# Railroad Radio Frequencies



## Roger Cole (May 22, 2017)

I and 3 others are planning a cross-country trip on AMTRAK this August and I have an old portable scanner I currently use for fire/ambulance/police calls. Is there a web site that lists the frequencies of AMTRAK and the various freight railroads we will be traveling over?


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## MikefromCrete (May 22, 2017)

On-track-on-line.com has a comprehensive list of all Amtrak routes.


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## Acela150 (May 22, 2017)

Link to OTOL and the frequency page.

http://on-track-on-line.com/amtrak-freqs.shtml


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## printman2000 (May 23, 2017)

I will be on the Wolverine this summer. I heard Amtrak has taken over a portion of its track. Does that mean frequencies will change or will they continue to use the same ones?


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## TinCan782 (May 23, 2017)

printman2000 said:


> I will be on the Wolverine this summer. I heard Amtrak has taken over a portion of its track. Does that mean frequencies will change or will they continue to use the same ones?


Depends on who has/gets the dispatching responsibility when the change you mention happens. If a change occurs, how timely will OTOL note the change.


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## printman2000 (May 23, 2017)

Pretty sure the change has already happened. OTOL still does not show the change of the Texas Eagle over the TRE.


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## Acela150 (May 23, 2017)

There is an easy way to solve this, provided your scanner can handle up to 100 channels..

Their are I believe 96 AAR channels. I have all of them programed into my scanner under their appropriate AAR channel 2-97.


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## TinCan782 (May 23, 2017)

In addition to any frequency listings you may have, program in all (96 in the US) AAR channels into a bank in your scanner. If the scanner channel number corresponds to the AAR channel number it makes it easier to change frequencies. Listening on the air, the train crews will refer to channel number, not the frequency itself. Another useful feature to help you locate the channel in use is to make use of you scanner's "Close Call" capability (not all scanners have this; your scanner may call it by another name).


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## TinCan782 (May 23, 2017)

Acela150 said:


> There is an easy way to solve this, provided your scanner can handle up to 100 channels..
> 
> Their are I believe 96 AAR channels. I have all of them programed into my scanner under their appropriate AAR channel 2-97.


Yes...didn't notice your post when I made a similiar post!


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## printman2000 (May 23, 2017)

Well, not too easy. I have tried scanning before and you have to happen to be scanning a channel at the exact time someone is talking on the channel you want. I have not had very good results with that in the past.


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## TinCan782 (May 23, 2017)

printman2000 said:


> Well, not too easy. I have tried scanning before and you have to happen to be scanning a channel at the exact time someone is talking on the channel you want. I have not had very good results with that in the past.


Well, if you don't stay aware of/keep up with frequency changes as they occur you don't have much choice...scan the 97 channels or make use of "Close Call"


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## Devil's Advocate (May 23, 2017)

FrensicPic said:


> printman2000 said:
> 
> 
> > Well, not too easy. I have tried scanning before and you have to happen to be scanning a channel at the exact time someone is talking on the channel you want. I have not had very good results with that in the past.
> ...


Scanning a few channels is fast and practical. Scanning nearly 100 channels continuously is slow enough that it's entirely possible for some or all of a transmission to get lost in the delay of trying to track everything else. In major cities scanning a hundred channels at once will often result in catching traffic on another unrelated channel that has little or nothing to do with the activity along your specific route.


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## TinCan782 (May 24, 2017)

Devil's Advocate said:


> FrensicPic said:
> 
> 
> > printman2000 said:
> ...


Yes, scanning that many channels you are bound to miss something. I don't do that during my train travels...once I determine the relevant active channel I stay there until a frequency change is made. Then, I move to the next channel and hold there.


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## Acela150 (May 24, 2017)

FrensicPic said:


> Listening on the air, the train crews will refer to channel number, not the frequency itself.


This can be a tricky area though.. For instance when I worked at NS, we used 4 main channels.. 46/46, 50/50, 58/58, and 64/64. We would refer to 46/46 as "channel one" 64/64 as "channel two" 50/50 as "channel three" and 58/58 as "channel four". That's just how things were. So for instance if we were on the Main between FALLS and NORRIS where we would go over to the yard channel if we were going in the yard we'd say something to the effect of. H83 CO to the head end switch over to channel three. That way we could shove into the yard and not have to worry about using Main Line's channel.

Another example is on the NEC. Trains will switch from 54/54 to 60/60 at the Division Post at MP 76. Most if not all of the crew's will just say something like, "Amtrak 174 let's switch channels". When I was qualifying the Harrisburg Line they change channels just west of zoo. Most of the crews would say "Amtrak 645 let's switch over to Harrisburg".

I'd be surprised if any crew members know what the actual frequency is. On the radio it shows what the AAR channel is, or at least the one I had at NS.


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## printman2000 (May 24, 2017)

Having the OTOL pages does help me track down channels. Especially in the morning when I have not been listening all night.

Just unsure about the Wolverine route with the change.


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## zephyr17 (May 24, 2017)

On the Wolverine, that depends on whether or not the dispatching changes. It doesn't have to follow ownership. If the (former) host railroad (CSX?) is still dispatching then probably not, if Amtrak takes it over, then yes, it will probably change.


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