I have been getting the same "not available" message since Tuesday as well. I searched a bit and found this alternate site. The motion is smooth but I cannot get a full screen. It's better than nothing.
http://www.vidiwave.com/popup/feed.html
I haven`t been able to access the cam since tuesday afternoon . I am going to take a break for a while and see if it comes back . I can`t handle that garbage museum cam . RON
Quentin; have you and her got those strap on Ice and snow grippers for the shoes or boots ? They are really good safe way to get about on foot. Course the biz. owner and wood floors frown on them. They are good on wet vinl . tile also ha ha. Hope you and Jean have a good recovery.
Cannonball
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Still out for me as well.
Tom
Pittsburgh, PA
j610 Still nothing for me . I haven`t been able to get it all day . RON
Still nothing for me . I haven`t been able to get it all day . RON
Well, that's frustrating... I just checked it again and accessed it both via the direct link and via the link through the Trains dot Com link.
Have you rebooted your PC? Have you cleared the cache? Maybe there is something mis-set such that your PC is cornfuzed.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
I have had it on all afternoon. Since I opened it for my reply above the one with the photos above.
The cam has been down all day for me too. I just get a "web page not found" message.
From the VMT Rail Cam... Some visitors in a photo op.!
I thought the sign had letters on it, but they were too small to read (or maybe they were Hebrew or something...) hee hee hee... a bit closer examination of the sign shows that it is not text but the silhouettes of 3 steam locomotives. Shall we have a contest to see who can identify them?
Here are some stills from the video capture I did.
Has been working for me all morning and I just checked it again and it is still working for me.
Also, I checked the VMT cam and saw a couple of fellows holding a sign up for the webcam and a woman taking their picture, but, even though the sign had pretty large letters it was still unreadable. I tried to get a screen video capture of it, but it is pretty poor. I will attempt to get a still image from it and post it here later..
Is the hotel cam down again or is it my server ? RON
Haven`t seen much foreign power lately . I guess it is only used when needed . Going to try to go to roanoke saturday . RON
Semper Vaporo Modelcar: Just took a peek at the Hotel rail cam....Comparing how light it is there now in Roanoke to our location in Muncie, In.....The lightness at this hour is very similar. Guess I need to take a look at a map and see our locations compared to ea. other. Thought Roanoke would be somewhat more eastern than we are. I like to see the bare streets / ground now compared to our ice / snow, etc., we've been seeing here too long this season. Results: Too many broken bones in this area...{including wifes wrist bones}...and some roofs caving in from the load of ice / snow. Just a sidenote to Semper's comments on automatic camera focus / lens...exposure. What is the feature that's used on professonal Television cameras such as we might see at the floor of a basketball game...They seem to be always in focus no matter if pointed down the court or right up close....And it doesn't seem that they are automatically adjusting to be able to do so... Perhaps, as Semper noted on his units, up close...{very close}, they probably do go out of focus, but it has to very close. The tracks and streets were almost bare now as I turned to the site. Parking lot evactuated.....People don't tarry too long after five. Edit: Ok....now I do see the difference....It's just past sunset here and it's pretty dark on the streets of Roanoke....And just checked, they are somewhat east of us....Guessing 20...25 min. sun time. I just wrote and deleted a really long winded reply as to why the Network Sports cameras work better than a lowly web cam, but it was just way too long and off topic to actually post here... suffice it to say the TV broadcasters have lots more money to invest in better cameras. Also, there are many cameras in use and the director is constantly switching from one to another but he has had them aimed and focused before he switches to them. There is someone there handling the camera the whole time, too; unlike the webcam that is a set, forget and let (hope) some automatic feature control it, system. I have great sympathy for your wife... get her some flowers, or a box of chocolates, or a big bowl of ice cream... she will appreciate it, I am sure. (OH! Get her all three!... And don't do it just once, either!) Falling down is bad enough, but to get hurt in the process needs some expression of care. It is nice to see snowless streets in Roanoke... even better to see some trains, too.
Modelcar: Just took a peek at the Hotel rail cam....Comparing how light it is there now in Roanoke to our location in Muncie, In.....The lightness at this hour is very similar. Guess I need to take a look at a map and see our locations compared to ea. other. Thought Roanoke would be somewhat more eastern than we are. I like to see the bare streets / ground now compared to our ice / snow, etc., we've been seeing here too long this season. Results: Too many broken bones in this area...{including wifes wrist bones}...and some roofs caving in from the load of ice / snow. Just a sidenote to Semper's comments on automatic camera focus / lens...exposure. What is the feature that's used on professonal Television cameras such as we might see at the floor of a basketball game...They seem to be always in focus no matter if pointed down the court or right up close....And it doesn't seem that they are automatically adjusting to be able to do so... Perhaps, as Semper noted on his units, up close...{very close}, they probably do go out of focus, but it has to very close. The tracks and streets were almost bare now as I turned to the site. Parking lot evactuated.....People don't tarry too long after five. Edit: Ok....now I do see the difference....It's just past sunset here and it's pretty dark on the streets of Roanoke....And just checked, they are somewhat east of us....Guessing 20...25 min. sun time.
Just took a peek at the Hotel rail cam....Comparing how light it is there now in Roanoke to our location in Muncie, In.....The lightness at this hour is very similar.
Guess I need to take a look at a map and see our locations compared to ea. other. Thought Roanoke would be somewhat more eastern than we are.
I like to see the bare streets / ground now compared to our ice / snow, etc., we've been seeing here too long this season. Results: Too many broken bones in this area...{including wifes wrist bones}...and some roofs caving in from the load of ice / snow.
Just a sidenote to Semper's comments on automatic camera focus / lens...exposure. What is the feature that's used on professonal Television cameras such as we might see at the floor of a basketball game...They seem to be always in focus no matter if pointed down the court or right up close....And it doesn't seem that they are automatically adjusting to be able to do so...
Perhaps, as Semper noted on his units, up close...{very close}, they probably do go out of focus, but it has to very close.
The tracks and streets were almost bare now as I turned to the site. Parking lot evactuated.....People don't tarry too long after five.
Edit: Ok....now I do see the difference....It's just past sunset here and it's pretty dark on the streets of Roanoke....And just checked, they are somewhat east of us....Guessing 20...25 min. sun time.
I just wrote and deleted a really long winded reply as to why the Network Sports cameras work better than a lowly web cam, but it was just way too long and off topic to actually post here... suffice it to say the TV broadcasters have lots more money to invest in better cameras. Also, there are many cameras in use and the director is constantly switching from one to another but he has had them aimed and focused before he switches to them. There is someone there handling the camera the whole time, too; unlike the webcam that is a set, forget and let (hope) some automatic feature control it, system.
I have great sympathy for your wife... get her some flowers, or a box of chocolates, or a big bowl of ice cream... she will appreciate it, I am sure. (OH! Get her all three!... And don't do it just once, either!) Falling down is bad enough, but to get hurt in the process needs some expression of care.
It is nice to see snowless streets in Roanoke... even better to see some trains, too.
.....Thanks for the comments on the broadcast camera's, Semper.....and on treating the wife with the goodies....We both fell, but she's the one that received the injury out of the situation....So we're trying to help each other....So far, we're doing pretty good. It sure does take much more energy to accomplish everyday routines, with these conditions. We were out again this morning tending to some business and another stop at Meijer's for some needed supplies. So we're hanging in there and trying to be oh so careful.
Do appreciate your nice thoughts.
Quentin
Finally got my timing right and am seeing some trains . Seems like the museum cam gets jerkier every time i try it . RON
I have had the exact opposite... every time I have checked I turned it on just as the headend power entered the view. Timed one of them at about 16 MPH... fastest I have seen in quite a while.
My timing is way off today . I haven`t seen a single train lately . RON
Modelcar Just took a peek at the Hotel rail cam....Comparing how light it is there now in Roanoke to our location in Muncie, In.....The lightness at this hour is very similar. Guess I need to take a look at a map and see our locations compared to ea. other. Thought Roanoke would be somewhat more eastern than we are. I like to see the bare streets / ground now compared to our ice / snow, etc., we've been seeing here too long this season. Results: Too many broken bones in this area...{including wifes wrist bones}...and some roofs caving in from the load of ice / snow. Just a sidenote to Semper's comments on automatic camera focus / lens...exposure. What is the feature that's used on professonal Television cameras such as we might see at the floor of a basketball game...They seem to be always in focus no matter if pointed down the court or right up close....And it doesn't seem that they are automatically adjusting to be able to do so... Perhaps, as Semper noted on his units, up close...{very close}, they probably do go out of focus, but it has to very close. The tracks and streets were almost bare now as I turned to the site. Parking lot evactuated.....People don't tarry too long after five. Edit: Ok....now I do see the difference....It's just past sunset here and it's pretty dark on the streets of Roanoke....And just checked, they are somewhat east of us....Guessing 20...25 min. sun time.
It still sucks really bad having missed the steam loco. Anyhow, I also saw the high nose and the bright red caboose with the NS horsey on the side, among other things. A crew was working about the middle of the cam with a backhoe, doing something with the track, but I couldn't tell what.
10:05: Noticed a 3 unit lash up idling on the second track back, high hood unit towards the cam.
10:06: Lash up went up and out of sight to the right.
I've also noticed the focus issue as well, especially at night. Having seen highrail trucks on Rochelle and Roanoke cams, and I wonder...how are the signals set up to accomodate the highrail equipment? Those usually don't run with signals, right? So, a dispatcher would have to have them prealigned where all they're going to go, and he'd just have to remember not to allow any trains to go through the area, right? Does he just give green signals to the highrail truck, and after it's gone to the end of its run, cancel all of them? Or is there some other means to ensure a train isn't given green signals on a track with a highrail truck? Whata bout multiple highrail trucks? How are all those handled, especially if they're spread out?
The camera has an "auto-focus" feature... if you watch when an eastbound train passes the headlights will cause the camera to go though a "re-focus" sequence and during that time the distant lights and signals will reduce in size and look better. Unfortunately the camera will settle on a near/close/short distance focus thus leaving the distant objects severely out of focus.
I have a video surveillance system at my house and I use cheap "web cams" for most of the cameras. Many of these have an "autofocus" feature and with some of them I can disable that feature.
Sometimes a camera will just go through a re-focus sequence and that will drive my motion detection software nutz.... it sees motion all over!
Where possible, I turn that feature off and manually set the focus at "infinity", which means that if someone came right up to the camera (just inches away) they would be terribly out of focus, but everything more than about 3 or 4 feet away is generally well "in-focus", which suits me fine for the purpose I am using the cameras.
The Hotel Cam has "auto-focus" (as witness the re-focus sequence sometimes when a bright light approaches the camera) but apparently the owner/site admin possibly does not have access to the camera in a way to shut the feature off, or maybe doesn't know how or may not even know that it can be done, or maybe that camera cannot have that feature disabled.
The out of focus situation seems to be worse when the camera is in the B&W mode and I think that is because in that mode the camera is actually responding to the near infrared frequencies of light and the camera is attempting to focus on the weather shield/window it is looking through rather than the scene we railfans are interested in.
If I knew who has control of the camera, I would respectfully suggest that they disable the auto-focus feature for us railfans, but I have no specific instructions on how to get it done (it seems to be something that varies based on the brand/model of camera and software program used to access it).
For my cameras I have to access them with a program that gives me access to the feature to disable it and then run the surveillance/motion detection program. Sometimes the computer remembers my setting through a reboot, and sometimes I have to do it again if I have had to reboot the computer.
I fear we are just stuck with the problem on the Roanoke Rail Cam.
j610 It doesn`t seem to be as clear as it used to be.
It doesn`t seem to be as clear as it used to be.
I think you might be on to something. It isn't lens flare, but I'm not sure what the correct term is. In B&W mode the auto headlights, streetlights, and signals seem to be much larger than they should be. And I just saw a WB pass through the picture, and the flashing light on the FRED looked like it was about 2 feet across. It showed up much better than they used to. I'm not sure if just cleaning the glass in front of the camera will fix this problem, or if it is a settings issue. Still it is mice to have it back this last week or so.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
There are some smudges on the window in front of the camera that fog several areas... even making one spot look 'smokey'. Also the focus seems to settle on "close-up" and that leaves the distant stuff quite blurry, especially when it is in B&W mode.
But other than that, the image seems about the same to me. (The smudges have been there for a couple of months).
I noticed the other day that it was very windy (the trees on the other side of the tracks were shaking quite a bit) and the camera seemed to be shaking in the wind. It was barely noticable unless looking at something very near the edges, then I could see that it was shaking sideways as well as up and down a small amount. This makes me wonder if the camera is inside the walkway or on a pole on the outside. If it is outside I wonder what is smudged.... It may have a protective dome, I guess, but when it rains, water droplets on what ever it is seems to streak on the surface as though it is a flat, vertical surface.
Is it just me or has the hotel cam picture quality deteriorated ? It doesn`t seem to be as clear as it used to be . RON
Been in florida for a week. time to catch up on what`s been going on. Really missed this forum. RON
There was a great deal of train movements between 9 and 10 ET (my afternoon).
I was using a split screen to watch and work and I have to say that is the busiest I think I ever saw the cams.
Most enjoyable.
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)
Argh! All that effort to try to catch the steam loco, and I missed it!? Grrrr. Did anyone get any screen snapshots or rip the video feed? I really wanted to do that.
Well, about this morning, there sure was a lot of train traffic! Wow, that has to be the most action I've seen in a morming! All because I was waiting to get a close screenshot of the caboose that was sitting there...and I ended up seeing a variety of trains with a variety of power and cars. Annoyingly, quite a few movements with the variety happened at the same time, so I missed quite a few of the shots I wanted to get. : (
Right now, there is pratcically nothing, nor has there been for a while, but that's fine. As for the URLs thing, I think both should be kept. The new setup with the weaker feed is okay for most potential viewers, especially as word of the cam spreads, but us serious viewers have the older, better URL here, and only we really know about it, so it's not like it will get overused or anything. And on the bandwidth things, this is when it's nice to have both versions. You can use the smaller bandwidth one when you want, and revert to the live action one when a significant train comes by. You save yourself bandwidth that way, you save them bandwidth, and you still get your full resolution when you want it. I see no reason they'd go to any effort to change that. Besides, we still never had anything come from the suggestion of the police there helping fund the camera with proceeds from all the tickets they'd be issuing for people running the stopsigns, eh?
Looking at the cam it seems that Roanoke has missed out on the great Snowstorm/Blizzard that has swept up from NM to New England. I guess the locals are more than pleased and providing trains are not stuck elsewhere, which they may well be, we should still see some traffic.
It was working at 9 PM Pacific, just saw a nice coal drag go by. Good to see it working again.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.