So, you like to watch and monitor trains? Welcome!
See Libby installs Sound Rail's splash page  |  Layouts, how to's and other stuff.  |  Computer Guru
If you wish to read more information about ATCS please visit Dave's ATCS Monitor page!!
On these pages you will find information on how ATCSMonitor was implemented here. There are other's also involved helping and deserve a ton of thanks; specifically: Our neighbor in Southwest Washington, GDunn2 and ctclibby and all the folks on the ATCS_Monitor Yahoo group.
We are currently monitoring the BNSF in multiple areas in Montana, Idaho and Washington. My experience with computers and networking put me in the 'server admin' position, while GDunn2 has vast experience with radios, antennas and all in between. We are looking for folks along the sub to help fill in the blank spots. Please contact any of us if you wish to help!
The Kootenai River Sub was my first and with the help of our Southwest Washington neighbor, we rebuilt the layout and changed some of the MCP mnemonics and descriptions. Kootenai River Sub extends from Sunset Junction slightly west of Spokane, to The Fish just north of Kalispel. That is almost 250 miles of railroad folks!
We monitor the Lakeside Sub which is from Sunset Junction West of downtown Spokane to Pasco. GDunn2 has a ATCSMon box in Lind monitoring the Lakeside sub, and another box South West of Ritzville which monitors BOTH the Lakeside and Columbia River sub's. The Columbia River Sub is from Latah Junction West of downtown Spokane to Wenatchee. Again, if you are along either of these subs and want to join in, give us a shout!
10/15/2009The layout as it stands is in progress for you to view. The Spokane Sub is also contained with the layout. So if you are a Funnel Fan you can watch trains from Lakeside Junction or Latah Junction thru Spokane and the Hauser Fueling facility to Sandpoint and points East.
Sometimes the trouble we run into might help others. Getting the radio working on top of the Ace 4 Space building on East Sprague in Spokane was a 3 or 4 trip setup. Gary comes in from Lind, Wa whereas I drive from Libby. Gary spent more time than I on that roof and he deserves most of the credit! Here is what he had to say if you are interested. We have decided that the radio on the roof at Ace for Space just isn't worth it. There is to much intermod which causes a ton of errors. We have taken the antenna down and along with the radio to use at another location. It is not all bad as we still are running a server there which will be "the server" for the Kootenai Sub. Tuesday 10/20/09 should have the site back operational again. Box running ATCS took a dive and getting another there is taking longer than we thought it would.
2009/03/20 Kennewick is up and operational. You can get the MCP's and Layout from the link above. We are told that BNSF has done all the testing and is ready for those 'dark' MCPs to come online at anytime:
If you are located along any of the subs above and want to help out, please contact us as we will be glad to chat with you about it. We can provide all the necessary equipment: Computer Radio Antenna iMic cables AND we can help with the install. Although ATCS monitor uses a *tiny* amount of bandwidth, dialup just isn't quite good enough. Hughes and WildBlue ( Satellite ) work just fine.