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World Heritage

Alishan Forest Railway: 3 Live Cameras — opened 1912

Three cameras on a railway opened in 1912 to carry cypress down. Switchback track, the village at the halfway station, and a lookout facing the sunrise.

What you can see

The three are strung along one mountain railway.

The Alishan Forest Railway was opened in 1912 to bring cypress down the mountain. The track climbs the steep sections by switchback, reversing direction to gain height. A line built to move timber is still running, now moving people.

Fenqihu is the village at the halfway station. Its name ends in the character for lake, but there is no lake - the name describes a basin ringed by mountains on three sides. Worth knowing before you go looking for water on the map.

Ogasawara Lookout is a circular platform open on all sides. It was built for watching the sun rise above the cloud sea, and people gather there before dawn. That makes it one of the few cameras here with a fixed appointment.

Cameras you can watch now: 3

All 3 are live video. Tap one to open it in the camera list.

When to watch

The operator does not publish a viewing season, and we do not invent one here. The camera description does say that people gather at the Ogasawara Lookout at dawn.

Taiwan is only one hour behind Japan, and there is no daylight saving. 06:00 in Taiwan is 07:00 in Japan.

This matters for a sunrise camera. Alishan's sunrise falls at roughly the same clock hour as an East Asian morning, so you can get up normally and still be in time. Sunrise cameras in America or Africa need you to be awake in the middle of the night.

If it isn't showing

All three are also listed on the Taiwan page. The railway is filed under World Heritage, the terrain under Nature.

The tea slopes of the same mountain are on Alishan Tea Terraces, and the valley lookouts on Taiping Bridge & Lijia. The other logging railway is on Taipingshan, Dongyanshan.

Choosing a camera by the hour is covered in Which cameras are in daylight now.

Where to find Alishan Forest Railway

Agencies publishing the cameras on this page

The footage belongs to each agency. This site is an unofficial guide, and each sample frame was copied once per camera under that agency's terms of use.

To find other cameras, go to the camera list. You can narrow all 439 cameras by format, region, subject and provider.