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Semi-official Rochelle webcam discussion thread

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, April 27, 2015 6:30 PM

Seems like the diamonds were replaced in the not-too-distant past (a couple three years, give or take).

I'm guessing they are due again...

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Posted by blhanel on Thursday, April 30, 2015 6:24 PM

Just watched a one-unit-wonder stacker go through east-bound on the far UP track (Main 1?).  Given the main he was on, I doubt he originated out of Global III.

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Posted by MKT Dave on Sunday, May 3, 2015 10:00 PM

just logged in the first time today, cam down, thought there would be an explanation.

 

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Posted by cefinkjr on Sunday, May 3, 2015 10:29 PM

There should be some lights showing, Dave, but I don't see anything at all.  Must be down.  With 61 degrees and clear, you might be able to see passing trains by moonlight (I think it's just past full) but there being no lights at all tells me we aren't getting anything from the camera.

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Posted by Wizlish on Monday, May 4, 2015 3:08 AM

Usually I can tell it's running because I see a little 'loading HD stream' graphic with animated boxes.  I don't see that now, so I concur either the camera or the streaming service from it is down.  I suspect it's diagnostic in some way that we have the black rectangle frame, but no streaming video to display in it.

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Posted by MKT Dave on Monday, May 4, 2015 7:00 AM

Wizlish

Usually I can tell it's running because I see a little 'loading HD stream' graphic with animated boxes.  I don't see that now, so I concur either the camera or the streaming service from it is down.  I suspect it's diagnostic in some way that we have the black rectangle frame, but no streaming video to display in it.

I spend a lot of time watching it while working overnight,  no sound.... i can't get enough of the horns.

oh no ...withdrawl

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Posted by eolafan on Monday, May 4, 2015 9:14 AM

CryingCryingLooks to be down completely this  morning...oh well...

Eolafan (a.k.a. Jim)
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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Monday, May 4, 2015 6:38 PM

eolafan

CryingCryingLooks to be down completely this  morning...oh well...

Was back up up this afternoon.  First popped and saw an EB UP stacker, then at about 6:30 CDT checked again and watched an EB UP coal drag come in as EFA (everybody's favorite arachnid) scooted around in the frame.

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Posted by cefinkjr on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 11:48 AM

Is it my imagination or are colors sharper than they were before the recent outage?  Was the camera replaced or did our Resident Arachnid start paying rent by cleaning the lens?

Chuck
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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 12:45 PM

cefinkjr

Is it my imagination or are colors sharper than they were before the recent outage?  Was the camera replaced or did our Resident Arachnid start paying rent by cleaning the lens?

I suspect it is your imagination - Spring has sprung at Rochelle and what was indistinct brown and gray has become green.  Arachnid not withstanding.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by cefinkjr on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 3:53 PM

BaltACD
 
cefinkjr

Is it my imagination or are colors sharper than they were before the recent outage?  Was the camera replaced or did our Resident Arachnid start paying rent by cleaning the lens?

 

I suspect it is your imagination - Spring has sprung at Rochelle and what was indistinct brown and gray has become green.  Arachnid not withstanding.

 

You're probably right.  Then too there's this HD monitor I'm still getting accustomed to.  Most things look brighter and clearer.  My wallpaper is a slide show of favorite locomotives; one of the photos is of a GG1 in Tuscan Red with the gold "cat's whiskers" and it looks fabulous.  This monitor even makes my poor photography look good. 

Chuck
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Posted by Brian Schmidt on Thursday, May 7, 2015 9:18 AM

The equipment is the same. The fix was made via computer.

Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine

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Posted by cefinkjr on Thursday, May 7, 2015 11:15 AM

Brian Schmidt

The equipment is the same. The fix was made via computer.

Which any retired software guy should have assumed.  Embarrassed

Pardon me while I wipe the egg off my face.

Chuck
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Posted by blhanel on Thursday, May 7, 2015 10:00 PM

Now if they could just turn off the auto-focus...

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Thursday, May 7, 2015 10:24 PM

Personally, I see no improvement in clarity.  The image compression technique used produces a "muddy" (blurry) image. It always looks like the lens has a very thin film of water on it.  I realize the compression reduces the bandwidth required and that a lot of viewers can really chew up the bandwidth, but I'd like less compression to give a clearer image.

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by AgentKid on Friday, May 8, 2015 4:44 PM

Semper Vaporo

It always looks like the lens has a very thin film of water on it.

Actually most of the time it has a thin film of oil from the diesel exhaust on it. Last fall I was watching and a CN unit came east on a BNSF train, belching smoke. As it passed you could actually see oil drops on the lens running down. And this was on a sunny day so it sure wasn't raindrops.

