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Semi-official Rochelle webcam discussion thread

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Tuesday, November 10, 2015 4:47 PM

4:45 PM it crossed the diamonds.  The passengers got a nice gentle roller coaster ride out of it, too.

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Tuesday, November 10, 2015 2:28 PM

CBT
Im pretty sure a couple of minutes ago i saw the red board down off the WB UP track.

Red board is down.  AMT 6 is showing to be at Clinton in the yard there at 2:30 CST, probably picking up it's pilot crew to guide them to Proviso, at least.  They should hit Rochelle just before 3:30 CST, I would guess.

UPDATE: 3:05 PM CST, now east of Morrison, about 45 miles from Rochelle.

 

FURTHER UPDATE: 4 PM CST, icon for AMT 6 has now disappeared after showing "bullseye" at Nelson, IL for a while, just west of Dixon.  Hmmmm.

FINAL UPDATE: 4:45 PM CST, AMT6 came through Rochelle with a UP unit on the point (for cab signals?) and moving just fine.  Screen shots, but it was pretty dark by then.

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Posted by CBT on Tuesday, November 10, 2015 2:20 PM

ChuckCobleigh

 

 
jeffhergert

Amtrak will be detouring over the UP today.  I just missed getting AMT 6 out of Omaha.

Jeff

 

 

Interesting that the "Track your Train" map on Amtrak shows ATK 6 eastbound at about Des Moines, as opposed to the Ottumwa area in Iowa.  The icon is directly north of the dot for Osceola station.  Looks like about 250 miles or more of running to Rochelle.  Status of 6 is unavailable now "due to service disruption."

UPDATE: At noon CST on the Amtrak Track map, 6 shows just west of Tama, IA, about 185 miles west of Rochelle.  Red board still up on WB UP track at Rochelle, at least, with workers at the signal bridge west of the diamonds.

 

Im pretty sure a couple of minutes ago i saw the red board down off the WB UP track.

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Tuesday, November 10, 2015 10:34 AM

jeffhergert

Amtrak will be detouring over the UP today.  I just missed getting AMT 6 out of Omaha.

Jeff

Interesting that the "Track your Train" map on Amtrak shows ATK 6 eastbound at about Des Moines, as opposed to the Ottumwa area in Iowa.  The icon is directly north of the dot for Osceola station.  Looks like about 250 miles or more of running to Rochelle.  Status of 6 is unavailable now "due to service disruption."

UPDATE: At noon CST on the Amtrak Track map, 6 shows just west of Tama, IA, about 185 miles west of Rochelle.  Red board still up on WB UP track at Rochelle, at least, with workers at the signal bridge west of the diamonds.

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Posted by jeffhergert on Tuesday, November 10, 2015 2:32 AM

Amtrak will be detouring over the UP today.  I just missed getting AMT 6 out of Omaha.

Jeff

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Monday, November 9, 2015 6:46 PM

Was looking at the Newswire this evening and it looks like the WB Empire Builder made a detour through Rochelle today on BNSF tracks.  I'm guessing nobody caught the appearance, given the silence on this thread, but that would have been something to see.

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Posted by AgentKid on Friday, November 6, 2015 1:36 PM

What a relief, the cam is back up again. It not working really wasn't working for me.

The first train I saw was a WB on the UP. It put the mixed in mixed consist train. Some Yardmaster east of Rochelle must have gone on a rampage to clean out his yard and got these cars moved down the line for the next YM to sort out.

Hope the cam stays up.

Bruce

 

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Posted by rdettmer on Friday, November 6, 2015 1:32 PM

rochelle is back on now

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Posted by cefinkjr on Friday, November 6, 2015 12:15 PM

rdamon

I wonder how much more work is getting done with the camera being down.

Maybe less in my case.  I somehow managed to get the Bailey Yard web cam, full-screen, in "living color", panning continously, as my desktop background.  Not sure how I did that but I can't wait for Rochelle to get back up so I can try to duplicate it there.

Meanwhile, what was it again that I meant to do this morning?

