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Semi-official Rochelle webcam discussion thread

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Posted by cefinkjr on Friday, October 21, 2016 12:15 AM

rdamon
I wonder if this was another train tacked on the end of another. When they get to another yard the two GP15s will break off and take the end somewhere else.

The NYC did something like this in the early '70s but with cabooses, not power.  SV-7 (SuperVan) would roll into Collinwood Yard (Cleveland, OH) for a crew change with a caboose about 2/3 of the way back.  Cars behind that caboose would be cut off and SV-7 would roll west for Toledo and Chicago.  Meanwhile, another set of GP-40s would back down on what had been the rear of SV-7 and would take them west as SV-9; turning southwest at Berea (just west of Cleveland) for the Big Four.  Those GP-40s had better be waiting when SV-7 arrived because the published timetable allowed something like 20 minutes before both trains were due out.  And since the SVs (solid Flexi-Van trains) were the hottest thing on the road, that timetable was followed or somebody was on the carpet. 

Chuck
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Posted by cefinkjr on Friday, October 21, 2016 12:48 PM

Another unusual scene: Two EB UP stack trains at the same time moving at very nearly the same speed.  I caught the power on #2 moving across the screen just about in step with the other train on #1.

Chuck
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Posted by cefinkjr on Friday, October 21, 2016 1:34 PM

And the hits just keep on comin'.  BNSF ran one unit, a covered hopper (for braking?), and one passenger car (business car?  instruction car?).  Something you don't see every day.

Chuck
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Posted by AgentKid on Friday, October 21, 2016 2:00 PM

cefinkjr
BNSF ran one unit, a covered hopper (for braking?), and one passenger car (business car? instruction car?).

I saw that as well. It is the same cofiguration as the test train we were discussing a few months ago, but I'm pretty sure it is a different coach.

This one seemed newer and it had no vestibules. Up here that would make it a Dining Car. The previous car had a vestibule on one end and windows that made it seem like some type of sleeper.

When you think about it, it would seem easier to reconfigure a Diner to hold test eauipment than other types of cars since you would already have an open area and would just have to remove the tables and chairs. And if the equipment was sensitive you wouldn't have to worry about leaky and drafty baggage car doors.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

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Posted by Pjangis on Friday, October 21, 2016 2:47 PM

Buut for what purpose? Possible passenger thraaic? Seemed pretty important to pull only on2 cars- one being a passenger(?) car...

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Posted by AgentKid on Friday, October 21, 2016 9:34 PM

Pjangis
Buut for what purpose?

According to the talk from earlier, it is some type of track test car. Rail geometry or some such. I have seen other talk of developing existing types of test cars that can work at regular track speeds. Most existing types of test cars work at some restricted speed. A passenger car would be a good platform for higher operating speed test cars.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by AgentKid on Saturday, October 22, 2016 6:59 AM

It is still dark at Rochelle but I just saw something interesting. Two EB UP trains were coming across the diamonds at the same time. The first train had the high beams and ditchlights on. The second train was about a full engine length behind, on the near track, and only had his low beams on. I guess he didn't want to blind the lead engineer with all his lights reflected back through the lead unit's side mirror.

This reminded me of something I haven't seen for a long time. In the 1980's I lived in a 34th floor apartment that looked down on the CP mainline west out of Calgary. Westbound trains waiting for a green board at Sunalta would stop short of the 8th St. SW underpass, which was below my window. There is nothing like seeing the engineer hit the high beams and ditchlights when he got the green at night, just after a heavy snowfall. It would get so bright, so far away, so quickly, it was like the Sun had been equipped with an on/off switch. Extremely cool.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by chrisjmiller on Saturday, October 22, 2016 7:35 AM
Here in the UK, I'm still (after a week) just seeing the "Loading EarthCam Stream" message. Is anyone else having problems, or do I need to relocate across the pond? :)
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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Saturday, October 22, 2016 8:49 AM

chrisjmiller
Here in the UK, I'm still (after a week) just seeing the "Loading EarthCam Stream" message. Is anyone else having problems, or do I need to relocate across the pond? :)
 

 
Perks Workfictly fer me.
 
I suppose you had better relocate, but if you are going to move that far, you might as well just move to Rochelle and then you can watch the scene for real and won't care if the webcam is working or not!
 
 

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by chrisjmiller on Saturday, October 22, 2016 9:50 AM

Thanks, SV.  It seems to be a problem with the latest update of Chrome, it works for me in Edge.

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Posted by cefinkjr on Saturday, October 22, 2016 12:24 PM

Semper Vaporo
 
chrisjmiller
Here in the UK, I'm still (after a week) just seeing the "Loading EarthCam Stream" message. Is anyone else having problems, or do I need to relocate across the pond? :)
Perks Workfictly fer me.
 
I suppose you had better relocate, but if you are going to move that far, you might as well just move to Rochelle and then you can watch the scene for real and won't care if the webcam is working or not!

chrisjmiller

Thanks, SV.  It seems to be a problem with the latest update of Chrome, it works for me in Edge.

