Fort Madison Railcam needs less control over camer

[Anonymous]

The Fort Madison milepost 235 railcam on Trains.com needs less control given to the user. Many times I have turned on the cam and the user has the camera focused on the grass, the park, a brick wall, the street, and other such. Who knows how many trains we miss when this happens. The camera at Rochelle IL is great, as it is fixed and no one can move it. The Fort Madison cam could have 2 or 3 positions only, such as the swing bridge, the east end of the Santa Fe bridge across the river on zoom, and the station to the southwest of the camera. I believe the swing bridge shot is the best with a good shot of all three tracks and good lighting most of the day.
What do you think, cam users.? I hope Trains .com will monitor this topic.
I just got off the cam and someone had the camera on the grass and park for 15 minutes!
I vote for the one fixed shot of the swing bridge and nothing else.

[BRAKIE]

Jim,Nicely put.I agree with you on this.I no longer go to that web cam.

[Soo2610]

Jim and Larry, I also tend to agree with you and no longer visit the web site.

[Mookie]

make it 4!

[Anonymous]

It's too bad you guys give up so easily! First of all, the camera allows someone to control the camera for only 2 minutes at a time, so one one can move the camera off of a bad view if they "get in line".

Second, the camera's pan/zoom/tilt controls, while designed for the high speed user, provide an exceptional array of views and vantage points for this railroading location since you can "see" and follow trains from a mile away in both directions.

Pre-sets provide the best views, but the controls allow you to follow the action or to explore the wonderful history within view, such as river transportation, the old fort, mission-style depots and the Baldwin steam locomotive.

And third, since the largest swing-span bridge in the world bridge opens for barge traffic several times each day, this provides another great opportunity to check out the latest motive power up close parked in front of the camera while waiting on the bridge. Especially when you use the "large view" option below the image.

As you say, "it ain't Rochelle", it's never intended to be. Milepost 235 is the ONLY "viewer controlled" railroad camera on the Net. But you need DSL or cable access for optimum viewing.

However, we are preparing to install single-frame cameras at this location pointing in both directions to accomodate these viewer suggestions. In the meantime I hope you visit again and take advantage of one of the busiest tracks in North America, since trackage rights allow BNSF, UP and NS traffic all day long.

[Anonymous]

Tom, thanks for the update. I love the location of this railcam, in particular, the swing bridge and following trains across the bridge. I had becomes very flusterated with the many times the camera was pointed toward nothing of any interest such as the grass or a parking lot.
This Santa Fe main has a super selection of trains and the river line adds to the mix with more coal trains.
I hope one camera is pointed toward the swing bridge as with the current preset view. That is a great shot with even crossing gates to alert you to a train.
I will definitely continue to check this cam site, as it is my favorite on the web today.
Thanks for the new set camera position.

[Soo2610]

Tom, Thanks for the new info. It has been a while since I checked out the webcam. May give it another try though I have only seen one train in all my previous attempts. There seems to be much more activity at Rochelle even though I find it much harder to get a live image on the Rochelle cam than I do milepost 235.

[dknelson]

SOmeone said the MP 235 cam is the only viewer controlled one one the web
isn't the cam in Galesburg on the former ATSF viewer controlled?
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

Yes, the Galesburg Willis Steel cam is viewer controlled. But the Galesburg cam seems to be focused on the rail track most of the time. MP 235 many times has been focused on other areas with the railroad not in the view.

[Soo2610]

Don't know the answer to your question. Didn't even know about the website. Good thing Jim already answered it for us.