The 'Coke' trucks are always going past there. I guess there is a depot nearby: they seem to go in one way (N Jefferson St. I think) and come out another - passing by the VIrginia Transport Museum and O Winston Link buildings ( former railway station as far as I know).
I you are interested in the area then subscribe to the railway Museum web site. A lot goes on in the area: it is a pity I am too far away to join in the fun.
Alan, Oliver & North Fork Railroad
https://www.buckfast.org.uk/
If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there. Lewis Carroll English author & recreational mathematician (1832 - 1898)
Happened to notice Spidey's brother-in-law's second cousin's (thrice removed) uncle's youngest sibling working on a web today so I captured the image so those of you who don't know what to look for can see it. The still image reveals just a shadowy blur (just like Spidey!), but, when it is running around on the web it is building, the motion makes its shape much more recognizable.
Also notice the tip of the "Jupiter Rocket" outside the east end of Virginia Transportation Museum building in the background. Use Google Earth's "Street View" feature and you can right next to it!
Oh, yeah, happened to catch the pretty lil' red caboose, too. (Makes it all worthwhile!)
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Catching a picture of the local red caboose is neat.
Item:
A little bit of trivia I noted the other day...perhaps a week ago. Saw a white {Suburban like}, vehicle with a med. size trailer attached to it, pull into the space just west of the bottom red circle, headed west, and smoke / steam pouring out from under the front of it.
Fellow opened the hood, and seemed to ponder around the front of the vehicle for quite a while, and then, finally he put the hood down, and got in and continued west. As he vacated the spot where it was parked, I could see a lot of moisture on the pavement.....Suppose it was just plenty hot, and steaming and he waited until it "cooled down".
Anyway, he got in it and drove away....Don't know how far he might have been able to continue on....
Quentin
Rich
Those that desire, find a way..... Those that don't, find an excuse.
Thanks Richard,
My preference is Pepsi, decaffeinated,, and was wondering about that.
Norm
Is spidey going to attack the ( li'l red caboose) . LOL I can only hope the train with the oil cans did survive the savage plundering by the huge MEGA BUG from a few days ago. This site is a very powerful magnet just like the old radio days of serial programs. Long live Roanoke Rail Cam. HEH HEH .
Cannonball
PS stay tuned for the next episode
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Thanks Rich, for your post.
I guessed there had to be a pretty large Coke distribution depot nearby as so many of those large truck/trailers pass by.
Many years ago I had a coffee bar, when they were in fashion in the UK, I sold both Coke and Pepsi but always kept the Pepsi price lower.
.....Now it appears the spider we've seen walking across these lens, has strung a few lines across it....Hope that doesn't turn into a complete web, and one that will catch a bunch of "bugs, Junk, etc...}, making it a bit more difficult to see all the action.
The web was pretty good and complete for a couple of hours a day or so ago, but then a wind storm rolled through and all that is left is the diagonal support with several of the radials wrapped loosely around it. A bit distracting now, especially when the sun is in just the wrong position! Maybe a good heavy rain will wash it away.
The thing that bothers me more is two big smudges on the window, one over the trees on the left and the other at the north end of the parking garage in the upper right quadrant. I can't figure out what caused them... but the first time I noticed the one in the upper right quadrant, there was a large tent erected in the parkinglot just to the left of it and I thought what turned out to be the smudge was smoke from a bunch of bar-b-que's around the tent... I thought, "WOW! Big bar-b-que tonight!", but the "smoke" never left. Wonder what caused those smudges?
Well, it's raining now, but the diagonal web still stands. At 11:25, I saw another red caboose, but this one seems to be different from the other 2 mentioned. This one was larger, and it had no lettering on it at all. Like the others, it was red. It was seen moving to the left, but I forget which track it was on.
I also noticed a good few UP locos lately on this cam. In fact, around my area, a BNSF loco even showed up! Anyone know if there is some mass lease of foreign power? I'm curious how much more good stuff we'll come across. The variety certainly continues to pick up. It's just too bad that trains and cars still suddenly stall from time to time, and really dark solar eclipses continue to hit the camera without warning : (
At 11:45, a train on the left track going to the far corner has among its freight, a number of gondolas loaded with huge rocks in them. Where could something like that be headed?
