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Locomotive Camera

 See the condition of the rails and give passengers more information
  (-1)
(-1) 		  [vote for,
against]

How about a small camera mounted in the headlight glass or lower. It would provide a better view of the rails and could be beamed to the passenger cars in conjunction with a moving map to provide a greater idea of what is going on in front of the train, since passengers typically only see out the side windows. An additional rear camera could be used in shunting operations.
—CaptainWes, May 02 2004

Similar idea for airplanes. http://www.halfbake...7s-eye_20viewscreen
[jutta, Oct 21 2004]

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       Meh, why not.   

       To whom is it of great enough added value that they would pay for the cost of acquisition and maintenance?   

       Is the better view of the rails supposed to be a safety thing or just a passenger convenience?
—half, May 02 2004
   

       Meh indeed, half.   

       Nice one, Cap'n. I reckon it could be done fairly cheaply, too, at least in a basic way. You could also make it a webcam and stream the footage over the web. Using such a setup, two passengers on two different trains could use laptops to view each other's train camera), and see their own train passing the other train from the other train's point of view. If you see what I mean. And passengers waiting for a train at a station could log on and see exactly where their train is (and wave at themselves when the train finally pulls up).
—lostdog, May 02 2004
   

       I got nuthin' agin it, I voted for it. I'm just asking questions. I don't see the benefit to the passenger of the additional "information" other than as a gimmick. I don't ride commuter trains, since we don't have any. Does it help you detect your stop? Is there some sort of train claustrophobia that would be alleviated by this?   

       "See the condition of the rails", to what end?
—half, May 02 2004
   

       lostdog, suppose you got hooked up to the wrong video feed; could you tell?
—swamilad, May 02 2004
   

       Just something to look at, I suppose.
—waugsqueke, May 02 2004
   

       I was aboard American Airlines Flight 191 on May 24, 1979. They had a live video feed from the cockpit and I was able to watch the take-off from over the pilot's shoulder. I thought it was amazing and very cool at the time.   

       The following day, that very same flight had an engine fall off on takeoff and it killed 273 persons. I thought about the view that those passengers had of the plane rolling and the ground in windshield and the pilot vainly fighting for control. I didn't think it was so cool after that.   

       As long as everything is working correctly, I would imagine this would be fairly interesting to the passengers. But, "According to the Federal Highway Administration, a train strikes a vehicle or a pedestrian at a rail crossing approximately every 2 hours in the United States." The view of that could be very disturbing to passengers.
—Klaatu, May 03 2004
   

       I suggest that that jinxed train be taken out of service.
—FarmerJohn, May 03 2004
   


 

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