I avoid Edge as much as possible and the WebCam has been behaving very nicely with Win10/IE 11.  Of course, there's that pesky spider but the web seems to have been cleared away ... again ... for now.

Chuck
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Posted by jeffhergert on Monday, October 24, 2016 4:50 PM

I was checking my line-up, I'm second out, and saw I was lined up for MPRCBW at 3am.  I noticed it's last OS was just east of Rochelle, so I thought I'd check the webcam, hoping it was working OK.  It was.  I just missed the head end, but watched the rest of it roll through.  

I would think it would do better than 3am, but it hadn't been prompted for a Clinton crew when I logged off the employee site.  About 65 miles to Clinton with a 90 minute call time doesn't bode well for this train.  Hot it's not.  Might be some birds in the area.

Jeff

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Posted by blhanel on Monday, October 24, 2016 5:06 PM

Now, if someone would PLEASE disable the auto-focus on the camera...

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Posted by jeffhergert on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 4:40 AM

I didn't get the train.  They decided to throw in a couple of dead heads so I got a 11:45 pm van ride.  Or as I told my wife, we're taking the van and going deer hunting.  The driver saw one but it was standing down in the ditch away from the road.

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Posted by Deggesty on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 7:44 AM

jeffhergert

I didn't get the train.  They decided to throw in a couple of dead heads so I got a 11:45 pm van ride.  Or as I told my wife, we're taking the van and going deer hunting.  The driver saw one but it was standing down in the ditch away from the road.

Jeff 

 

So the deer didn't jump into your lap so you could take it home?

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 10:54 AM

Deggesty
So the deer didn't jump into your lap so you could take it home?

   Are you thinking it was a shmoo?

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Posted by Deggesty on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 12:07 PM

Paul of Covington

 

 
Deggesty
So the deer didn't jump into your lap so you could take it home?

 

   Are you thinking it was a shmoo?

 

had not thought of deer imitating shmoos, but I do know that some seem to be so desperate that they leap through windshields.

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Posted by cefinkjr on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 5:31 PM

Deggesty
Paul of Covington
Deggesty
So the deer didn't jump into your lap so you could take it home? 

   Are you thinking it was a shmoo? 

had not thought of deer imitating shmoos, but I do know that some seem to be so desperate that they leap through windshields.

I knew one once that was so desperate (or clumsy) that it tried to leap through my right front fender.  PA State Police confiscated the carcass and left me with a repair bill.  Something wrong there.

Chuck
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Posted by rdamon on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 3:15 PM

The fire pit is now a nice reflection pond Umbrella

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, October 27, 2016 11:19 AM

cefinkjr
PA State Police confiscated the carcass...

Around here, you get to keep it, if you want it (there are circumstances where it's not worth it).  Folks have been known to take it for a friend.  Small consolation if you're looking at a ~$4,000 repair bill...

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Thursday, October 27, 2016 11:28 AM

tree68
 
cefinkjr
PA State Police confiscated the carcass...

 

Around here, you get to keep it, if you want it (there are circumstances where it's not worth it).  Folks have been known to take it for a friend.  Small consolation if you're looking at a ~$4,000 repair bill...

Look up the price of venison on-line!  You just might come out ahead if you can sell most of the carcass!

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, October 27, 2016 11:45 AM

Semper Vaporo
tree68
cefinkjr

Around here, you get to keep it, if you want it (there are circumstances where it's not worth it).  Folks have been known to take it for a friend.  Small consolation if you're looking at a ~$4,000 repair bill...

Look up the price of venison on-line!  You just might come out ahead if you can sell most of the carcass!

Arby's Venison

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2016/10/25/arbys-takes-stab-venison-burgers-select-locations/92727506/

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by cefinkjr on Thursday, October 27, 2016 3:11 PM

BaltACD

Thanks much for that link, Balt.  I'll be looking for that ad locally; Tennessee is kind of a fur piece to go for venison.  If they would start serving elk, I'd be willing to travel a ways for that.  A Cabela's here serves "Sliced Roast Elk" sandwiches in their snack bar and they are great!

Chuck
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Posted by cefinkjr on Sunday, October 30, 2016 4:18 PM

Just watched a mixed freight EB on UP #1.  The first several cars were new farm equipment on 60' flats.  The rockin' and rollin' were almost scary.  Kept watching and noticed that some cars seemed to be steady.  Decided that the difference was the length of the car: Those with a length that put one truck on each diamond rocked alarmingly; shorter or longer cars rocked a little but nothing to be concerned about.

Chuck
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Posted by AgentKid on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 8:56 AM

Either the third or fourth loaded EB oil train I've seen since Friday has just crossed the diamonds on BNSF at 0844 CDT. For what might be a brief moment, the economics of CBR might just be working. I suspect eastern refineries are laying in extra stock for the upcoming winter.

And UP hasn't been left out, as I've seen two WB and one EB oil trains in the same time frame on their line as well. Being the first of the month today I don't think is a coincidence.

