Garden Railway Forum

Don't know if others have tried this or not but a little idea I had last night just for a bit of fun. Using a smartphone with wi-fi as a mobile webcam on your railway. With the download of IP cam (free) on an old android phone this works a treat. A very simple app, simply install & follow instructions on the phone & had it working 1st time. My line has pretty good coverage from my wi-fi router so after setting the phone up in a brakevan & using a 2.4ghz battery loco I retired to the study where I was able to drive the full line whilst watching on the PC inside. You can even access features of the phones camera on the fly like turning the light on or off, autofocus & taking a photo all on the move! Brilliant for something a little different. IP Cam is available from the Android App store for free, I suppose there must be similar/same for i-Phone based systems? I'm even using an old phone with no sim card in it as it still works as a wi-fi enabled device!

That is quite wonderful and silly, thank you!

Very neat! "Train Sim" meets 16mm ('cept it's not a sim)

The future is HEEEERE! About a jillion years ago a Christmas editorial in one of the model railway comics talked about an operating session where operators sat at mocked up cab controls and enjoyed running sessions with a CCTV driver's eye view, then dismissed it as science fiction. What did they know? Like I said, the future is here. Still waiting for my flying car, though.

Really nice idea Shane, although could you use Wi-Fi on Pendo's to do a similar thing whilst you are driving up and down the WCML?