Trains.com

ROANOKE RAIL CAM

179839 views
1396 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Southeast Michigan
  • 2,983 posts
Posted by Norm48327 on Friday, March 4, 2011 8:31 AM

Big Smile I was going through withdrawl.

Norm


  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Friday, March 4, 2011 2:25 PM

Wow........1st time on here today, and bingo....Hotel cam up and running and an eastbound train of coal cars passing by.   Thanks to whomever responsbile.

Quentin

  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: morganton north carolina
  • 515 posts
Posted by j610 on Friday, March 4, 2011 5:18 PM

Finally got the full screen hotel cam back . You don`t know how much you miss something until it is gone .   RON

J610
  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Southeast Michigan
  • 2,983 posts
Posted by Norm48327 on Friday, March 4, 2011 5:32 PM

6:30 EST, and coal empties moving west. Withdrawal pangs are easing.Smile

Norm


  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: morganton north carolina
  • 515 posts
Posted by j610 on Sunday, March 6, 2011 8:21 AM

Rainy , wet , and cold here and in roanoke today . Good day to be inside watching the cam .    RON

J610
  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Southeast Michigan
  • 2,983 posts
Posted by Norm48327 on Sunday, March 6, 2011 10:34 AM

It went down again about 10:30 this morning.

Norm


  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: morganton north carolina
  • 515 posts
Posted by j610 on Sunday, March 6, 2011 11:44 AM

I think this cam is always going to be a problem because it is not a top priority for repair .   RON

J610
  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Southeast Michigan
  • 2,983 posts
Posted by Norm48327 on Sunday, March 6, 2011 12:07 PM

j610,

You may well be right there. Although the camera is situated on Roanoke Hotel's property it is not their responsibility but that of the U of Virginia. That being said, I'm sure there is not someone there to monitor it 24/7. i guess we have to expect some downtime even though it can be frustrating/painful.

Norm


  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: morganton north carolina
  • 515 posts
Posted by j610 on Sunday, March 6, 2011 12:27 PM

If someone would put up a good,high quality cam and maintain it , i would be willing to pay a reasonable fee each month .   RON

J610
  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Sunday, March 6, 2011 2:02 PM

Just a bit before 3 pm, and Hotel cam is black.  Guess we'll just have to lower our expectations from it....

Too bad when  a cam is installed, there must not be any regular checking on it....to maintain it.

Quentin

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Southeast Michigan
  • 2,983 posts
Posted by Norm48327 on Sunday, March 6, 2011 3:40 PM

Still not working on my end.

Norm


  • Member since
    April 2007
  • From: Iowa
  • 3,293 posts
Posted by Semper Vaporo on Sunday, March 6, 2011 6:30 PM

The Trains dot com service for the hotel cam is back working... still a small image and only updates once per second.

The other two access methods are still down.  not much difference from last week.

 

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: morganton north carolina
  • 515 posts
Posted by j610 on Sunday, March 6, 2011 6:41 PM

Time to go back to watching the netherlands cam again .    RON

J610
  • Member since
    February 2011
  • 12 posts
Posted by conductor14 on Monday, March 7, 2011 7:12 AM

I checked at 8:10 am today and it is up and running again

  • Member since
    January 2006
  • From: Chicopee , Ma.
  • 104 posts
Posted by jlrc47 on Monday, March 7, 2011 8:00 AM

Both cameras are up and running again.

 

Joe

  • Member since
    September 2002
  • 762 posts
Posted by kolechovski on Monday, March 7, 2011 8:17 AM

Wow.  I saw another caboose this morning on that CN train that I hadn't seen before.  It looks to be mixtures of red and orange sections, with some white zigzag logo and some lettering on the middle part of it.  The VMT cam lagged, so I missed the best view of it, but I did get a snapshot of it from the live feed when it came by.  I also later saw NS locos 3561 and 7564 go by that had been sitting and waiting on the other end.

The bandwidth issues will be common-usually when the cam blacks out, it will be in the afternoon, and no method of trying to reach it will work, but so far, all 3 methods work okay (not including the VMT cam, which constantly changes its update rates).  I also notice the Rochelle cam has been having occasional problems loading, but I don't understand why, though it matters little.