Chuck
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Posted by rdamon on Friday, November 6, 2015 11:46 AM

I wonder how much more work is getting done with the camera being down.

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Thursday, November 5, 2015 11:13 PM

rdamon

I blame the spider

That's one thick web!  To steal from "Jaws," you're going to need a bigger broom.

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Posted by chrisjmiller on Thursday, November 5, 2015 2:58 PM

Thanks for the update on Bailey yard.  Looks like it's stopped working in Chrome, works fine in Internet Explorer and Edge. 

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Posted by cefinkjr on Thursday, November 5, 2015 2:06 PM

SushiLover
The Bailey cam worked fine for me yesterday...

The Bailey cam seems to be working fine now.  Here's the link I use (to save you the trouble of searching for it): http://visitnorthplatte.com/live-bailey-yard-web-cam/  If anyone knows a way to bypass the tourist attractions at North Platte, please let us know.

Profound-thought-brought-on-by-viewing-Bailey-Yard-for-a-few-minutes: How can anything be so boring and so fascinating at the same time?  Railroading is so fascinating that it's held my attention for more than 70 years.

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Posted by SushiLover on Thursday, November 5, 2015 1:45 PM

chrisjmiller

 

I fear you may be right Big Smile.  BTW the Bailey Yard camera has also been broken for the last few days (I realise that's nothing to do with Trains).

 

 

 The Bailey cam worked fine for me yesterday...

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Posted by chrisjmiller on Thursday, November 5, 2015 11:15 AM

rdamon

I blame the spider

 

I fear you may be right Big Smile.  BTW the Bailey Yard camera has also been broken for the last few days (I realise that's nothing to do with Trains).

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Posted by SAM HUNTER on Thursday, November 5, 2015 11:01 AM

You're close. Section 1 is in the northeast corner of the township and section 36 is in the southeast corner. 

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Posted by rdamon on Thursday, November 5, 2015 10:29 AM

I blame the spider

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Posted by vsmith on Thursday, November 5, 2015 10:12 AM
still AWOL today

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by junior yardmaster on Wednesday, November 4, 2015 3:39 PM

Brian Schmidt

Link: Rochelle Web Cam

Trains Magazine has upgraded the Rochelle, Ill., webcam with a bigger picture and sound. The webcam is free for registered users. See something cool on the video feed? Post about it here!

And don't forget our Rochelle railfan guide for when you visit the Hub City!

 

Semi-official Rochelle webcam site; the camera is on the blink; no picture; black screen.  Junior Yardmaster

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Posted by Brian Schmidt on Wednesday, November 4, 2015 1:16 PM

Folks, we are aware of a problem with the webcam today and are working to fix it.

Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine

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Posted by SushiLover on Wednesday, November 4, 2015 8:29 AM

Aw, no stream today Sad

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Posted by rdamon on Tuesday, November 3, 2015 9:38 AM

Looks like the signal crews are working today.

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, November 2, 2015 4:09 PM

tree68

 

 
CShaveRR
I think that in the flatland Midwest, one will find that the railroads placed a station in each township along their line. Townships were characteristically six miles square, so stations were approximately six miles apart.

 

 
Most of the "Northwest Territory" (not to be confused with the current entity in Canada) was set up with 36 square mile townships.  That included all or most of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
 
If you look at political maps of those states (as opposed to geographical), you'll find baselines and meridians in each.  The townships are numbered based on their relationship to the baseline and meridian (ie, township 2 north, range 7 east).  Of course, they also have names, but in deeds, etc, you'll find the numerical designation cited.
 
The practice probably extended further - I can't claim to be an expert there...
 

Yes, Larry, other territories/states were laid out in a similar fashion; when I was living in Wesson, Mississippi (right across the street from the Mainline of Mid America), I had occasion to learn the system when I was involved in a decision to buy a particular plot of land in Lawrence County, and I spent some time in the county courthouse reading the description of the plot.

As I recall, the section numbering began in the upper lefthand corner of the township and moved east, dropped down and moved west, dropped down and moved east....until section 36 had been numbered in the southwest corner.