Also, what is that program that can capture screenshots? I can access the windows/system32 folder fine, so maybe I can try it out.
12:03 PM-a train with 3 locos, the second being in an unknown (Conrail shade) blue and white, with the white on the nose, cab, and in one long horizontal line across the back, leading a bunch of Southern hoppers (seem to be loaded with ballast), followed by 2 gondolas with 2 large weird objects within, followed by the Epic containers in 3s (in ABAB formation, as usual), various other cars, and 2 white cars about the size of gondolas, but flatcars with some formation in the middle, came by on the far track heading away. Just another example of the variety, and the many questions raised by the unusual freight/power.
The program is "SnippingTool.exe" in the Windows/System32 folder.
I'd advise that you play with it a few times, trying all the various capture modes (Freeform, Rectangular, Window and Full Screen) and such BEFORE you suddenly see something you really want to save! It is not hard to use, but some experience with it will save some consternation when something exciting shows up!
It "freezes" the screen when you select to save an area and picking the 'right moment' can be difficult since you cannot "rewind" the view to capture something that has changed from the "best" view... and there is always this "feeling" that if you stop it too soon, you might miss something "better". You cannot "single step" it through a series of views nor "Cancel" it all that fast to correct an "Oops, I stopped it too soon!" type of thing.
I have saved several images from various lighting conditions (AM, PM, Night) in both 100% (800x450pixels) size view and full screen (which on my PC is exactly 200% because my screen is 1600x900) to help orient my self when I see something that I have not noticed before. I can compare the images to decide whether I am seeing something "new" (or just something I had ignored previously -- happens too often!) and get a better idea of the distance relationship so I can tell size and location.
Hey, now I can get the hang of that! You just have to click the New Snip button the moment the camera is at the point you want it. I believe I can work with it. Too bad it's impossible to specify common set sizes and selection coordinates...that would easily automate most of the process!
As for the spider, it's gotta go! I can't be looking at that mess waving in front of the camera the whole time (especially when the sun hits it)! The camera looks high up...can't wipe it with a pole or anything...time to get the flamethrower...
I keep tipping my laptop monitor screen, trying to see around the spider web and the window smudges... never can quite get it right!
[quote user="kolechovski
[/quote]
Agreed; but not knowing if the camera is inside or outside the walkway all we can hope for is a good rain or an attentive cleaning person. I can't tell from the pictures Bing Maps offers if it is outdoors, but it sure messes up the view in the afternoon sun.
HEY! DOWN IN FRONT!
Where's Spidey when you need 'im? His tattered web was annoying, but at least it was somewhat transparent!
While waiting to capture a good image of the bug, I saw another caboose.
I have also seen another oddity in the view. Note the red circle in the image below...
The circle is over the top/back of a monument along the south side of the tracks at the intersection of S. Jefferson Street and Roanoke Avenue and is part of the "David R. and Susan S. Goode Railwalk" that was dedicated in March of 2007. Using Google Earth's Street View I can see that the momument has three crankshafts (presummably from a Diesel Locomotive) standing on end and a wrap-around plaque at the top engraved with the words I quoted above. Adjacent to it is a rough map of the Norfolk and Southern railway in Virginia.
Today, from the vantage point of the Roanoke railcam, I see puffs of white smoke (visible in the red circle) coming from the top of the stone of the monument and drifting across the tracks! I don't remember ever seeing this phenomina in the past as I was watching the railcam. I have watched for several hours (off and on) today and have seen dozens of people walk past, even stop to look at the display, and nobody seems to care that smoke is coming from it! At first I thought the gray oblisk was a control cabinet for the railway, but looking more closely and in conjunction with views from Google Earth and Street View, I see it is just a stone back to the display. Then I thought it might be someone bar-b-queing on the street corner behind (railcam view-wise) it, but, if so, they have been cooking for several hours now and I see no one loitering in that area (people walk past, but don't stop). Sometimes the smoke seems to shoot out, like an engine is "reving".
