Lineside cameras from perspective of dispatcher

jimbursch

New member
My interest in trains is primarily from an operations/dispatcher perspective, as opposed to a driver perspective. My question is, are lineside cameras a useful tool for monitoring train movements from the perspective of a dispatcher?

I suppose, given that I can jump to any train from the list of drivers and I can easily move to any location on the map, that lineside cameras would't be helpful.

http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/How_to_Place_and_Use_a_Camera
 
My interest in trains is primarily from an operations/dispatcher perspective, as opposed to a driver perspective. My question is, are lineside cameras a useful tool for monitoring train movements from the perspective of a dispatcher?

I suppose, given that I can jump to any train from the list of drivers and I can easily move to any location on the map, that lineside cameras would't be helpful.

http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/How_to_Place_and_Use_a_Camera

IMHO, the lineside cameras are only useful for trainspotting and admiring the scenery. Rotating cameras follow only the locomotive so are useless for switching/shunting where the train is longer than 2-3 cars. A fixed camera is only useful until the loco passes outside the active area, at which point you are in mode 2 watching the power instead of the rear of the train. Unless you have a lot of scenery or want to take screenshots, you can safely dispense with the cameras.

:B~)
 
What Bob says.

If you have Platinum and up, however, there is the Walk camera that puts you right down on the ground. I've used that to watch couplers as if I were a freight conductor. This works okay to a point.
 
What Bob says.

If you have Platinum and up, however, there is the Walk camera that puts you right down on the ground. I've used that to watch couplers as if I were a freight conductor. This works okay to a point.

Sounds like a nice feature. Being limited to TANE and previous, I use the free-roaming cam (4) for the same work. On rare occasions this (or moving up/down the train with -/+) triggers an ER_Timeout, which means it's time to close down and reboot the PC.

:B~)
 
Sounds like a nice feature. Being limited to TANE and previous, I use the free-roaming cam (4) for the same work. On rare occasions this (or moving up/down the train with -/+) triggers an ER_Timeout, which means it's time to close down and reboot the PC.

:B~)

The walk camera is good for railfanning as well. It's like standing on the trackside and watching the trains pass. The camera has a tight turn radius around its center point rather than world so that it's like turning your head instead of orbiting around.

I never had the timeouts when doing that, but it did get quirky which makes me wonder if the messages were getting flooded and that caused your timeouts. Why I didn't get them is a question that only programmers would understand. Pressing shift-key at the same time allows for smoother up-down movements.
 
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