Prairie du Chien Train Webcam, Wisconsin

The Prairie du Chien Train Webcam looks across BNSF’s double-track main line from Frazier’s Old Faithful Inn at 157 North Illinois Street in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, opposite milepost 239.6 on the Aurora Subdivision. The camera faces northwest toward the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy depot, a flat-roofed red-brick building with a PRAIRIE DU CHIEN nameboard, and a line of wooded bluffs fills the skyline behind the town. Freight trains run past in both directions between La Crosse and the Chicago area, and the stream carries a live radio feed, so railroad radio calls and the trackside hotbox detectors can often be heard before a train comes into view. The Tavern League of Railfans runs the camera, with the inn as its host.

About the Prairie du Chien Railcam

Three tracks cross the picture on a diagonal. According to the Tavern League of Railfans, the nearest is Main 2, the next is Main 1, and the far track beside the depot is the house track. A red-and-white striped barricade and a stop sign stand between the street and the nearest rail, and a corner of the street, with its sidewalk and a strip of lawn, takes up the lower left. Behind the depot sit a long red building and a pale metal-sided garage, and pickups and work trucks are often parked on the gravel lot beside them. Houses and trees fill the right side of the frame.

The Aurora Subdivision runs about 422 kilometers (262 miles) from La Crosse, Wisconsin, to Aurora, Illinois, west of Chicago. It began as a Chicago, Burlington and Quincy route from Aurora to Oregon, Illinois, and in 1885 the line was continued to connect with St. Paul, Minnesota. It is double track from Crawford, just south of Prairie du Chien, north to Grand Crossing at La Crosse, which is why two main tracks pass the camera. Most of the traffic is intermodal, with other freight mixed in, and Amtrak’s Empire Builder is sometimes rerouted this way.

Prairie du Chien is the county seat of Crawford County, with 5,506 residents at the 2020 census, and the camera stands roughly 198 meters (650 feet) above sea level. The French explorers Marquette and Joliet arrived here by canoe on June 17, 1673, and Nicolas Perrot set up a trading post in 1685. Construction of Fort Shelby began in 1814, the British captured it that July in the Siege of Prairie du Chien, and the Americans built Fort Crawford in 1816. Rails reached the city in 1857 with the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad, and from 1874 until 1961 the Pile-Pontoon Railroad Bridge carried trains across the river to Iowa. Two lines still serve the town: the former Burlington route on this camera and the former Milwaukee Road line from Chicago.

Weather and Climate in Prairie du Chien

Winters are long and cold in this corner of southwestern Wisconsin. NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 normals for the Prairie du Chien weather station put the average January high at -2.7°C (27°F) and the average low at -12.4°C (10°F), and about 86 centimeters (33.8 inches) of snow falls in an average year. On the Prairie du Chien Train Webcam that means snow can lie on the ballast, the gravel lot and the depot roof through the coldest weeks.

Summers are warm, with July highs averaging 28.4°C (83°F) and lows of 17.3°C (63°F), and the trees on the bluffs behind the depot are in full leaf. Annual precipitation is about 959 millimeters (37.7 inches). In autumn the wooded hillsides turn yellow and brown, as they were in early November 2026, and on damp mornings low mist can hang along the top of the bluffs.

Things to Do Near Prairie du Chien

Frazier’s Old Faithful Inn, the bar and restaurant that hosts the camera, sits across the street from the tracks, and the Tavern League of Railfans invites railfans to stop in for a drink or a meal from its kitchen. West of downtown, St. Feriole Island is a 240-acre city park on the Mississippi, created after the 1965 flood moved the residents of the city’s fourth ward. The island is home to Villa Louis, the Victorian mansion Louis Dousman built in 1870 on the site of Fort Shelby, now a state historic site. The Fort Crawford Museum preserves the garrison hospital where Army surgeon William Beaumont carried out his pioneering medical experiments.

South of town, Wyalusing State Park sits about 152 meters (500 feet) above the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers, with hiking trails, a canoe trail and bluff-top overlooks, plus the Huser Astronomy Center. Across the river in Iowa, Effigy Mounds National Monument near Harpers Ferry protects more than 200 American Indian mounds, among them the bear-shaped effigies of the Marching Bear Mound Group.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

More train cameras in Wisconsin, including another BNSF line beside the Mississippi:

• Alma Webcam
• Green Bay Train Webcam
• Wauwatosa Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Prairie du Chien Train Webcam located?

It is mounted at Frazier’s Old Faithful Inn, 157 North Illinois Street, Prairie du Chien, in Crawford County, southwestern Wisconsin. The camera sits across from milepost 239.6 on BNSF’s Aurora Subdivision, on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River opposite Iowa.

What can you see on the Prairie du Chien Train Webcam?

Two BNSF main tracks and a house track run diagonally across the frame, with the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy depot behind them, houses to the right and wooded bluffs on the skyline.

What trains run through Prairie du Chien?

BNSF freight trains between La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Chicago or Galesburg, Illinois, use this line, most of them intermodal. Amtrak’s Empire Builder is occasionally rerouted over the Aurora Subdivision, but the line has no regular passenger service.

Which direction are the trains going on the Prairie du Chien railcam?

Trains moving from left to right are eastbound toward East Dubuque, Illinois, and on to Chicago or Galesburg. Trains moving from right to left are westbound toward La Crosse and Minneapolis and St. Paul.

What radio channel does the Prairie du Chien railcam play?

The audio monitors 161.100 MHz as the priority channel for the BNSF Aurora Subdivision, and the hotbox detectors at milepost 244.1 to the west and milepost 232.1 to the east are heard regularly. It also monitors 161.370 MHz for CPKC’s Marquette Subdivision, which runs along the Iowa bank of the Mississippi just across the river.

What is the weather like in Prairie du Chien?

January averages a high of -2.7°C (27°F) and a low of -12.4°C (10°F), with about 86 centimeters (33.8 inches) of snow a year. July averages a high of 28.4°C (83°F) and a low of 17.3°C (63°F).

Who runs the Prairie du Chien railcam?

The Tavern League of Railfans operates the camera and streams it on its YouTube channel, with Frazier’s Old Faithful Inn as the host location. The group takes donations toward the camera’s equipment and running costs, and it runs railcams in several other towns as well.

Source: Tavern League Of Railfans