Anybody got an idea what it is?
Surely, someone envolved with the operation of the web cam will soon see the spider / and his web. Certainly hope so. Perhaps the cam is located on the pedestrian bridge and might be accessable without too much effort.
One would think they would want to clean the lens periodically anyway. It sure is making a mess of the cam's performance.
I think the spider web has been blown away (or possibly someone did remove it... THANKS!).
I am guessing that the camera is "inside" the covered/enclosed walkway over the street and tracks. I then assume the spider web was "outside" the window the camera looks through. Cleaning the web away would require a very long swab of some sort... maybe as long as 20 to 30 ft to reach to the top of the walkway wall of windows.
The window also has many smudges on it that ruin the view when the sun is nearly in line with the camera. I don't think the smudges could be cleaned from the ground and would require a bonefide "window washer" to get up there to clean it. That might be an expense the hotel would balk at.
I didn't get to look at the monument today to see if it was smoking... Did anybody else look?
I have been having trouble getting the camera to come up on the trains web site. It will only work from the hotels web site. Anyone else having the same problem?
I found it too time consuming to reach the webcam via either method, so I saved a direct link in my favourites menu to get to it.
http://128.173.197.94:443/RRCmov
Seems to work okay for me.
I have noticed that if I maintain the connection for a couple of hours, it will sometimes disconnect (screen goes black) and then it will reconnect. But, sometimes it will not reconnect and I have to click the Stop button and then click the Play button again. If that doesn't fix it, I have to terminate Media Player and re-click the Favourites link.
Today I see Spidey has strung some more strings, and the big black bug is still mugging for the camera and "leaving li'l footie prints AAAALLLLL over muh desert" err, I mean, window. Apparently it is too big for Spidey to take on.
And no smoke from the top of the monument. I am still wondering about that smoke!
The bug must be way too big...it blacked out the whole camera! We're all gonna die! Ahhh!
Well, I am glad I kept that Snipping tool handy. I've saved a good few interesting shots on different days.
Refer to my post from the 21st of Oct above (Top of this page of the thread... unless this post causes a new page to start!) Note the photo of the "smoke" coming from the top of the monument of the David R and Susan S Goode Railwalk.
Here is a second image I took of it back then:
Over the next week I kept watch of that place several times per day to see if the smoke appeared again. It didn't!
Curiosity got the better of me and I called the Virginia Museum of Transportation to ask if the smoke was a problem or if anyone knew anything about it. I got an answering machine so I just left a too short explanation of what I had seen and asked if they knew anything about it. I left my phone number, not really expecting a reply... (I figured they'd be thinkin' "Some 'weirdo' says our stone monument is on fire!" and then ignore me.)
Well, today I got a call from the Director of the Museum, Bev Fitzpatrick, asking for more information about what I saw. He described the monument a bit better than I could determine from the Webcam (seeing the back of it) or via Google Earth and Street View (which has deliberately blurry images). It has a corrugated metal back wall that water runs down to a reflecting pool that extends to the west around the adjacent stone outline of the state of Virginia showing the N & W routes.
Fortunately, he knew of no fire associated with the monument, but did offer, maybe in jest, that maybe someone put some dry-ice in the pool at the top where the water cascades down the corrugated metal front. So, unfortunately, no good explanation for what I saw.
BUT! Ta Da... he told me of a new railcam that the museum has set up recently and told me the URL:
Take a look at:
http://www.nwhs.org/cam/vmt/
This camera is facing East (the opposite direction of the one at the hotel) but is west of the hotel, looking back at the location of the Hotel's camera several blocks away.
The video stream is very slow, updating once every 2 to 3 seconds, but it is full color all the time (so far as I can tell). It is 900x450 resolution and at night the security lights in the area spill over to the tracks so the trains are well illuminated at night. (Edit: I screwed up... the resolution is 770x383.)
The link has a 4 minute time-out and disconnects after that time. You will have to click the small blue circle "Play" button (">") to get it to continue for another 4 minutes.
Distance focus is not too good, especially at night as the headlights of an oncoming train are just a large blurry white spot, but close up trains are clear and the engine (and some car numbers) are easily read.
I am still studying the things in the background, trying to figure out just where some of them are. I see a large (and blurry) green light that seems to be blinking at some rate that does not match the frame rate of the camera so the blinking is quite sporadic... bright in one frame, off in the next 2 or 3, then maybe dim in one and then off again for a couple and then bright again. I don't know if the blinking is a permanent thing or if it is a RR signal showing some specific aspect by blinking at this moment.
Here is a screen shot of the two webcam images side-by-side on my screen. The VMT cam is on the left in the Browser window and the Hotel cam is on the right in the Media Player window. (The time display above the Media Player window is a StopWatch program I wrote, set to count down 4 minutes and then play a sound to alert me that the camera has probably disconnected so I can restart it... I watched it for 30 minutes before I realized that nothing was happening because it had disconnected! I thought it odd that there was no street traffic, and then I realized the truck on the corner had been there at the Stop-sign an awfully long time!
The VMT image seems to be mostly B&W in this shot, but there is some green on the right background... dunno why the rest is so bland... just dark I guess.
Anyway, we now have a second camera to watch trains on... I want to get some images of the cabeese that traverse that area.
Thanks for the link. I see the camera is located immediately out of view from the far end of the featured camera. Can we get trains.com to officially post it? I know people won't be excited about the whole frame rate issue, but the Rochelle cam started off the same, and it turned out fine. Besides, anyone watching a live train will know to refresh the other cam at that time and not have to waste time doing so between the action. Printscreen is good for saving snaps from that one, so those of you who do not have Snipping Tool can use that camera to grab snaps.
BTW, for those who want to who have Snipping Tool ready, you can probably put some command lines into the startup process of your computer (if you are admins or have rights), so that the site is logged in automatically, the pages with the webcams load, and Snipping Tool is autoloaded, all on bootup. This assumes you are always logged into the Internet (if not, perhaps having Snippign Tool load is the only thing to do).
EDIT-That other cam angle does not like bandwidth demands very much. Clearly, not more than a few people can be viewing it at once, or it stalls heavily between updated frames (I got nearly a minute on that last train pass). What a shame.
Thanks for the update on the new camera. I wish it was a little faster but hey, at least we are getting more of these around the rails.
Like the new vmt rail cam much better than the hotel one . Much closer to the tracks and clearer picture . Also, the area is well lit after dark . RON
The right side of the picture on the VMT Rail Cam shows what looks like a painted railroad track Icon.....might that be an identity of a rail trail....?
That cam does have a nice clear pic. and close to the tracks. Have not seen a train on it just yet....But we're going to take a look right now. Just installed it in my "Favorites".
Edit: And as I turned back to it...bingo: A double stack headed east.
Well, the VMT cam will show the same stuff on the current video feed from trains.com, so when you see a train, check out the VMT one then.
The painted RR track is the David R. and Susan S. Goode Railwalk. It is about 3 or 4 blocks long, along the south side of the tracks along Roanoke Avenue, between the O. Winston Link museum in the old passenger depot on the east (behind the Hotel's camera) and the main buildings of the Virginia Museum of Transportation on the west (behind the VMT's camera).
There are several displays and monuments with plaques for the walking tourist. If you watch the scene from the Hotel's camera you will see lots of pedestrians walking along that side of the street, stopping to read the various plaques.
Use Google Earth's Street View function to look at that street. It is unfortunate that Google blurred the text in that area, but you can make out a couple of sets of steam locomotive driver's with plaques and a passenger shed with different types of RR signal lights on each end. About the middle of it is the focal point of the Railwalk at the monument that names the Railwalk (with the 3 Diesel Crankshafts and waterfall/pool) and the stone outline of Virginia showing the N&W routing in the state.
Keep going west on Street View and after you round the corner to the south, look "up" at the Jupiter Missle standing on the sidewalk! (don't blind yerself looking at the sun perched on the tip of the rocket!! Or go a few camera scenes farther south and then turn around and look up.)
Earlier this evening i saw a passenger train stopped in front of the link museum. Does anyone have any information on this train ? RON
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