Roanoke railway webcam

[redtoon1892]

http://128.173.197.94/railcamjv.htm
One of the best live realtime cams I have come across, good quality live video,frequent traffic mostly immense freight trains, one just passed with 6 locos attached, it must be near to a depot as lots of light engine movements.
if link dosent work type the above subject in search.



Give it time to load and start it off by clicking speed bar at bottom left.

[60041]

I had a look on Google Earth, and the webcam appears to be placed half way between a very large loco shed with a half roundhouse and a straight shed, both with turntables, and a huge freight yard that is well over 4 miles long.
These Yanks don't do things by half do they?

[redtoon1892]

There appears to be two depots with roundhouses and turntables as well as several hump yards, its certainly some place for train watching. I am off on my travels again soon and may get a little watching time in at Memphis, Nashville, or Atlanta none at Las Vegas tho.

[redtoon1892]

A huge freight train with 6 locos on has just passed, oil tankers with a reefer car every 12 tanks or so,they must be some sort of safety measure, also a bright red caboose on the tail, I didn't realise these were still in use, maybe just on oil tanker trains

[richard]

Yes you very rarely see cabooses on regular trains. I haven't seen the box car every few tankers either, although come to think of it I don't think I've seen block oil trains through the Dallas Metroplex. Most of the tankers we get here in Irving are corn syrup tankers (short black ones with logos like Cargill, ADM, and Tate&Lyle). Larger tankers are typically chemical tankers in mixed trains. We see the same out at Wills Point when we do the show in the old depot there. Mixed trains and inter-modal block trains are the typical order of the day.

(the other kind of block train we see in the Dallas area are coal - taking the heavy slog down from Wyoming to Texas power plants)


Richard

[strang steel]

I dont understand my laptops. I can get the live pictures on my PC laptop but not on my iBook. Originally the Mac said install a plugin, which I did and now I do get a white square where the camera image should be, but nothing else.

Oh well, I suppose I will have to put up with this. On the PC I did see a 4 loco train which consisted of 111 wagons. I cant imagine uk road users waiting for many of those at level crossings. It took about 4 minutes to pass by.

[Bryan]

This train may get close.
Especially if you are waiting at Balne or Moat hills just north of Doncaster.

http://www.britishrailways.tv/british-r ... eo_id=1425

[redtoon1892]

I am using a macbook and did not have to install a plug in

[third-rail]

at this minute train of tanks held while engineers repair track in front
opps train just reversed out of the way

[Boris]

On the Longest Train in the U.K.previous on this page.

Why on earth did it need a crew change at York on such a short journey

[strang steel]

This train may get close.
Especially if you are waiting at Balne or Moat hills just north of Doncaster.

http://www.britishrailways.tv/british-r ... eo_id=1425

Not likely, I'm afraid. Later yesterday I saw two trains of bogie coal hoppers and both were loaded to 175 wagons. (Yes I did count them )

On the subject of Mac computers, I failed to mention that my iBook is a 2003 model and so is not the best equipped with up to date software. However, I downloaded a copy of Win4Mac Pro at $25 and installed that, and now it works perfectly.

[richard]

Back to Wills Point - it is on the Union Pacific main line (the old T&P main line through Dallas, Fort Worth and west over the Pecos) which is single track, but there's a passing loop through the town. If a long train occupies that passing loop then you simply can't cross from one side of town to another without driving to the next town (about 7-8 miles away) and crossing the tracks there.

When we've been there it it would typically be occupied for 15mins or so if they've timed it right. And often a train is short and can leave one of the crossings free. However sometimes they can't time it right and it isn't unheard of for all the crossings in town to be occupied by one train for a couple of days.


Richard

[Bryan]

On the Longest Train in the U.K.previous on this page.

Why on earth did it need a crew change at York on such a short journey

Probably due to most of shift being on site and time up. I think it is 8 hours on board.
So with disposal etc could be another 2 hours to go for the train.

[redtoon1892]

Its a pity this cam has not got a zoom facility.

[Boris]

Seeen three wierdo's on this already.
First was like a screen on wheels being pushed by a motor untit on the end of a long bar
Second a van on the rails drove left to right all the way
This morning a trian with a caboose leading and 2 diesels at the back pushing.
Any explanations from the boss over there?