ST Paul Union Depot Cameras

I had sent an email to the stpaul,mn depot seems a lightning strike took out power on camera 2 side and upgrading the system at same time with no definitive time frame of both cameras being online again!

Thanks for the info.  I never knew about them.  I think the Twin Cities area has some interesting railroading.

Thanks Ray, hope they get them both fixed soon. It's fun to watch the Builder come in. I always liked camera one better for some reason, but camera two is really the one with the most action with its view of the wye.

Number 90 posted:

Thanks for the info.  I never knew about them.  I think the Twin Cities area has some interesting railroading.

I agree Tom, and that's why I model it.

BIG BOY 4005  I tried texting you via spouse cell has the number changed since we last met in Flagstaff,az?

the years are clouding my memory but tell me if I'm wrong! the old airport is on south side of Mississippi river and depot is to the west?

I am hoping they get better cameras and streaming so the picture we see is more fluid.

I usually wake up early and do chores first thus I miss the morning empire builder!

NUMBER 90  I had created a reply to your post but it wound up in cyber space!!

the division street wye is where camera 2 resides and you can view both mainlines as well as  the other 2 legs of the wye both going to or from the StPaul union depot area.  early morning from sunrise is kind of hard as sun is glaring into camera's lens!  in the middle of the wye great northern used to have a small 2 door diesel building they kept passenger aba f3 diesels there in case the empire builder had a broken unit they would swap the bad unit/s out.

camera 1 is on think on the west side of depot and gives the view of the empire builder as well as freight traffic heading west or east and it also shows the very old lift bridge  that union pacific uses to cross the mississippi river to gain access to a yard on south side of the river.

heading east away from division street wye are the remnants of the Burlington yards also the Chicago northwestern and the Milwaukee road engine service area and still standing roundhouse.

if you use google earth there is an old swing bridge still in operation south of the old airport on south side of the mississippi river it is another way for union pacific to gain access to the yard as they do from the depot bridge.

 many eons ago the rock island actually was on that side of the river as my mother would talk of steam engines shaking her childhood home back in the 1930's.

there is a walking area where you can park and walk to where the swing bridge is and I was able to get within a block of it and was lucky to watch two up freights cross it!

hope this information helps identify areas you can watch I miss these cameras as they are my link to a childhood of many decades ago I can remember the switch towers and all the metal rods that moved the switch points ahhh those were the days when you could walk around and as long as we stayed out of harms way no one told us to leave a more simpler time then!

This is a video I picked up some  years ago - of interest to me, having grown up in the Twin Cities area. Great video, featuring action from the 70s, primarily. That was an amazing assortment of famous passenger trains that came in and out of the Cities - Burlington Zephyr, CNW 400, Milwaukee Hiawatha, Empire Builder, North Coast Limited, RI Rocket. 

Every time I go back I try to take in what is now the Canadian Pacific yard just downriver from downtown St. Paul, the old Pig's Eye yard. Lots always going on there. Repair shops, hump yard, even an active turntable. I've seen a lot of Soo Line and even some (mostly unrepainted) Milwaukee engines in there over the years, among others.

A few shots from last summer at the Pig's Eye yard. Couple of bygone paint schemes and an oddball BNSF. When's the last time you saw a Penn Central car? 

StPaul posted:

BIG BOY 4005  I tried texting you via spouse cell has the number changed since we last met in Flagstaff,az?

the years are clouding my memory but tell me if I'm wrong! the old airport is on south side of Mississippi river and depot is to the west?

I am hoping they get better cameras and streaming so the picture we see is more fluid.

I usually wake up early and do chores first thus I miss the morning empire builder!

Your memory is fine Ray. Holman Field is just across the river from Hoffman, and the depot is west of there. When camera two is working at night, you can see the beacon (Lionel 494) on top of the bluff in Mounds Park.

Your text came through fine, and she relayed your message, but I had no info. Thanks for digging into it. I just got an email about the cameras, and answered it, because I knew from your post. Word travels quickly with this internet thingy. 

How about a link to these cameras?

OGR Webmaster posted:

How about a link to these cameras?

Here's the home page for the depot. Of course there's nothing to see right now, but it's fun when it's working. Not as busy as Rochelle, but decent.

BIG BOY 4005, thanks for reply now I know my mind compass is still okay.

not sure if you meant replied to my text it's ok just thought maybe  the number had changed good to know it hasn't.

 I was watching the Rochelle webcam early morning the maintenance men were working at the diamond.

in regards to cameras now wouldn't it be nice if we could watch both at the same time like on TV with split screen!

Another fun camera is Truckee, California, though most of the time you're just watching the cars drive through town. Then they pile up when the train comes through. It's addictive.

StPaul posted:

NUMBER 90  I had created a reply to your post but it wound up in cyber space!!

 

hope this information helps identify areas you can watch I miss these cameras as they are my link to a childhood of many decades ago I can remember the switch towers and all the metal rods that moved the switch points ahhh those were the days when you could walk around and as long as we stayed out of harms way no one told us to leave a more simpler time then!

St.Paul, thanks for the info.  I was fortunate to ride passenger trains into and out of Minneapolis, both at the Milwaukee Road station (Rock Island, 1952, '56, '57) and the Great Northern Station (Omaha Road, 1954).  I recall the Omaha Road stopping in St. Paul right nest to the solarium parlor car of one of the GN Duluth trains.  Thanks to the Friends of the 261 I have made four modern era trips through St. Paul Union Depot.  Too bad I did not go there in the 1960's with my camera, when I was single and could have made that kind of a trip.

YO BIG BOY 4005    any word locally as to depot cameras being fixed time frame as I'm having division street  withdrawls !!