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Fostoria Rail Cam

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Fostoria Rail Cam
Posted by grampaw pettibone on Tuesday, November 29, 2011 3:26 PM

I read somewhere that the Fostoria railcam will be back online Dec 1. Is that correct? Will it have the same URL? Thanks

Tom

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Posted by Stourbridge Lion on Tuesday, November 29, 2011 3:48 PM

I've read that is already online as a "Pay" service but I'm not a member of the site to say if the URL is the same or not.

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Posted by TPWRY on Tuesday, November 29, 2011 6:09 PM

It is online now but have to pay $10 a month or $100 a year to view them. They have 2 out of the 3 Fostoria cams up and running right now! One is in HD and one is still in 480p standard definition. They will never be free. They were supposed to become free Dec. 1st but the owner of them changed that without notice! So now you have to pay for em.

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Posted by kolechovski on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 12:08 PM

Any screenshots from what used to come by on this cam?  I'm curious to see what type of stuff was running and where.

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Posted by eolafan on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 2:41 PM

Back when this railcam was free it was by far the best one I'd ever seen...now they are asking for $100 per year...far and away too much for such a service.  What I'd suggest is the Fostoria cam owners cut a deal with TRAINS.com to include their cam along with the Rochelle cam and by doing so they get far and away more viewers as well as access to the advertising and funding that would bring, and by doing so they could offer it to us for free.

Eolafan (a.k.a. Jim)
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Posted by JoeKoh on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 3:08 PM

On ns you would find intermodal,auto,road railers mixed frieght and a local shuffleing back and forth.Csx you'll see intermodal,auto,coal,mixed frieght and their local.You could also see the different power that csx has coming by.The csx lines go from willard to chicago(B&O) and from Columbus to toledo(C&O).The NS line goes from Bellevue to Ft Wayne(NKP).The original camera was on the station bar where the B&O and NKP crossed.If they added a C&O/NKP cam and a B&O/C&O cam that would be great.

hope this helps

stay safe

joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

 

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Posted by kolechovski on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 3:27 PM

I'm curious...how do they control access to the camera?  Is there a magic URL that once retrieved, anybody could access the cam with?  Although you may think not, don't be so certain.  Sometimes there are oversights, after all.

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 3:59 PM

Here is the site:

http://www.railstream.org/

As mentioned its is now a "pay for view" site.

$10.00 a month...or $100.00 a year.

I don't believe its worth it...

 

 

 

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Posted by kolechovski on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 4:44 PM

Wait, does that apply to the whole site?  Because right now I seem to be viewing one of those without logging in.  It simply loads the feed right next to the login window.  It's Cresson, PA.  Is that a free one or something?  URL:

http://www.railstream.org/Video_Streams/cresson.html

 

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 6:09 PM

The Cresson, PA view is still free, but it comes with an initial advertisement you have to watch (you cannot skip it or mute it) and then when that advertisement is done, while you are viewing the railcam view there are popup advertisements that appear at the bottom of the view that stay for 30 seconds or so (or you can close them by clicking on the "X" in the upper right corner).  I didn't watch it long enough to see if another full image advertisement runs after some fixed number of minutes, but i suspect there would be... maybe every 5 to 15 mnutes.

The Pay-Per-View video stream from Fostoria does NOT have advertising over it.  So YOU pay for a clean video stream and SOMEBODY ELSE pays if you can put up with the inane advertising.

Is it worth $10 per month to not have to put up with the advertising?  That is your choice.

 

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by zugmann on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 6:18 PM

$10 a month for a railcam?  Better be some scantily-clad women running around on it or something....

 

Besides, the best part of the Fostoria site  was watching the drunk locals stumble across the tracks.  But commenting about the drunks upset the morons moderators in that chatroom. 

 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 6:21 PM

kolechovski

I'm curious...how do they control access to the camera?  Is there a magic URL that once retrieved, anybody could access the cam with?  Although you may think not, don't be so certain.  Sometimes there are oversights, after all.

