[?] Any one have an idea what those mysterious tracks are on the sidewalk at the hotel ?? The tracks seem to stay after rain dries. Could they be dividers for inbound and outbound foot traffic for the hotel?? heh heh. just curious. Another one of lifes mysteries.
Cannonball
Sorry but you’ll need to better articulate your question (for me at least) as I have no idea whatsoever what you’re talking about.
What hotel? What tracks? Your question makes no sense at all to us without a photo or more detail.
Might help if you’d tell us where the hotel is.
Let me guess.
He hit new post instead of reply…
I bet it was the Hotel California.
Such a lovely place.
I am certain he is refering to the “footprints” that appear on the Hotel Roanoke Hotel Railcam. I have wondered about them too.
I just checked some of the screencaptures I have (trying to get images of the various cabeese used by NS on those tracks) and they are not present on an image taken 9/7/2012 but are there on 11/23/2012.
Here is an image taken 12/10/2012…
{Edit; sorry, the hosting site lost all my photos.}
Look at the sidewalk on the extreme right. The footprint like dots have been there a long time, through rains and such, so they are not just a temporary thing of somebody going by with wet boots.
Perhaps they’re depressions from someone walking on the sidewalk before the concrete had fully set ?
They do appear to be a normal adult’s stride distance apart.
I have seen footprints painted on a sidewalk. They went into a shoe store.
It is more than likely a gimmick to get your attention and lead you to a local business.
I saw something like that, but the footprints were of high heels. They lead into a nightclub! [:-^]
I agree with Mookie that they look like what I have seen immediately near a shoestore entrance, but in this instance the sidewalk here is along the front lawn of the Hotel Roanoke and Convention Center which is the whole city block. There are no “stores” anywhere near this area.
The next block east is parking and more parking.
The next block west is the old Norfolk & Western Ry office building and a parking garage and using Google Earth Street View, I don’t see it as being used for a shoe store. North of that is the Roanoke Higher Education Center.
I suppose they could be “tracks to higher education”, but I just cannot picture the Hotel Roanoke permitting the whole block to be used for such advertising.
Over the time frame of my capturing images from the rail cam, between when they were not there and when they first show up, I saw no work being done on the sidewalk such that it would be foot prints in wet cement.
I also find it interesting how the tracks seems to take a detour to the lamp post. Maybe someone with paint on their boots was out walking their dog?
[:)] [;)] The mystery deepens.
In case of remodeling “cut on the dotted line”?
Is there anybody on the ground with first hand knowldege?
Ya got me to thinking…
If you visit the VMT, you can head east out of the museum alongside the tracks and visit a number of interactive railroad exhibits - several actually do something (like lower a gate, IIRC). Follow the “trail” and you’ll end up at the Link Museum.
At some point you cross over the tracks. I missed that and went over the highway overpass (pausing to look at the NS shops). Still, I reached the Link Museum (you can buy a paired admission) and toured that.
I was thinking that perhaps the “footprints” are part of that, but looking at an aerial photo, that doesn’t make much sense. Too, the aerial (satellite) image doesn’t show the footprints, and the resolution is pretty good.
[:)] Through all these posts on this subject no trains were damaged or railroad tracks torn up. However much hand wringing has appeard as to where the “foot prints” came from.
Bigfoot!
Bigfoot wears shoes?
BigBoot!