Eastern Railroad Discussion > Elkhart Railcam and Railcams in General Again

Last night there was a beautiful white cat walking up and down the tracks during a lul btw trains before 48 arrived (an omen? LOL).  The cam operator zoomed in on it and followed it down the tracks. I haven't figured out how to access the east cam near the museum. Perhaps I have to be a subscriber? Or is it a different web address?

Again (posted elsewhere on trainsorders), if anyone wants to take it up on a special website or augment it on an existing website, I think a site with the locations of all the rail-cams (and cams that can be used to view trains) in North America would be cool. A must would be a map with all the lines affected and  locations of all the rail-cams on the map that would be cross-referenced to a list on the site with the web addresses.  Any additional information about the traffic at the location and location background, plus route identification would be gravy. The site would need to be maintained and updated over time for outages, shutdowns (I suppose some cams are removed or moved.) And any new sites would need to be documented.  Of course, I don't know what the rail-cam owners would think about that with their competition listed.

My Erstwhile Publications website was hacked late last year, and I hope to get it up and going soon, though I have some other projects that come before that (I only have 5 books left, anyway.). I'm sure as soon as I would do all the research and set something like this North American Rail-Cam Map and Digest on my website, someone would come along and copy it or someone like Whitewater or Kalmbach (or Trainorders) would take it up to get some traffic or subscribers on their site. (But it may take away viewing time too.)

Victor Baird



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/23 17:20 by wabash2800.

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Last night there was a beautiful white cat walking
> up and down the tracks during a lul btw trains
> before 48 arrived (an omen? LOL).  The cam
> operator zoomed in on it and followed it down the
> tracks. I haven't figured out how to access the
> east cam near the museum. Perhaps I have to be a
> subscriber? Or is it a different web address?
>
> Again (posted elsewhere on trainsorders), if
> anyone wants to take it up on a special website or
> augment it on an existing website, I think a site
> with the locations of all the rail-cams (and cams
> that can be used to view trains) in North America
> would be cool. A must would be a map with all the
> lines affected and  locations of all the rail-cam
> on the map that would be cross-referenced to a
> list on the site with the web addresses.  Any
> additional information about the traffic at the
> location and location background, plus route
> identification would be gravy. The site would need
> to be maintained and updated over time for outage,
> shutdowns (I suppose some cams are removed or
> moved. And any new sites would need to be
> documented.  Of course, I don't know what the
> rail-cam owners would think about that with their
> competition listed.
>
> My Erstwhile Publications website was hacked late
> last year, and I hope to get it up and going soon,
> though I have some other projects that come before
> that (I only have 5 books left anyway.). I'm sure
> as soon a I would do all the research and set
> something like this North American Rail-Cam Map
> and Digest on my website, someone would come along
> and copy it anyway or someone like Whitewater or
> Kalmbach (or Trainorders) would take it up to get
> some traffic or subscribers on their site. (But it
> may take away viewing time too.)
>
> Victor Baird

All the Virtual Railfan cams at Elkhart are available for free on Youtube. Just search "Virtual Railfan" on Youtube and scroll down until you get to Elkhart

 

OK, but I only can access the west cam on the station. Is there a toggle?

Victor Baird

Spoony81 Wrote:

> All the Virtual Railfan cams at Elkhart are
> available for free on Youtube. Just search
> "Virtual Railfan" on Youtube and scroll down until
> you get to Elkhart
>
>  

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK, but I only can access the west cam on the
> station. Is there a toggle?
>
> Victor Baird
>
> Spoony81 Wrote:
>
> > All the Virtual Railfan cams at Elkhart are
> > available for free on Youtube. Just search
> > "Virtual Railfan" on Youtube and scroll down
> until
> > you get to Elkhart
> >
> >  

Yeah they have a link in the description for the east cam

Thanks. I found it. The location for the link for the east cam is not very intuitive, and my view on my android doesn't always show the description section.

Victor Baird

Spoony81 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Yeah they have a link in the description for the
> east cam



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/23 14:33 by wabash2800.

The west cam is in the descriptions as well if you have not found it. East and West are mounted just above the entrance to the museum and were in place before the PTZ camera was added at the train station. East provides a nice shot of the crossing with the Kalamazoo Branch in the background. West provides a nice shot of the museum trains and the station in the background. With multiple trains passing it is nice to be able to see both sides of the tracks.

Depending on the operator the PTZ follows the action fairly well. There is a museum employee that can control the PTZ when he is not helping visitors.VR loves catching Amtraks so there is usually an operator around when an Amtrak arrives. VR also does a decent job of catching heritage units and special trains.