Earlier today I saw a Herzog ballast car train heading back and forth on the BNSF line, and a few minutes ago there was a WB loaded CWR train. After all these years of watching trains there is still a small part of my mind that can't figure out how CWR trains can go around curves, and how the top boxes stay on double stack cars!ConfusedSmile

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

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Posted by cefinkjr on Friday, May 8, 2015 8:53 PM

AgentKid
 After all these years of watching trains there is still a small part of my mind that can't figure out how CWR trains can go around curves, and how the top boxes stay on double stack cars!

Bruce 

I think that might be explained by what an old railroader told me years ago.  I was marveling that equipment passed over a particularly rough piece of track --- pumping joints, worn-out rail, missing joint bolts, etc. --- without derailing and this old railroader told me, "It's a law, son; the law of gravity." Huh?

Chuck
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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, May 8, 2015 9:32 PM

AgentKid

Earlier today I saw a Herzog ballast car train heading back and forth on the BNSF line, and a few minutes ago there was a WB loaded CWR train. After all these years of watching trains there is still a small part of my mind that can't figure out how CWR trains can go around curves, and how the top boxes stay on double stack cars!ConfusedSmile

Bruce

 

 

When it comes to moving welded rail, it has the flexibility of spaghetti to lateral moves as the train moves around curves - after all the rail the rail train is operating on has already been laid with the same degree of curvature and spiked in place to keep it from shifting to another alignment.

Top Containers stay connected to bottom containers because of these little devices that are used at the designated locking points.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by rdettmer on Saturday, May 9, 2015 12:39 PM

the rail on the rail train is not moving to much because its bolted down in the middle

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Posted by CatFoodFlambe on Saturday, May 9, 2015 3:42 PM

rdettmer

the rail on the rail train is not moving to much because its bolted down in the middle

 

So what happens if the Big E pulls a knuckle or a drawbar along his/her merry way? Hmm

 

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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, May 9, 2015 11:13 PM

CatFoodFlambe
rdettmer

the rail on the rail train is not moving to much because its bolted down in the middle

So what happens if the Big E pulls a knuckle or a drawbar along his/her merry way? Hmm

 

 

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Posted by MKT Dave on Sunday, May 10, 2015 12:52 PM

Is the 'Salad Shooter', all refers? 1249pm 0510, WB UP, went through at speed.

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, May 11, 2015 9:42 AM

MKT Dave

Is the 'Salad Shooter', all reefers? 

Pretty sure it is.

LarryWhistling
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Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by dknelson on Monday, May 11, 2015 10:11 AM

A crew this morning seems to be attending to the switch off the main that allows the BNSF to serve the Del Monte plant to the west.   It has been a long time since I have seen any BNSF action on that switch lead - back in the day the BN and C&NW used to alternate for which railroad served the plant.  Is there a chance the old BN switch is being removed?

Dave Nelson

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Posted by northwesterner on Monday, May 11, 2015 10:16 AM

I was watching the feed about 30 minutes ago. A BNSF engine and three cars just backed down the DelMonte lead.

C&NW - Route of the Kate Shelley
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Posted by alpinemike on Monday, May 11, 2015 11:04 AM
yea I saw two trains running side by side one being oil
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Posted by MrLynn on Monday, May 11, 2015 11:11 AM

northwesterner

I was watching the feed about 30 minutes ago. A BNSF engine and three cars just backed down the DelMonte lead.

A BNSF local, often running long-hood forward (a GP40? sounds like an old, two-cylinder John Deere tractor), uses that switch late morning every day I've been on at that time.

Looks like the crew there has installed a new telephone pole at the switch.  They were digging with a back hoe, and now have moved the tractor up by the tree.

Here comes a covered-hopper train eastbound on the BNSF near track, led by two Norfolk-Southern locomotives. . .  Now gone.  Everybody hunkered down till the train passed.

Have to check back later.  What's with the pole?

/Mr Lynn

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Posted by rdamon on Monday, May 11, 2015 12:16 PM

Maybe they are going to power the switch?

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Posted by David1005 on Monday, May 11, 2015 11:32 PM

It looks like the UP installed a new aluminum signal bridge just beyond the existing black signal bridge on the far side of the crossing.  The camera does not include the same area on this side of the crossing, so can not see if there is similar work going on. It looks like the days of the CNW steel signal bridges may be numbered. 

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Posted by MKT Dave on Tuesday, May 12, 2015 6:44 AM

dknelson

A crew this morning seems to be attending to the switch off the main that allows the BNSF to serve the Del Monte plant to the west.   It has been a long time since I have seen any BNSF action on that switch lead - back in the day the BN and C&NW used to alternate for which railroad served the plant.  Is there a chance the old BN switch is being removed?

Dave Nelson

 

the siding is used every workday, most of the time a GP38 with a number of various cars. One time saw a number of center line cars come out full of skids. (pallets). I've also caught them a various times, but the 11am to 12am seems to be the usuall time for it. Mon morning the switcher backed down it about 9am.

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