While waiting for Autotrain at Lorton Virginia I heard a group of guys discussing live train tracking. I never knew this technology was available to the general public and asked them about it. One guy said it's classified and only AMTRAK dispatchers and police can watch this. Were they referring to PTC?
Train Tracking Website?
- Thread starter MrColad
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Yahoo used to have an ATCS group, called ATCS Monitor. You need a Yahoo membership, but it should maybe point you in the right direction.
It's available for my area (Upper Midwest), and hope it gives you something to work from. All you need to do is request membership, and then you should be in good shape.
It's available for my area (Upper Midwest), and hope it gives you something to work from. All you need to do is request membership, and then you should be in good shape.
Yes, ATCS Monitor on Yahoo Groups and another called Trainmon that I have no info on but I see people talking about it in the ATCS yahoo group mistaking the two as the same.
It sounds like they are maybe both similar. Trainmon may have a website but I've never bothered looking.
trainmon5 groups.io Group
Only active TrainMon5.com members may apply for a subscription to this group. Anyone else wishing to subscribe must first submit an application and wait for it to be approved at https://trainmon5.com/. ( https://trainmon5.com/ ) This group is for active members of TrainMon5 and ATCSMonitor...
groups.io
TrainMon5 YouTube
TrainMon5
youtube.com
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Thanks for your informative replies. I found out that TrainMon5 is a part of ATCSMon and you must already be a member of ATCSMon to join. Unfortunately even though I have a Yahoo e-mail address ATCSMon says I must have a Yahoo account also. I went through this with Railscan too with no luck. So now one must have a separate Yahoo account? I thought my e-mail address was my account. Go figure.
K5MPH
Member
You have to be a member of the Yahoo group before you can sign up for TM5.......
I'm a member of both groups (and am a territory custodian) and just saw a notice that sign-ups for TM5 are not available for the foreseeable future until both ATCS and TM5 get the Yahoo Groups issue out of the way. I suspect similar may be coming from ATCSMon pretty soon as well.
TM5 has very limited coverage compared to ATCSMon; it requires all new layouts be built which is very time consuming, so there are only a handful. Also, if your goal is to see what's happening on CSX lines, forget it; CSX has converted nearly their entire system to encrypted satellite links and it cannot be monitored. Those few lines which haven't yet been converted are in the process now.
Also, if there are no servers in your area of interest, there is no coverage. Installing a server requires a good outdoor antenna in the right location, in addition to a decent receiver and the computer to handle and forward the data. Costs some money and it's an all-volunteer effort.
As far as ATCSMon goes, you really need to have some computer savvy to get it working, especially with Windows 10. It is not intended for the general public and never was but rather as an engineer's interesting hobby; getting publicized in Trains magazine and other publications brought it into the public eye and many people who expect "install and play" software with extensive tech support have jumped on the bandwagon expecting it to just work. As a result there are always "help me install this I don't know what I'm doing" messages on the group.
A lot of people get ATCSMon expecting something like "FlightAware" but it's not the same at all. There are no public web pages showing rail traffic, no really easy way to create one, and the railroads are pretty touchy about that sort of thing anyway.
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Try this site for Amtrak only. Amtrak Status Maps
You can click on train number, see timetable then open a map. result is delayed due to security concerns but will explain late trains well enough.
You can click on train number, see timetable then open a map. result is delayed due to security concerns but will explain late trains well enough.
INDY72
Monitoring since 1982, using radios since 1991.
Funny how rail lines are paranoid but will leave radioactive waste sitting out at a public crossing on sidings in TN with no security. Imagine that folks.
Or encourage people to "see something say something" by calling to report potential security or safety issues, yet not know what to do with those calls when they come in.
I found this site after an exhaustive Google search. Seems to cover passenger systems worldwide. Between this on a laptop and a dual band radio covering the VHF voice channels and the two UHF EOT channels I should be good to go. Thanks all for your help.
tracker.geops.ch
Maps for Mobility | geOps
Our portal combines maps of many aspects of public transport and mobility in general, e.g. TRAVIC vehicle positions, transit-maps, fare networks, location and detailed information on stations.
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