Virtual Railfan Santa Fe junction

[VIDEO] This new "railcam" began streaming on September 18, 2019 so basically just yesterday. Thankfully this is sponsored and thus for the forseeable future this site will continue to be streamed onto YouTube hopefully.

What's exciting for me about this site is that you will see Amtrak trains here. Of course on most railcams operated by Virtual Railfan you will see a number of trains passing along which will include commuter, passenger, and freight trains.

So going through the Santa Fe Junction located in an area of Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO) known as West Bottom. If you click the link in the brackets to view the video you will see the number of rail lines that pass through at any given time. Kansas City Union Station which is a stop for Amtrak's Southwest Chief (with a decent layover according to the schedule) is said to be directly east of this junction. It's expected to see the Chief coming to and from Chicago and the Missouri River Runner between KCMO & St. Louis, Missouri passing through.

If this railcam has staying power it's probably very likely to be included on my Railcam page although what's shown in the vid itself isn't a regular station stop. We're just seeing all trains pass through.

Passing through Ashland, Virginia #olloclip

[VIDEO] On July 17, 2019 I rode Amtrak's Silver Star through Ashland, Virginia which surprisingly is one of the sites of many Virtual Railfan webcams around the country. I expect this won't be the last time this happens. It was cook to see some of the landmarks especially the storefronts that I've only seen only if I tune into one of these cams.

I tried to see if I can find my train on the site, but I had failed to find the time frame where the train passed through. Bummer, but as I stated this probably won't be the last time. Who knows I might be going to the west coast again in the future. You can check out the three cams that I do show on this blog of three stops on the way...

Here's the live webcam from Ashland, VA. On VR's YouTube channel they do show some interesting things such as bears or even cars running onto the tracks for example. Of course you will see special trains or what not also.

Ashland, VA Virtual Railfan cam [VIDEO]

San Juan Capistrano webcam on Virtual Railfan has a sponsor....

[VIDEO] I've posted this live feed from Virtual Railfan over the past year on this blog, and this time it will be something of a permanent presence. The live video camera in San Juan Capistrano, California is being sponsored to remain on YouTube until April 1, 2020. I first saw a IG post announcing this however below I will post a tweet to this effect.

Because of the generosity of a cam fan, San Juan Capistrano, California, will remain on YouTube until April 1, 2020! We can’t thank you enough, Anonymous Sponsor. Check out the cam on YouTube here: https://t.co/zIqkSBmodc pic.twitter.com/nCqqoeDE2w

— Virtual Railfan (@virtual_railfan) March 19, 2019

How I could term this? Well for those of us who may not be so ready to go to California like right this minute and check out the scenes from this Golden State train station without having to go there. I know there's a railcam page here, however, this has always been my favorite live feed. You get to see both the local commuter and Amtrak trains pass by.

Virtual Railfan cam of the week San Juan Capistrano, California

[VIDEO] You will once again be able to see both Amtrak and commuter trains from San Juan Capistrano, California for at least the next week. It was a demo live cam sometime last year and wrote about it back then. It's cool to see train come through at a nice train station and under that wonderful California sun especially during the day.

Enjoy it while it lasts or do what I should've done purchase a subscription to Virtual Railfan. Who says that their YouTube channel offers the only action as far as live webcam trains running through?

BTW, feel free to enjoy my railcam page which now includes a webcam at the Amtrak station in Barstow, California. All of the webcams represents different legs of the journey between Chicago and Los Angeles on Amtrak's Southwest Chief train.

New Virtual Railfan webcam on YouTube

[VIDEO] This is a demo live webcam of San Juan Capistrano, California in Orange County which will remain up temporarily unless there is a sponsor for it. I wonder what it takes to sponsor these cams, for the live cam in Flagstaff, Arizona which you can see here it's sponsored by the City of Flagstaff. Webcams from Virtual Railfan shown on their YouTube channel have chat feeds which you're free to participate if you follow their moderation policies.

The San Juan Capistrano depot does see Metrolink & Amtrak Surfliner trains stop at that station daily. For the most part those trains are what you'll see stop at this station on the cam. So no long distance routes if you will, this stop is basically a commuter rail stop. Metrolink is Los Angeles' commuter rail service akin to Chicago's Metra.

BTW, there is something of a connection to Metrolink from my last trip by Amtrak in 2016. Our Southwest Chief train from Chicago was running behind to the point where our conductor announced that all smoking stops were cancelled. He wanted to beat a Metrolink train into LA Union Station because it would result in delays of up to two hours. If we were behind that train we'd have to stop when that train stops to making their regular runs. We did ultimately beat that Metrolink and made it into LA on time. Good planning by the conductor on this one.

Want to check out the Cajon Pass in California

[VIDEO] Earlier this year I had posted a railcam page that features live webcam footage from La Plata, Missouri and Flagstaff, Arizona. The significance of sharing those webcams is that both are stops on Amtrak's Southwest Chief. The Southwest Chief is a train I'm only taken twice back and forth between Chicago & Los Angeles.

The Cajon Pass is a route that the Southwest Chief would normally traverse into LA. My frame of reference in determining when a train should pass through is via Amtrak's Tracker is through the stop at  San Bernardino. The pass which is an an elevation of 4190 ft. lies between the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains

So I don't know if this webcam is permanent as this is labeled as a webcam of the week from Virtual Railfan. I do presume that this webcam is a feature for those who want to pay for a subscription to their service. Although it's cool to see this aspect of the trip as well this is usually a late night run for the Southwest Chief to go through Cajon.

Hope you enjoy while it lasts!

RELATED LINKS

• Amtrak Southwest Chief
• Amtrak train tracker

Set up a railcam page on this blog

Flagstaff, AZ July 2016

This is one of the few times you will see a page here. Just think back in 2005 when I starnted this blog the thought of pages would've been unthinkable. In fact pages weren't available until 2010 so for quite a while pages were unthinkable.

Anyway, I wanted to share two live cams on this page which is to be called - Railcam. A service called Virtual Railfan has a YouTube channel that features several livecams around the country for the benefit of railfans who like to watch trains roll by.

Because I like to see Amtrak trains I chose the two cities from where these webcams operate - La Plata, Missouri & Flagstaff, Arizona - because these are the two stops for Amtrak's Southwest Chief (SWC). On the page you can expect to find a schedule for the SWC and a train tracker also. Both will help you determine when you'll see SWC trains arrive at these respective stations.

My two SWC trips were 11 years apart in 2005 & 2016. They both were memorable trips as it's not often that I see the great plains, the prairie, and the southwest desert. The most memorable and unique in all the years I've taken the train occurred in 2016

In 2016 after arriving in LA at the architecturally significant LA Union Station we stayed in the LA area for no more than two days before moving on to Las Vegas by bus. This was part of the plan by my family and actually there was no plan we were planning it as we go. After at least two nights in Las Vegas we left for the Grand Canyon.

We spent the day at the Grand Canyon having arrived there via a tourbus and then from there we spent the night in Flagstaff, Arizona. We got on board a westbound SWC in the wee hours of the morning to return home.

While I don't want to ever not have a plan to go from city to city on vacation - i.e. Las Vegas or Grand Canyon - this is something I'm looking forward to in the near future. Especially if I can afford a sleeper onboard the train.