I do not doubt that this system of identifying townships and sections is used in many of the states west of the Appalachians.

Johnny

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, November 2, 2015 3:27 PM

CShaveRR
I think that in the flatland Midwest, one will find that the railroads placed a station in each township along their line. Townships were characteristically six miles square, so stations were approximately six miles apart.

 
Most of the "Northwest Territory" (not to be confused with the current entity in Canada) was set up with 36 square mile townships.  That included all or most of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
 
If you look at political maps of those states (as opposed to geographical), you'll find baselines and meridians in each.  The townships are numbered based on their relationship to the baseline and meridian (ie, township 2 north, range 7 east).  Of course, they also have names, but in deeds, etc, you'll find the numerical designation cited.
 
The practice probably extended further - I can't claim to be an expert there...

LarryWhistling
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Posted by cefinkjr on Monday, November 2, 2015 12:21 PM

CShaveRR
I think that in the flatland Midwest, one will find that the railroads placed a station in each township along their line. Townships were characteristically six miles square, so stations were approximately six miles apart.

That sounds like the logic used here in Texas to determine the size of many of our 254 counties.  Yes, there are several outliers but most are nearly square and approximately 30 miles on a side with the county seat as close to the center of the county as possible.  The reason for this that I've been told by old-timers is that this size would allow a man to go to the county seat on horse-back or in a horse-drawn wagon, complete his business and get home the same day. 

Chuck
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Posted by CShaveRR on Monday, November 2, 2015 12:06 AM

I think you'll find that a lot of the names of settlements share names with the townships they're located in, and vice versa.  I suspect that in the case of Flagg, it's a possibility that Flagg on the CNW gave the name to the township, and that the township gave the name to Flagg Center (I've also seen "Flag Center") becase of its location in the center of the township.  Another possibility (more likely) is that the township was named first, and that Flagg on the CNW was probably named Flagg Station soon after the railroad was built.  

I think that in the flatland Midwest, one will find that the railroads placed a station in each township along their line.  Townships were characteristically six miles square, so stations were approximately six miles apart.

Carl

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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, November 1, 2015 10:20 PM

Indeed.  Thendara, NY was originally known as Fulton Chain.  The telegraph symbol on NYC was FC.  It was renamed because of confusion with Fulton, NY.  No one seems to have the answer as to why "Thendara" was used, except that it sounded nice...

In Michigan (and I'm sure many other locations) the original Highland is now known as West Highland - for many years just another intersection with a gathering of houses and a business or two.  What is now called Highland was originally Highland Station, as that's where the railroad came through.

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Posted by cefinkjr on Sunday, November 1, 2015 9:56 PM

Railroads sometimes seemed to have gone out of their way to cause this confusion.  Example: I was born and raised in the small town of North Charleroi, PA.  But the PRR, probably for marketing reasons, called it West Monessen after a larger town on the other (east) side of the Monongahela River.  P&LE, on that side of the river, called their siding over there East Charleroi.  No one else ever knew either of these two locations by those names.

Just to make things interesting though, North Charleroi was always better known locally by the nickname Lock Four for the river lock that was there until the current Lock 4 was built on the other side of the river (at West Charleroi !) in 1932.

Chuck
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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, November 1, 2015 8:46 PM

cefinkjr
No problem.  The "Flagg" vs "Flagg Center" confusion was the topper.  I wonder what locals call the two locations.

I'm used to it here - there are several locations just within the county where both a "Podunk" and a "Podunk Center" exist.  Not to mention a "Podunk Huddle..."

I suspect that you'd have a problem finding the local rail yard - most folks around here don't have a clue...

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Posted by Deggesty on Sunday, November 1, 2015 3:33 PM

Ah, yes. When the Southern created a suburban stop just north of Atlanta, the railroad called it "Peachtree Station," for it is on one of the streets with "Peachtree" in the name--and the Atlantans called it "Brookwood Station" for its location. This difference led, of course, to problems on the part of visitors who were told by the visitees to get off at Brookwood and so did not get off when Peachtree Station was announced.

Johnny

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