Yep, saw the caboose on VMT's cam but it was too far away to get a good image of... so I got it with the Hotel's cam:
It is raining, so it is a dark, dull day... and the caboose is all wet. Still cannot read the number.
Here is an image of the EPIC containers:
And just for grins, I had been wondering just how high the VMT camera is mounted. Watching pedestrians in the area indicated it was well above head height, but then this trash truck drove near:
Upper third of the image is the Windows Magnifier window showing a portion of the VMT cam view in the lower left section. The large triangular object at the bottom is the top of the trash truck leaving from behind the VMT building. The camera is higher than I thought!
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Height of the VMT cam.....? Looking at the view across the top of the "Epic double stacked containers".....My guess Is: 18 to 20' above grade.
Quentin
I wish they would switch places with the two cameras . Sure would be nice to have the streaming video close to the tracks . A little bit of sound wouldn`t hurt either . RON
I haven't seen the web cam (Hotel) for a couple of weeks. Using the link to the VMT cam gives the choice of two cams. The VMT cam shows the trains much clearer, being nearer to the tracks, but had the delay which can freeze on my pc.
However as these cams are a delight to watch I should not complain.
I have seen a red caboose often either trailed or on the point. I have also seen the EPIC containers and am curious about their load and provenance. One loco seen recently, in rather good shape as well, was a SOO loco. Not seen that name on the cam before even if there are many Wisconsin Souther boxcars in consists.
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)
Great Western I haven't seen the web cam (Hotel) for a couple of weeks. Using the link to the VMT cam gives the choice of two cams. The VMT cam shows the trains much clearer, being nearer to the tracks, but had the delay which can freeze on my pc. However as these cams are a delight to watch I should not complain. I have seen a red caboose often either trailed or on the point. I have also seen the EPIC containers and am curious about their load and provenance. One loco seen recently, in rather good shape as well, was a SOO loco. Not seen that name on the cam before even if there are many Wisconsin Souther boxcars in consists.
Oops! Ya lost me... Where do you get the "choice of two cams"?
I would also like to know where you found a choice of 2 cams on that link. RON
Maybe it wasn't clear but the two cams are the hotel one and the VMT one.
I know sound would be a huge plus. But at least we have these two cams for starters and some good railfanning without leaving the house.
I agree , they are both great and I am glad we have access to them . But , human nature being as it is , we always want more . RON
Did'ja see the crazy railfans out there tonight? If not, here ya go:
Okay, okay, so I'm jealous to actually be there.
I am going to be in roanoke sunday and monday .I plan on going to the museum again and plan on still having some time for trainwatching . I was born in roanoke , but haven`t been back for a while . RON
j610 I am going to be in roanoke sunday and monday .I plan on going to the museum again and plan on still having some time for trainwatching . I was born in roanoke , but haven`t been back for a while . RON
If you happen to walk past that monument at Roanoke Ave and S Jefferson St., wave REAL BIG at the hotel cam! Or stop at the end of the Railwalk outside of the VMT at the guard rail and waive from there. I watch both cams at random times for a few minutes each time throughout the day (sure miss a lot of the front of trains that way!), if I see you I will do a screen capture and post it here! If you can plan somewhat accurately way ahead, post here about what time you might be there and I will try to be watching with the image capture program running.
I am beginning to see a lot of union pacific units lately . Any reason for the sudden increase . RON
Is the vmt railcam down or is it my computer ? RON
Worked for me several times today and I just checked it again and it was working.
Time for a new computer . RON
Whatcha got now? What kind of internet access? What seems to be wrong? (Any guess?) Maybe your present one is just bogged down with too much fluff that needs weeded out? Do you have or have you run any "clean-up" type software?
I "regularly" (like every night before I shut down for the day) run a program named "CCleaner". It is free and does a fine job of eliminating junk files that build up all day long. (If you try this program be sure to understand some of the options of what it can throw away. It can mess up some "automatic log-ons" if you let it. I'd be happy to help you through it in PMs or e-mails if you want.)
I also just switch anti-malware systems back from a new one that was recommended to me. The new one really slowed my PC down... it was taking MINUTES (plural!) to load some web pages!) Dunno if it was all that much better at finding malware than the other one or if the other one is all that much worse. I don't have much trouble with malware anyway, so I went back to the old program and everything sped up again. I had switched to "AVG", was using and have gone back to "Avast!".
Its an 8 year old hewlett-packard . Very old technology . Its long overdue for replacement . I am going to get a new one this weekend . Been putting it off too long. I also use avast and i will give the ccleaner a try . thanks. RON
hee hee hee... After I posted that I thought about adding that it could also be an excellent excuse to get a new machine!
I tried the CCleaner . Works great . I have already ordered a 22 inch flat screen lcd moniter . Still trying to decide between three different computers . Thanks . RON
22 INCH! WOWsers! I remember when a 21-inch TV was a "big screen"! You'll have to turn your head to read a line of text. Readin' a paragraph will be like watching a tennis match. (hee hee hee) I am sure you will love it. I have a 19-in monitor on my LapTop PC and I like it.
Still trying to decide what computer to buy. It has to be something that lets me watch the webcams without such a hassle . RON
Any computer on the retail shelf right now should handle webcam viewing with no problems and have plenty of power to play solitaire between trains.
The biggest bottle neck you will run into the the internet connection bandwidth to/from your ISP.
I am a bit partial to "MORE POWER" so I bought a bit more than I really need. I happen to like laptop PCs, Keyboard, display and mainframe all in one package. If i go someplace I have all my software, photos, and correspondence with me. WiFi capable with a wired connection built-in, too. The only thing I don't like is the touchpad, so I have a small wireless mouse that works just fine and the particular touchpad on my present PC disables itself if a mouse is detected (so it does not infuriate me when I drag my thumbs while typing and thus move the insertion cursor all over the place).
A year or so ago, I began to play with a video surveilance system that does motion detection and found I needed a much more powerful PC to handle more than two cameras, so I bought a laptop PC with a triple-core computer processor. But since it is not on the internet (intentionally!) I needed a PC for me to use and I just could not purchase something for my personal use that is less than that PC; so I bought an identical PC for me. It is overkill for just surfing the web or playing solitaire, but it sure is NICE.
The triple core processor, huge memory, and so on would be put to better use if I were not retired but what little programming in Visual Basic I still do and the few Excel spreadsheets I play with are sure a pleasure on this machine. Drawing with Google SketchUp is a lot more fun with this one, too!
I have had a photo editor open as well as SketchUp, drawing my son's house in 3-D and using a photo of it to add texture to the drawing, while I was viewing Google Earth where his house is, and I had the Roanoke Hotel rail cam open in the corner, as well as Internet explorer open to my e-mail and this forum (and two or three others) all at the same time and nothing bogs down.
They both have the same video display hardware and 4 gb of memory. but they are not quite identical. I got one at Best Buy and the other at Wal*Mart. The Wal*Mart one has two 340GB drives and the Best Buy one has one 500 GB drive.
The Wal*Mart one is a Hewlett Packard Pavilion dv-7-4069mw
The Best Buy one is a Hewlett Packard pavilion dv7-4065dx
They both run Windows 7 (64-bit). The video surveilance system has all the anti-malware software disabled since the only things that run on it are vetted before installation... besides there is nothing on it but months of video out my house windows... squirrels, birds, people walking dogs, the meter readers and mailman.
Also, I bet Wal*Mart sells a lot of that PC model, but I also bet most people never know that they have to manually "enable" that second drive and thus never use it! And never know it!
I think the one i am going to go with is a dell . It has a 5GHz processor and a dvd burner . RON
Yeah, that'll scream right along. And with that big screen display. Nice.
Now for the shock of Winders 7!
It is not all that bad. At least not as bad as Vista!
I am having windows xp put in it before i even turn it on . RON
I have been seeing a lot of non ns engines lately . what is up with that ? Is ns short on power ? I also see a lot more union pacific power than i would expect . RON
I agree, a lot of U.P. engines. it started with the one that has a red line (racing stripe?) painted through the "UNION PACIFIC" on the side of the engine compartment. Recently I saw 3 U.P. engines in one group of 5 pulling a unit coal train, the lead was a black N.S., but the 5th had no markings that I could see.
I have seen some of those unmarked ones also . RON
I didn't realize Poor Mountain was so far back. It looked just a few miles to me. I'd hate to have to try to go there on foot from Roanoke. The webcam is still in color right now, but it's failing a lot. It sucks, as I was about to grab a nice shot with some red FRED flashes in it with some light engines. Oh well. Feel free to grab snaps of the foreign power, too!
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