Comparing TO to Virtual Rail Fan is apples and oranges. TO is primarily a discussion group covering nearly all rail subjects, past and present, near and far. The live cams that still remain there are ancillary to the main purpose. By Todd's own admission, the cams generate little traffic, are viewed by a small minority of members, yet produce the highest portion of costs for bandwidth. In the context of his business model, the live cams seem to be more of a nuisance than an asset.

Virtual Railfan, on the other hand, is all about the here and now and live "chat". It's great for people who have time to sit there and look at rail cams and discuss the live content, but it doesn't cover anywhere near the subject matter that TO does. A couple years ago I received a complimentary trial subscription and I found it to be an interesting diversion, but not much else. I don't have time to watch webcams, I'm not all that interested in watching contemporary trains, and I found the "chat" less useful than the forum format. Do a Google search on nearly any railroad topic and it's likely that a thread on TO will appear on the first page of your search results. Not so with very many other rail-oriented sites.

Still, to each his own, and I suppose more than anything, these two platforms compliment one-another more than they compete. Perhaps that is why discussions about virtualrailfan.com are tolerated on TO. Just because they are both pay-to-play sites doesn't necessarily make them redundant.