Asha Town, Russia Live Cam

Asha lies in the western foothills of the southern Urals, where the Sim River cuts a gap through the ridges. The webcam turns between the bridge, the fountain and the main street of the town.

The place grew around an ironworks opened in 1898 and still runs on it; the plant rolls thin steel and is the largest employer in the district. The Ufa to Chelyabinsk main line and the M5 both use the same gap, which is the easiest crossing of the range for a hundred kilometres in either direction.

A memorial stands outside the town at the site of the railway disaster of June 1989, when gas leaking from a pipeline ignited as two passenger trains passed each other. Asha is in Chelyabinsk Oblast, close to the line usually drawn between Europe and Asia.