“Cresson down”

—Railstream’s webcam from Station-Inn in Cresson (PA) wasn’t working.
Railstream has lots of other rail-cams, and I may be only one of a few watching Cresson.
It’s not photogenic, but it does display Norfolk Southern’s mainline toward Allegheny Mountain.
It’s the old Pennsy, and is still a main east-west trading artery.
A lot of trains pass that webcam. It’s interesting because that old Pennsy main through the Altoona area is where my brother and I photograph trains. Cresson is near Altoona.
Train-frequency is phenomenal. Wait 15-25 minutes and you see a train. (Although often there’s down time to allow track work.)
And conquering Allegheny Mountain requires Run-Eight railroading. Run-Eight is full fuel delivery to a diesel locomotive. (Diesel engines aren’t throttled.)
That’s assault-the-heavens!
For those not savvy, a webcam streams video over the Internet. I view trains passing Station-Inn on my home computer.
“Sounds like 07T,” Amtrak’s westbound Pennsylvanian, about 6 p.m.
Rhumba-rhumba-rhumba-rhumba! Followed by only six cars.
Nothing else sounds like Amtrak. Freights might be 100 cars or more.
There are only two passenger-trains per day: Amtrak’s Pennsylvanians, eastbound and westbound. There used to be many.
Freight-trains are constant. Long unit-trains of grain, coal, or crude-oil. Also all auto-racks. Plus long freights with double-stacked shipping containers.
The Cresson webcam gets everything. Blatting Harleys and throaty diesel pickups on the street out front. Plus girlfriends screaming epithets at loathsome lotharios.
“We don’t control the Internet,” a Railstream contact told me. Getting Cresson back required contacting Station Inn to put that webcam back online.
With Cresson down I switched to another Railstream feed, Berea, OH.
Berea was where railroading from the east connected to various destinations to the west, mainly Chicago or St. Louis.
Right now it’s two railroad mainlines very close to each other, CSX and Norfolk Southern. Plus two connectors so CSX trains can access Norfolk Southern, or NS access CSX.
Years ago Berea was a main junction, all New York Central I think. A train from New York City might diverge for Indianapolis and St. Louis. Trains from the southeast could switch over to what is now Norfolk Southern’s Chicago line to access Toledo or Chicago.
Berea was very important, and I watch both east and west (a dual feed). Nearest is CSX, and it’s good for 60-80 mph. Trains boom-and-zoom.
Across the way is Norfolk Southern’s Chicago line, but apparently it’s not 60-80 mph railroad. The fastest I’ve seen is 40-50 mph.
Berea is just west of Cleveland.
“How can I tell it’s even on?” I asked my Railstream contact. No noisy Harleys or slatterns yelling F-bombs. Or that church bell in Cresson, or the fire siren.
That Cresson webcam is not photogenic. But it’s interesting to a railfan like me. There are other streaming railcams on YouTube, but I prefer the Cresson webcam.

It’s BA-A-A-A-ACK!