I bet both RR's would like it to last, but I wouldn't be the ranch on it.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by CShaveRR on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 7:22 PM

Bruce, I strongly suspect that the trains you're seeing on UP are for ethanol.  UP doesn't do much with CBR, at least in this neck of the woods.

It would be hard for one to tell the difference between crude oil trains and ethanol trains on the webcam.  An oil train may have more modern equipment, but new and upgraded tank cars can be seen in ethanol service, too.  About the only way you can tell for sure is to check the placards.

Carl

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Posted by xjqcf on Friday, November 4, 2016 12:57 PM

UP has a tamper working right in the middle of the diamonds on #2 track. Maybe this will relieve some the the extreme rock and roll issues this track has been having the last few months.

 

 

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Posted by jeffhergert on Friday, November 4, 2016 2:55 PM

CShaveRR

Bruce, I strongly suspect that the trains you're seeing on UP are for ethanol.  UP doesn't do much with CBR, at least in this neck of the woods.

It would be hard for one to tell the difference between crude oil trains and ethanol trains on the webcam.  An oil train may have more modern equipment, but new and upgraded tank cars can be seen in ethanol service, too.  About the only way you can tell for sure is to check the placards.

 

I haven't seen an oil train on the line-up for a while.  Even when we did have them, the only regular move came out of Colorado and was only a few times a week at it's heaviest.

Lots of ethanol though.  

Jeff  

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Posted by cefinkjr on Friday, November 4, 2016 4:17 PM

Where's a good photographer when you need one?  Two BNSF trains just met exactly as they both reached the diamonds.  Couldn't have been timed more perfectly if the two engineers had practiced it and agreed before hand that they would both arrive at the diamonds at the same time ... to the second ... at track speed!

And yes, they were both moving out right smartly.  They were both gone before I finished typing the paragraph above and I type at 60 wpm.

Chuck
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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Friday, November 4, 2016 8:58 PM

cefinkjr

Where's a good photographer when you need one?   

If you are viewing the webcam using a PC (I assume the MAC has something similar but I am unaware of what or how to use it); your keyboard has a key labeled "PrtSc".  When you see something of interest, press that key.  This will save to the "Clipboard" the image of your screen as it was at the moment you pressed the key.

Then run "Paint" (the present name of a free program that comes with Windows, used to be called "MS Paint" and "PaintBrush").  You can use any other drawing/photo editing program, too.  They will have similar capabilities.

When "Paint" (or your photo editing program) opens, type "Ctrl-V" (hold down the "Crtl" key and press the "V" key) to paste the "Clipboard" into the drawing area of "Paint".

If you had the Webcam showing as Full Screen then skip ahead to the **** below.

I am going to assume here that you had the Webcam showing as a small window on your screen while you were busy using Excel to calculate why things don't add up, or composing an award winning novel using Word, so you will need to crop the image down to just the small image from the Webcam and remove the trash of the rest of the screen.

IMMEDIATELY after pasting the 'Clipboard' into 'Paint', click and drag the image up and to the left until the top of the Webcam image is aligned with the top and left of the Paint work area.  If you accidently do something else and the image is frozen to the work area, type "Ctrl-A" (Hold down the "Ctrl" key and type the "A") to reselect the whole work area and then you can drag it up and left.

Once you have the upper and left sides aligned where you want them you need to crop the right side and bottom.  Use the horizontal and vertical slider bars (if they are visible) to shift the image to the right side and about centered up and down.  On the extreme right side will be a small white square with a black outline (you may have to click inside the work area, but outside the image, to see the tiny box).  Click and drag that box to the left to bring the right edge of the work area to align with the right side of the Webcam image.

Then use the slider bars again to find the small white box with a black outline at the center of the bottom of the work area and click and drag that box up to align the bottom of the work area with the bottom of the Webcam image.

You can always shift the Webcam image up so as to eliminate the sky, and drag the bottom of the work area up to remove some of the bottom of the image.  Same for dragging it to the left off the left side or drag the right edge of the work area to eliminate some of the sides of the image.  This is useful if the image is large and you want to emphasize just some portion of the Webcam image.

****

You now have an image that can be saved and shared!  But, if it is a very large image (like you had it as full screen) you may want to reduce the size using the "Resize" tool.  This tool is in the "Tool Ribbon" at the top... click the word "Resize" near the left end.  Enter a percentage of reduction, like 50% and see how it looks, if it is not to your liking, type "Ctrl-Z" to undo the change and try some other percentage.

To save the image, click "File" in the Menu bar at the top and mover your mouse over "Save As...", a selection of file types will appear, "JPEG" is probably the best type to save a screen capture image as, but click which ever type suits your fancy.  You will get a "Save" dialog box, enter a descriptive name (such as "Rochelle Webcam 11-4-16 0830PM" (include the date and time if you wish) and click the "Save" button.  BE SURE TO NOTE WHERE YOU ARE SAVING IT!  Change the Directory/Folder if necessary before you click "Save"!!!

Now you can share that image on this forum.

That was an awful lot of words to describe, "Do a Print Screen, copy the clipboard to a photo editing program, then crop it, size it and save it."

 

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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