“I was speaking to a gentleman this morning, he’s a friend of the museum and he lives down in Texas, and he was like ‘oh ya I watch 15-20 minutes every morning, check out what is going on’,” she said. The last report she saw from Railfan said the feed was watched something ridiculous like 400,000 times in the first 25 days from 136 different countries, “or something like that”. “It’s been really well received,” Young said. Though Virtual Railfan operates on subscriptions, the live feed can also be accessed on Youtube and through the Railway Museum’s webpage. “We thought, ‘what a wonderful marketing opportunity for us and what a great way to also showcase Revelstoke to a bunch of people who didn’t know about us’,” Young said. Last fall Virtual Railfan approached Laura Young, executive director at the museum, about installing a live camera facing the railway on the outside of their building. Did you know you can watch the train drive past Revelstoke’s Railway Museum? Live? The Fort Madison live stream can be found on YouTube:, or on the Virtual Railfan website. “Instead of chasing potential tourists, you have an audience of millions who flock to you. “We can spread the word of the Inn, Fort Madison, and everything they offer visitors, with much greater reach than conventional advertising,” siad Cyr. The conversations are family-friendly, they inform and engage the viewers about each location, and encourage the local railfans to become “virtual ambassadors” in the chat. He noted the chats are a big part of the connection for the viewers. “Although the viewers tune in to watch trains, the live chat which accompanies each feed, provides a unique opportunity for people to converse about the area It’s history and events while they wait for the next train,” said Mike Cyr, the President and CEO of Virtual Railfan. Virtual Railfan has 210,000 YouTube subscribers from across the globe who’ve watched nearly 35 million hours of feed.
![virtual railfan virtual railfan](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mopmBxaBLjI/maxresdefault.jpg)
When it became technically feasible to live stream directly to YouTube in 2017, the company put a handful of locations on the popular platform and viewership exploded. Virtual Railfan launched its website in 2014 with 4 locations, and railfans quickly signed up for membership as the network continued to grow. “This camera will not only showcase the beautiful landscaping of Fort Madison to viewers around the world but will allow for direct communication from Kingsley Inn, River Rocks Bar & Grill and Rocks’ Dock Outdoor Bar & Grill,” added Eastin. “We recognized the value of broadcasting Fort Madison to the 10 million monthly viewers of Virtual Railfan’s YouTube channel. “With so many railfans staying at the Inn year-round, hosting the camera was a no brainer,” said Eastin in a statement.
![virtual railfan virtual railfan](https://img.sur.ly/thumbnails/620x343/v/virtualrailfan.com.png)
“Definitely one of the best cams in the country,” said another.Ĭhi Eastin, Kingsley Inn general manager, approached Virtual Railfan in October of 2019 after she was encouraged by guests that were fans of the website. “This location is my new favorite!” said one fan.
![virtual railfan virtual railfan](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DY-OYgfUMAA2FQ-.jpg)
The cam was installed on June 28 and has had more than 125,000 views in just 2 days and fans had instant reactions. The Fort Madison location is hosted by the Kingsley Inn, the cameras offer spectacular views of the daily stops of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, as well as the parade of BNSF and Union Pacific freight trains that roll through daily. They also provide live chats with the camera locations that are monitored by a team of nearly 100 moderators. Virtual Railfan, a leading provider of 24/7 live streams of popular railroad locations for train fans, has installed a high-definition pan/tilt/zoom camera along the track and the Mississippi River in Fort Madison. FORT MADISON - From the comfort of your home railroad buffs can view train activity in Fort Madison and across the country.