may close accounts in serious cases. If you believe a photo on RailPics infringes your rights, contact us using the imprint details: substantiated reports will be reviewed and affected content removed promptly.
8. Availability and liability
RailPics is a private project and is run with no promise of availability. Users are responsible for the content they post. To the extent permitted by law, the liability of the operators is limited to intent and gross negligence. Keep your own originals: the site is a stage, not an archive.
9. Cookies and third-party servers
RailPics sets no advertising or analytics cookies and embeds no trackers. It uses only technically necessary cookies for form protection, sign-in and sessions, language, one-time status messages and, on the Dev site, the pre-release notice. Your browser stores appearance, map options and local trip-report drafts locally; these data are not used for tracking.
Cloudflare processes the technical data for every page view. The homepage and map pages may load Google Maps and other map providers directly. Google, Flickr and DeepL are used only for the sign-in, connection or translation you explicitly choose. The imprint explains which data are processed and how long the cookies remain.
10. Changes and applicable law
The operators may amend these terms; the version published here, with its as-of date, is authoritative. Swiss law applies.