Thankerton/Crewe 4 Cameras
Our team of volunteer installers have found a gap in their schedules to make trips out to Thankerton and Crewe this past week to get the cameras back online. Both locations proved to be quite the challenge, with lots of wiring, rewiring and hardware installation required.
CREWE CAM 4
Phil travelled over to Crewe to tackle to loss of signal from our Crewe Cam 4. This cam is the only one of Railcam’s cameras where we have employed over the suggested 100m data cable length, by including ‘repeaters’ to cover the near 350 metre run from hub to camera. After a solid performance (power loss aside) for the last 4 years, we have decided to upgrade the connection to a wireless one!
With a clear line of sight for our data transceivers to see each other from the North Junction Signal Box to close to our cam position, we have been able to return the cam to streaming whilst also opening up the entire Railcam Crewe set up for future upgrade. This also gives up the chance to assess the wireless transceivers for use at other Railcam locations.
THANKERTON CAM
Graeme and Stevie were tasked with quite a different challenge at our Thankerton site, with the reason for the loss of cam being a mystery. With that in mind we decided to entirely rewire the location and upgrade the camera to one that matches recent successful installations at Doncaster and Shrewsbury, also giving us a PTZ option.
It was quickly discovered that water ingress was the most likely culprit as Graeme found out almost straight away.....
The harsh Scottish winters had certainly taken their toll!
With the problem identified, it was now down to the rewire and installation of our new camera. With this model being a PTZ, we needed to place the camera where we could get a good clear view in both north and south directions, with the location selected Stevie was set to work on erecting the new pole to mount the camera....
After a great deal of clearing of ground vegetation and making a good clear run to secure the cabling, the cam was up and streaming. Initial feedback is very positive, and another cam ticket off the ‘upgrade’ list.
As always, both of our teams have done a cracking job, leaving sites extremely tidy and to the very high standards we set ourselves when we undertake any installation.
Thanks also goes to our hosts at both Crewe Heritage Centre, and to Barry, Laura and Shelly, who gave our guys the once over when they arrived.