Get a Track-Level View of Your Model Railroad with WagonCam

Model railroading is about so much more than just playing with small trains. It is about creative expression through the design and careful construction of entire cities and landscapes — often representing places of great sentimental value to the hobbyist. The problem, however, is that the landscape is mostly only visible from a bird’s-eye view. That probably doesn’t match what the hobbyist sees in their own mind’s eye, which feels a bit disappointing. But Brendan McGrath, AKA YouTuber Pater Practicus, has a solution: an affordable camera system that can ride inside a model railroad wagon to give a track-level view.

Most of the content on the Pater Practicus (Latin for “practical father”) channel is related to either technology or model railroading, and this WagonCam is the perfect combination of both. It is the kind of thing model railroaders would have killed for just a couple of decades ago: a camera system small enough to fit on a train, that can record and transmit video in real-time. McGrath designed the system replace an OO-scale wagon (on a Hornby chassis), but the electronics are adaptable to anything from OO up to G. It would probably even be possible to fit the electronics in a smaller car with a bit of finesse—HO certainly wouldn’t be much of a squeeze.

Those electronics consist of a Raspberry Pi Zero W single-board computer, a PiHut ZeroCam NOIR camera module, an Adafruit PowerBoost 500C charger module, and a small rechargeable lithium battery. McGrath says that this will not work with the newer Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, because it needs to run MotionEyeOs and that is only compatible with the earlier model. If you can only access a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, it would be possible to get similar functionality with the standard Raspberry Pi OS and one of several different video streaming programs.

Those components fit into a 3D-printed car that sits on top of the standard Hornby chassis. Just put it at the front (or back) of the train! McGrath even designed headlights to illuminate the tracks, which is perfect for tunnels or nighttime journeys.

In low-light situations, the camera selected by McGrath would be an especially good choice. It lacks an infrared filter, which means it is suitable for “night vision” video with an infrared light source. Replace one or both of the headlight LEDs with an infrared LED and you can get some very cool shots riding the rails through the night.