What is the Southwest Chief Railcam Tracker?
The Southwest Chief Railcam Tracker is a web application that helps train enthusiasts track the Amtrak Southwest Chief as it travels between Chicago and Los Angeles. The app shows the current location and status of the train, and provides live railcam feeds when the train is approaching one of the many railcams along the route.
The Southwest Chief is one of Amtrak's iconic long-distance routes, covering 2,265 miles through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The journey takes approximately 43 hours to complete.
How It Works
The tracker uses data from asm.transitdocs.com to determine the current location and status of the Southwest Chief. It checks for updates regularly and displays the next stations the train will arrive at, along with estimated arrival times.
When the train is approaching a station that has a railcam, the app will display the live feed from that railcam. This allows you to watch the train pass by in real-time.
The app tracks multiple train instances simultaneously, showing all active trains along the route. This gives you a comprehensive view of all Southwest Chief trains currently in service.
The app tracks both Train #3 (westbound from Chicago to Los Angeles) and Train #4 (eastbound from Los Angeles to Chicago).
Features
- Comprehensive tracking of all Southwest Chief train instances
- Live railcam feeds from stations along the route
- Delay information showing if trains are running late
- Estimated arrival times for upcoming stations
- Dark mode support for comfortable viewing at night
- Optional browser notifications when a train is approaching a railcam
- Interactive station selection to view specific locations
Data Sources
Train status data is sourced from asm.transitdocs.com, which provides comprehensive information about Amtrak trains including their current location, next station, scheduled and estimated arrival times, and delay status.
Railcam feeds are embedded from YouTube channels that provide live streams of railroad locations along the Southwest Chief route.