CR Loco Camera Project(was:Big Brother is Watching You)

I caught the 1051 in action on 2811 in Mansfield. Someone mentioned this earlier, but I was able to get a picture of her, while she was getting a picture of me...I'll post it later on NERAIL

Hate to bring up the obvious, but I was wondering if the MBTA is going to chase railfans or make a bulletin board of railfan faces and stuff so that the MBTA will interfere with these railfans in the future? I mean, this camera technology can be used aganist railfans, but not sure if this is likely or purely conjecture.

Veristek wrote:Hate to bring up the obvious, but I was wondering if the MBTA is going to chase railfans or make a bulletin board of railfan faces and stuff so that the MBTA will interfere with these railfans in the future? I mean, this camera technology can be used aganist railfans, but not sure if this is likely or purely conjecture.

I believe that would interfere with the MBTA's photo policy, which last I checked said that photo permits were not required, but I'm not sure. My dad saw 1051 a few nights ago, but couldn't see the cameras because it was night and he was on the highway.

-Dan

I saw him from MBTA Train 819 today and was on the rear of an inbound train at COVE interlocking. Bad for railfans everywhere if it can rotate

MBTA 2811 arrives in Mansfield with the 1051 Sunday, April 5, 2009

pvincent342 wrote:I saw him from MBTA Train 819 today and was on the rear of an inbound train at COVE interlocking. Bad for railfans everywhere if it can rotate

There is no proof anywhere that this program has anything to do with railfans. I think the MBTA has bigger concerns then a couple of ppl with cameras.

In my opinion these are steps that are being integrated in order to try and progress in the right direction to improve railroad safety altogether. I feel a lot of this has come as a after effect from the Metrolink-Union Pacific Chatsworth, California accident which claimed the lives of 25 people. First the FRA mandated a ban on cell phones for engineers, which has its pro's and con's all together as you have basically lost a vital source of communication to your crew and the dispatcher if or when your radio equipment should fail. The men and women who work for the railroad have different opinions in that matter. With any major change in a existing policy, their is going to be resistance against it due to something like this not being used before on the Commuter Rail system. MBCR and the MBTA most likely will use the unit in the 1051 as a pilot program to see the effectiveness of the cameras and to make changes as needed.

In addition the cameras would provide a great resource to the investigators in railroad crossing incidents, or other complex or fatal accidents. In fatal railroad accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board has to re-enact the crash to check various factors including mechanical failure, light and visibility conditions and other issues that would have been present at the time of the incident, so to have a set of eyes leading up to the crash is a huge plus.

RailBus63 wrote:Are they testing two different types of cameras? I don't understand why they would otherwise want two cameras that are essentially recording the same view.

I think they actually need two different views.
The camera inside the cab captures what the engineer sees. The camera outside the cab captures whats in front of the train. (For example, an engineer might claim that from his point of view, he did not see a signal. The camera outside the cab should show the signal, but the camera inside the cab could prove or disprove the engineers story that he couldn't see it.



They are probably not watching railfans. Even if they were, a locomotive camera would only show that I was at the train station with a camera, taking a picture, as the train was stopped/passing. It would not show that I was loitering, hanging around, or doing anything else. WIth the MBTA photo policy, and a camera shot showing that I was at the train station for the, oh, two minutes the train was stopped, you'd have a hard time proving I was doing anything wrong. A person waiting at a train station. What a concept!

If the train hit a trespasser, the video could be used as evidence in court.

diburning wrote:If the train hit a trespasser, the video could be used as evidence in court.

I believe that is pretty much the use of these cameras...to investigate what goes wrong during accidents. I'm assuming that railfans shouldn't get paranoid. I mean, sure there are train crews who don't like railfans, but obviously the cameras were designed with bigger things in mind.

-Dan

Perfect example how how cameras can be used to investigate what happens in an accident

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf2m1sXa ... re=related

Are these cameras set up to display events? (IE time stamp, Speed, brake and throttle readings). I know they already have event recorders, but I'd imagine seeing it on the video could only help.

BayColony1706 wrote:Are these cameras set up to display events? (IE time stamp, Speed, brake and throttle readings). I know they already have event recorders, but I'd imagine seeing it on the video could only help.

Nope, I believe the event recorders take care of all that, these cameras are facing out the front of the loco only.

-Dan

right, I know what you're saying. I meant will they show a digitally imposed reading onto the video, you know sort of like a Heads up display kind of thing (like on the video of that train hitting the tractor). I know some in-cab systems do support this feature.