All aboard! Ontario town set to live-stream rail crossings to draw tourists

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The bells ring, the lights flash and the crossing gates descend, blocking the road and delaying drivers from reaching their destination.

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Though it can be inconvenient to idle while a locomotive pulls freight cars, sometimes stretching for several kilometres, to train enthusiasts, passing trains are the destination and a Southwestern Ontario town’s new tourism venture is aimed at drawing them to the community.

Ingersoll is partnering with Livetrains.com – an online train enthusiasts’ platform that provides 24-hour live-streams from high-definition track-side cameras allowing real-time viewing of passing trains – by installing cameras at rail crossings at 97 and 110 Mutual St. to attract rail fans to the town, officials say. Like plane spotters who watch and track aircraft, rail fans watch, photograph or video trains to catch special views and visit rail-heavy spots.

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“Ingersoll is very excited about this project as this niche market of rail fans is already visiting the community,” Ingersoll’s community service director, Kyle Stefanovic, said by email.

Stefanovic engineered the proposal and wrote his master’s thesis on rail-fan tourism and the development of rail-fan parks, learning that live streaming was a way to cater to them, he said.

“We hope to tap into a niche market and create a positive economic impact locally by welcoming these enthusiasts,” Stefanovic said.

The town east of London already is a popular destination, thanks to word-of-mouth among rail fans, because of the railways that pass through it, including Canadian National Railway, Via Rail and Ontario Southland Railway (OSR), Stefanovic said. People from all over the world come to see and photograph OSR trains because of the short line operator’s collection of diesel-electric locomotives, he said.

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Ingersoll’s livestream cameras mark Houston-based Livetrains.com‘s first foray into Canada, its co-founder, Aaron Conde, said, noting the town’s popularity among rail fans, OSR trains in particular.

“I have people that travel from all parts of Canada and the (northern) United States, to go out there to watch what they’re pushing out,” Conde said, pointing out OSR’s locomotives are rarer, and glimpses of the trains were sought-after by train enthusiasts.

Ingersoll native Justin Camm, 22, said his interest in all things rail began when he was an infant, and his parents would bring him to the town’s railyard.

“It just fascinates me,” Camm said. “They can be so big, and they can pull so much, and some engines, they look different, they have different paint schemes.”

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Camm thought the cameras would benefit the community, noting he’d heard some rail fans had travelled from as far as England to his town of about 13,000 people.

Camm said there is a social aspect to rail fandom as he and friends gather to watch trains pass. He might snap a photo or two, but he also enjoys just watching “the entire train go by.”

He also tries to spot anything faulty on the tracks or with the locomotive or cars, adding that every crossing has an emergency number people can call to report problems.

Although safety wasn’t Livetrains.com’s reason for launching, Conde called the ability to record railroad tracks and potentially spot emergency scenarios as a positive unintended consequence of the platform. He noted several instances in which a leaning load was reported.

Ingersoll’s two cameras on Livetrains.com are scheduled to go live this month.

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@BrianWatLFPress

The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada

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