It is like your bank website, or E-Bay, or PayPal, or any other site where you have to JOIN and "Log-IN" to access the rest of the website beyond the initial page.  If YOU were to pay the fee and join and then publish your log-in ID and Password, then ANYBODY could access the site using YOUR ID.  Then while the first person to do so is watching the video feed, YOU and everybody else that tries to use YOUR ID would be locked out of the site until that 1st person to use it shut their computer off or logged OUT.  If they were to not log-off for a month then you will have wasted your money.

 

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by TPWRY on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 6:30 PM

Murray

Here is the site:

http://www.railstream.org/

As mentioned its is now a "pay for view" site.

$10.00 a month...or $100.00 a year.

I don't believe its worth it...

 

 

 

Yea I don't think it's worth it either. One I'm not gonna be able to watch all the time and two I'd watch a few times then I wouldn't really pay much attention to it so why pay for something that you wont pay much attention to after while and the fact that I can't sit and watch something forever especially when there's nothing going through!  I'd start doing something else and wouldn't pay attention to the cam! Its not worth a penny if you ask me!! I can understand them asking people who view enough for donations but not forcing everybody to pay $10 a month to casually view it from time to time!!

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Posted by RRKen on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 7:54 PM

zugmann

$10 a month for a railcam?  Better be some scantily-clad women running around on it or something....

 

Besides, the best part of the Fostoria site  was watching the drunk locals stumble across the tracks.  But commenting about the drunks upset the morons moderators in that chatroom. 

 

And no typing in Blue.

I never drink water. I'm afraid it will become habit-forming.
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Posted by zugmann on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 7:57 PM

RRKen

 

 

 

And no typing in Blue.

 

Yeah, can't forget about that.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by RRKen on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 7:59 PM

I predict in one year, Toad Cluck with GrainOrders.kom will own this site too.   Just think, Pennies a day for a second rate web cam.

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Posted by MT Madman on Thursday, December 1, 2011 5:36 PM

Nice thing about America and capitalism, if someone else can do it better for cheaper (free) he will fail.

We all get heavier as we get older, because there is a lot more information in our heads. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

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Posted by zugmann on Thursday, December 1, 2011 7:42 PM

MT Madman

Nice thing about America and capitalism, if someone else can do it better for cheaper (free) he will fail.

 

Your quote doesn't make sense.  Shouldn't it be: if someone else can do it better for cheaper (free) he will succeed??

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Thursday, December 1, 2011 11:24 PM

zugmann

 MT Madman:

Nice thing about America and capitalism, if someone else can do it better for cheaper (free) he will fail.

 

 

Your quote doesn't make sense.  Shouldn't it be: if someone else can do it better for cheaper (free) he will succeed??

If he is doing it for free, he will go out of business... i.e.: fail.

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by issaaac on Thursday, December 1, 2011 11:41 PM

Yes, it is a pay to view site, but i believe it is worth it, in coming months  there will be a 4th cam, live from Australia, which i am part of the team setting this cam up. Also, $10 may sound like a lot, but for the 2 fostoria cams, having an average of 80+ viewers at all times, it cost mike over $750 per month! 

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Posted by zugmann on Friday, December 2, 2011 1:36 PM

Semper Vaporo

 

 

 

If he is doing it for free, he will go out of business... i.e.: fail.

If it's free, maybe but not so for cheaper.  

 

I just don't see the attraction of paying $10 a month to watch a bunch of trains and drunks.  But if it works for some, more power to them.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by CNWRacine on Friday, December 2, 2011 3:21 PM

No talking about the houses across the street, No user names in Caps, rules subject to change at anytime.  Then they tell people don't say trains, gates, or lights when you hear or see a train, so what does everyone do?  Yup that's right they all start typing HORN, LIGHTS, and Gates!!!  Totally not worth the $10 a month sorry just my 2My 2 Cents

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Posted by CNWRacine on Friday, December 2, 2011 3:22 PM

No talking about the houses across the street, No user names in Caps, rules subject to change at anytime.  Then they tell people don't say trains, gates, or lights when you hear or see a train, so what does everyone do?  Yup that's right they all start typing HORN, LIGHTS, and Gates!!!  Totally not worth the $10 a month sorry just my 2My 2 Cents

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, December 2, 2011 3:51 PM

Its a COLLOSAL waste of money...................

 

 

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Posted by zugmann on Friday, December 2, 2011 5:36 PM

CNWRacine

No talking about the houses across the street, No user names in Caps, rules subject to change at anytime.  Then they tell people don't say trains, gates, or lights when you hear or see a train, so what does everyone do?  Yup that's right they all start typing HORN, LIGHTS, and Gates!!!  Totally not worth the $10 a month sorry just my 2My 2 Cents

 

GATES!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by zugmann on Friday, December 2, 2011 5:36 PM

Murray

Its a COLLOSAL waste of money...................

 

 

 

HEY!  NO CAPS!

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by RRKen on Friday, December 2, 2011 8:21 PM

zugmann

 Murray:

Its a COLLOSAL waste of money...................

 

 

 

 

HEY!  NO CAPS!

 

And don't comment about the drunks coming out of the Bar either.  Even if they pee on the NS main line.

I never drink water. I'm afraid it will become habit-forming.
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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Friday, December 2, 2011 9:30 PM

Interesting comments, but... Well...

When the Roanoke Hotel cam was first coming on-line a couple of years ago, it had many technical problems and there were all kinds of comments about how people were willing to pay a small fee to get the cam running more reliably.  Now this cam is available for a fee and nobody likes it.

There were comments about how nice it would be if there were a chat feature for the Roanoke Hotel cam.  The Fostoria cam has that feature and people are complaining about its use.

Why do you think there are the rules about the use of the chat feature?  Sure there are people that can't refrain from stating the obvious.  i.e.: If the comment is in the context of an "on-line" chat system then the people that will be reading the chat would also be viewing the video scene and already know about any event that is occuring in the scene, so the "GATES" chat comment is wasted bandwidth and a loss of space in the chat window (possible worthwhile comments would be scrolled off the window) just to point out the obvious.  The owner of the system is asking people to refrain from doing so.

Would the Roanoke Hotel want to call attention to all the actions/activities of their patrons?  I doubt that the bar that is HOSTING the physical location of the camera really appreciates what the patrons do when they leave but really don't want those things pointed out constantly.

If you lived across the tracks from the camera would you like for people to make comments on a public forum about what you do?  Public discussion of their activities, no matter how innocous they might be, could provoke action to have the camera removed!

There are those that interpret whole message typed in CAPS as shouting and equate it to anger... so the chat window rules say, Don't shout... either learn how to use the Caps Lock key on your keyboard or don't make comments in the Chat window.

I don't know of any web forum or chat service that does not state that the rules can change at any time for any reason at the whim of the person that is responsible for the service.

So what's all this brewhaha about?  Its a RailCam... join, follow the rules and enjoy it, or don't join and ignore it.

Just my My 2 Cents about this thread. Wink

 

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by zugmann on Friday, December 2, 2011 9:57 PM

There was nothing worthwhile on that chat window that was lost with "GATES!" comments. 

 

Everybody just sat in there staring at each other, not typing a word.  I went there once or twice, tried to have a little fun, create a little conversation (nothing rude, crude or inconsiderate) and was swiftly kicked.  Then all the other silent bobs praised the banning/kicking.  I guess it disrupted nap time or something.

Oh well, their loss. 

 

But yeah, everyone says they will pay for a site, but saying they will pay and getting out the credit card are two different things.

 

 

 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, December 2, 2011 10:44 PM

$10 a month?

Netflix is advertising their product for $8 a month!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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