And now I see the streetlights have turned on now for some bizarre reason.  Well, 3 of 4 of them have : )

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Monday, March 7, 2011 8:50 AM

Nice surprise, cam up and running and nice and sunny morning.  But right now, no trains.  Not complaining, as I know there are plenty in general during the day.

Quentin

  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: morganton north carolina
  • 515 posts
Posted by j610 on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 10:42 AM

Both cams are working great for now . NS may have to start shipping by boat if the rains don`t let up soon .   RON

J610
  • Member since
    September 2002
  • 762 posts
Posted by kolechovski on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 10:54 AM

Now that's one hell of a locomotive train!  Anyone else see that massive hoard of locos leading the current coal drag?  See how many there were?  I quickly lost count.  I also see the blue loco again.

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 11:08 AM

Roanoke's weather appears to be very similar to ours here in Muncie this morning.  I always get a kick out of watching for the green leaves to start on the visible trees there.

Would have liked to have seen that coal train with the large numbers of locomotives powering it...

Quentin

  • Member since
    September 2002
  • 762 posts
Posted by kolechovski on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 12:41 PM

Upon reviewing the snaps I took of it, I counted 12 locos, the 5th being the blue one with 2 diagonal stripes, and the others all being NS black.  It seemed to be a normal size coal train, with many cars unloaded, and others loaded.

I'm seeing a good bit of those foreign locos today.

  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: morganton north carolina
  • 515 posts
Posted by j610 on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 9:28 PM

Still raining there . I have had the the cam up several times today , but have seen no trains . Most days i have better timing .   RON

J610
  • Member since
    September 2002
  • 762 posts
Posted by kolechovski on Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:08 PM

Sigh...a power failure sapped 1/2 of the pics I got from yesterday.  I had good shots, too.  Lots of variety, all gone : (

  • Member since
    September 2002
  • 762 posts
Posted by kolechovski on Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:51 PM

It looks a slight bit wet now, doesn't it?  I wonder if that's the kinda stuff we're supposed to have move in tonight?  A pretty big winter storm is supposed to hit us tonight.  The cars are certainly making quite a splash.

  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: morganton north carolina
  • 515 posts
Posted by j610 on Thursday, March 10, 2011 1:08 PM

Its moving northeast . It just cleared up here in western north carolina . It was really bad for most of the day .   RON

J610
  • Member since
    August 2006
  • From: The English Riviera, South Devon, England
  • 475 posts
Posted by Great Western on Saturday, March 12, 2011 12:21 PM

There has certainly been quite an amount of activity on the Cam today (Sat. 12th.).  For a couple of hours, 11 am ET until now  13.25 ET, there has been  frequent trains in both directions and moreover as there has been a St. Patricks day Parade at 11 am ET these has been far more cars on Shenandoah Avenue than weekdays.  Even the Cap Park usually empty at week-ends has been full.

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)

  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: morganton north carolina
  • 515 posts
Posted by j610 on Sunday, March 13, 2011 3:37 AM

Very little traffic the past few hours . Time to call it quits for tonight .    RON

J610
  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Sunday, March 13, 2011 9:35 PM

....Just took a peek at the cam about a half hour ago and caught an EB coal train with 2 NS engines on the point. 

Looks like the atmosphere is rather clear there tonight, as I could see the distant transmitting tower lights blinking up on the distant mountain.

Quentin

  • Member since
    September 2002
  • 762 posts
Posted by kolechovski on Monday, March 14, 2011 8:45 AM

Well, I just caught an interesting loco lashup-a blue loco with a horizontal white stripe, then an NS loco, then a red/white/blue horizontal striped loco (further review shows it an HLCX, number unknown).  BN and UP locos were also seen.  I also noticed from this morning, what that radio tower on top of the building really looks like-it's white and is much wider than what you see right now.  That was really interesting to see.

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 5:23 PM

....Well that was a good catch....2 trains, one east bound, and the other west bound, and 2 engines {attached}, setting on near track, headlight on...So 3 bits of activity all at the same time.

Quentin

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy