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I haven't done any traveling in 2020 since February, what with the worries about the virus. Back in January 2020, I displayed my Snow Plowing Easy as Pie (operating models plowing snow). Snow Plowing Easy as Pie and was worried about just catching the normal flu during a public show. (There is no January 2021 Artic Run model railroad show in Stevens Point, it was cancelled.) I do see what's going on around the country by using the internet. I even had to replace my 22-year old modem, one band seemed to have failed, or it was out of date with current systems, and the whole thing just couldn't compete for bandwidth when kids in town play games on Friday nights. I like the YouTube cameras that can be rewound 12 hours. I can even see sunrises if I sleep late. |
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I like this webcam that is north of La Crescent, Minnesota ; La Crosse, Wisconsin. You can search for them at Great Spirit Bluff.
It's a bird watching camera, but I am glad to see the traffic as well. |
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Once, I woke up and saw a barge tow at an angle, well beyond the edge of the main channel that lines up with the shore and locks. |
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It couldn't be budged even by 4 tow boats, so then they took away the sections that weren't bottomed out. It took 6 hours to unlash the tow until they got down to the one barge that was stuck. I had time to look up Kort steering nozzles for tow boats. See that 10,000 horsepower stirring up the water.
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Another day, a barge tow and a train are in the view. This doesn't happen every day, because often the camera is pointed elsewhere for birdwatching. And I have only seen one Amtrak all summer. There is a rail passing siding, I think its called French Island. And that's Interstate 94. |
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| In late December, the river was freezing. The end of barge traffic for a few months. |
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Another camera to watch barges and trains is on the Fort Madison Iowa Virtual Rail cam ( I didn't put a picture here)
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And for something bigger, I watch the boats and ships on the Great Lakes. Here is the American Spirit heading into Superior for the Winter layup in January 2020. Starting to get icy. |
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The Port Huron ship cam is great. And in the afternoon, a Lake States blue switch engine might come to service the paper mill. |
.I didn't put in specific links to each camera, because it can change if they have power or computer disconnection problems. You can search for them by name to get a current link.
to My Main Index Page on the TrainWeb site.
This page was wrote in January 2021 to show news from all of 2020.
