Bunbury Street Railcam Project

The Bunbury Street Railcam Project is a project conceived by Brian Evans and sponsored by Railpage Australia and provides Railway Enthusiasts with digital image and video streams of freight trains accessing Melbourne's busy railway yards. Trains accessing or departing Melbourne's various rail terminals do in many cases using the Independent Goods Line which run from the eastern side of the Maribyrnong River to the western Melbourne suburb of Tottenham. The project is based on an automated approach to recording and archiving digital assets for trains and is the first automated project of its type in Australia.
Introduction
The Bunbury Street Railway Tunnel is located within the inner Melbourne Suburb of Footscray and is entirely classified by the Australian National Trust. The tunnel is not only significant for its look, era and construction methods, but for the role it plays in the delivery of rail freight and passenger services from Melbourne's Western Suburbs to the extremely busy ports and freight rail yards which exist on the eastern side of the Maribyrnong River. It is regarded as one of the busiest railway locations for freight services in the State of Victoria. As a result, it is quite popular with Railway Enthusiasts from Melbourne and around Australia.
National Trust
The National Trust of Australia asserts on its website
:the Bunbury Street Tunnel and Maribyrnong River Railway Bridge are part of one of the most elaborate undertakings in rail construction in Victoria during the twentieth century, The Independent Goods Lines (IGL) - arguably second only to the construction of the Standard Gauge Line. The IGL was the second major dedicated goods line built in Victoria, (the first being the 1887 Newport - Braybrook Junction line). Built between 1926 and 1928 the new goods line incorporated a cut and fill tunnel, brick embankments and a bridge across the Maribyrnong River. It involved the massive excavation of basalt rock under a suburban street, which had established houses along both sides, further cuttings and embankments, and the construction of the large riveted steel Pratt through-truss bridge.
Railway Operations
The Tunnel is part of the Independent Goods Line (IGL) from Tottenham Railway Yard to many railway yards in inner Melbourne which service the busy Port of Melbourne. The rail lines cross the Maribyrnong River via a bridge located at the Eastern Portal of the Tunnel. On a daily basis there are many freight or goods trains which access the Melbourne Railway yards from the west carrying various freight. Trains wishing to use the Independent Goods Line (IGL) between the Melbourne Yards and Tottenham are also required to use the bridge and tunnel. All Interstate railway traffic on Standard Gauge (SG) must use these tracks to access Melbourne from either Northern or Western Victoria. As a result, these lines are extremely busy with rail traffic running 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
The Project
Establishing the frequency and variety of railway goods traffic with a small amount of passenger rail traffic through this location, planning began in late 2009 for a series of Web Cameras to be installed at the location connecting back to Railpage Australia. Principally the idea was to allow Railway Enthusiasts from around Australia or indeed the world to watch trains (using the Internet) entering and exiting the eastern portal of the tunnel. In doing so and depending on the location of the cameras, a trainspotter could view rail traffic crossing the river into and out of Melbourne.
The idea was to also create a digital archive of all rail traffic in and out of Melbourne which uses the Independent Goods Lines (IGL) on both Standard and Broad Rail Gauges capturing both Video/Audio and also still digital images.
Installation
Installation of the camera site and rigging commenced in May 2011. A newly fabricated steel structure was designed and built by Rob Britt from Melbourne Wireless. The structure was then installed on a roof adjacent to the railway tracks. Once installed, work began on acquiring and installing IP Webcam's which would provide a view of the lines. 3 cameras have been installed and configured for remote access. As at July 2011, only 2 cameras are available for production use, with the 3rd camera still in testing.
IP Network access is provided by using radio back haul equipment from the site which is connected to the Melbourne Wireless IP network. Various other people have assisted with installation including Peter Buncle and Mark Detering both also from Melbourne Wireless.
The system was fully operational by June 2011 to the delight of many railfans who have expressed their appreciation and support of the project.
Digital Archives
Digital images produced from the Bunbury Street IP Cameras are stored on a media server located in Melbourne. Images are then uploaded within moments to the Railpage Flickr Photostream so as to be viewable by those who have an interest. The photostream also publishes as required to the [http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23bunburyst Bunbury Street Webcam Twitter Feed]. Video recorded by Camera #2 also contains corresponding audio. Video which is recorded in archived onto a media server again located in Melbourne which interesting videos being made available on a Youtube channel which can be accessed at the Railpage Youtube Channel.
Current images are made available to Internet users through a portal which refreshes supplying the user with an updated image every 60 seconds. Images can be viewed by accessing Live access to the Bunbury Street Railcam
Future Projects
There are a number of future projects in the pipeline which include placing a similar setup at various other places across the Victoria and New South Wales Railway Networks. The next project is likely to include a setup at the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre located in Seymour
There are currently plans to expand the Digital Asset Management (DAM) aspects of the Project to include automated uploading of recorded video to a Youtube channel. It is also hoped the content will be digitally integrated into the Railpage platform. Some of this work is currently being undertaken by James Morgan.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu