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Railroad Webcams
https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44390		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Bobharbison [ Wed Apr 15, 2020 10:32 am ]
Post subject:  Railroad Webcams
As many of you know, I run a railroad links directory page. Along with an extensive listing of tourist railroads, I also have a rapidly growing list of Railroad Webcams. Some of the cameras on the list are tourist railroads and museums.

If your museum has a publicly accessible webcam, (or you know of one) please post a link here and I'll add you to my listing. There is no fee for being included.

Here are the ones I have so far:
Cumbres & Toltec
Durango & Silverton
Strasburg RR
Western Pacific Railroad Museum
Galesburg Railroad Museum
Lake Shore Railway Museum
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
Illinois Railway Museum
White Pass and Yukon
Nevada Northern
Horsehoe Curve
Mid-Continent Railroad Museum

You can view the full list here:
https://railroaddata.com/rrlinks/Railro ... ed_States/
Author:  Crescent-Zephyr [ Wed Apr 15, 2020 1:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
What does this have to do with preservation? Shouldn’t it be on railfan section.
I get that you want to advertise your site and drive up traffic...
Author:  Bobharbison [ Wed Apr 15, 2020 1:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
Crescent-Zephyr wrote:
What does this have to do with preservation? Shouldn’t it be on railfan section.
I get that you want to advertise your site and drive up traffic...


What it has to do with Preservation is that if your Railroad or Museum has a railroad webcam, I am offering to post it on my very active website, free of charge. That will indeed drive traffic... to YOUR website. I will also post your regular website as well but with over 600 links for tourist railways, chances are it's already there.

I already have lots of traffic. Search "railroad webcams" on Google. I am consistently in the top five. The site has been online since 1996. It's not new, and it's very well known. Oldest railroad links page on the web, despite a site that started 10 years after me also making that claim.

I'm offering this to any organization, for free, as a way to promote your operation when budgets are tight. I presume some operations will find that to be useful. That's what it has to do with preservation. No cost, almost zero effort, just post a link. I do the rest.
Author:  S. Weaver [ Thu Apr 16, 2020 12:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
We consider the public media projection of our webcams to have everything to do with preservation. Many do not know of realities beyond their screens. If that exposure turns into their actually patronizing our railroad, we are able to continue our mission of preservation and steam railroading.

Your mileage may vary
Author:  Bobharbison [ Thu Apr 16, 2020 4:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
S. Weaver wrote:
We consider the public media projection of our webcams to have everything to do with preservation. Many do not know of realities beyond their screens. If that exposure turns into their actually patronizing our railroad, we are able to continue our mission of preservation and steam railroading.

Your mileage may vary


Thank you, I would totally agree. Look at the Strasburg's Webcam page for an example of how to do it right.

https://www.strasburgrailroad.com/watch ... ve-webcam/

Two gorgeous high res cams front and center.

At the top of the page, the menu for the rest of the website. Info, tickets, day out with Thomas, all there.

Right side of the page? Calendar where you can click on the date and see events and book tickets. Right there without leaving the cam page.

It's a main entrance to their website and they take full advantage of it. It also does a great job of finding potential customers, if you're looking at "Railroad Webcams", then you're apparently interested in trains.

They're powerful marketing tools, that's why more and more are showing up! And, no, I don't sell webcams. I just run the links pages. No hidden agenda. Obviously the more cams I have, the more people visit my page. But they also visit your page once they get there.
Author:  stanames [ Thu Apr 16, 2020 9:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
Great job and thanks for doing this.

I may have missed it but you are missing one of my favorite webcams

https://worldcams.tv/poland/wolsztyn/steam-train-depot

There are three cams there and you can go back 12 hours to scan the activity for the day.

To the best of my knowledge these are the last daily mainline steam in scheduled passenger service.

and it is interesting to seem them serviced as they have been for years.

Stan
Author:  Bobharbison [ Fri Apr 17, 2020 10:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
stanames wrote:
Great job and thanks for doing this.

I may have missed it but you are missing one of my favorite webcams...


Thank you! Yes, the international cams are all in need of additions and updates.

My first priority was getting the US cams up to date and that includes a lot of tourist railways and museums.

Once I get international ones done, I'll post a note in the railfanning area. It will definitely include the ones you mentioned.
Author:  jayrod [ Fri Apr 17, 2020 2:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
S. Weaver wrote:
We consider the public media projection of our webcams to have everything to do with preservation. Many do not know of realities beyond their screens. If that exposure turns into their actually patronizing our railroad, we are able to continue our mission of preservation and steam railroading.

Steve and/or others:

What kind of system are you using for your web cams? We’re on the NS Ft. Wayne line and we’ve occasionally kicked around putting up a web cam. I’ve only occasionally grazed the surface of requirements and equipment. Those with cams up and running, what are you using?
Author:  Crescent-Zephyr [ Fri Apr 17, 2020 2:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
I would contact virtual railfan... you don’t want the liability connected to your organization. Would be better to have it handled by a 3rd party.
Author:  jayrod [ Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
Hmmm... I don’t see any liabilities to be concerned with right off. It’s a public place with no rights to privacy. If that’s the concern, we could be sued for our security cameras.

I’d rather not pay a recurring fee to have someone else profit off “our” cam. I figure we could host our own feed on our website and/or YouTube.
Author:  Bobharbison [ Fri Apr 17, 2020 5:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
Strasburg works with the Virtual Railfan group as do several other museum operations.

The reason I know that is that the Strasburg Cams are featured on Virtual Railfan and there's a Virtual Railfan logo on the feed. I'm not privy to any details and costs etc. Since your operation is generating extensive live content for their website, I would hope that the terms are pretty attractive. But I don't know that.

As Jay mentioned, I don't see any privacy issues. It's a public venue. Your employees should already be well aware that they can be photographed during the course of their work and it's just part of the job.

However, having somebody handle the tech end of things, if that's how it's done, would seem to be useful.

More importantly, Virtual Railfan is the 800 pound gorilla of train cams. Being on their website is definitely going to help drive traffic to your site.
Author:  Crescent-Zephyr [ Fri Apr 17, 2020 5:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
I just know that at Strasburg and other places virtual railfan has very carefully worded signs out. I would definitely check with a lawyer about it.
Author:  bigjim4life [ Fri Apr 17, 2020 11:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
jayrod wrote:
Hmmm... I don’t see any liabilities to be concerned with right off. It’s a public place with no rights to privacy. If that’s the concern, we could be sued for our security cameras.

I’d rather not pay a recurring fee to have someone else profit off “our” cam. I figure we could host our own feed on our website and/or YouTube.


I believe that the cams are hosted at no cost to you. Send them an email at sales@virtualrailfan.com and ask to get more information. Likewise you could go here and submit your info that way as well... https://virtualrailfan.com/suggest-a-location/
Author:  jayrod [ Sat Apr 18, 2020 7:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Railroad Webcams
Thanks. I’ll contact them and get some info. I’m tech-savvy enough to build our own video streaming server for a reasonable cost but if something happens to those few of us that can maintain it, running our own server goes right out the window.
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