Harpers Ferry 'action'?

planning a trip soon. can anyone tell me what the train frequency is and or time of day is best? what's happenin' around there? what channell do i set my radio to, any good local places to eat?

This is the last info I could find. Its three years old, but probably still good.

CSX mainline freq through Harper's and SJ is 160.230. Dispatcher is on 160.320 and 161.520 for that area.

That'll be where most of the talk is.

While in the area, it will probably be worth a drive to Brunswick and Point of Rocks too.

Either way, you should see quite a bit of action as the Baltimore and DC west bound traffic all heads through that line.

I read the average is 20-25 trains a day. When I went there was a furry of activity between 11 and 2, then a sharp from from 2-4, then an increase.

Harpers Ferry is also where the Metro Sub meets the Shennendoah sub, so keep your eyes on the signals. Movements on the S. Sub are much less frequent but the signal will tell you when something is coming because the signal will react to the switch.

COOL! thanks for the tips guys...

The two times I have been to Harpers Ferry I have found westbound Amtrak just after 5pm (like 5:17). Eastbound coal train just before that. A stone train goes down the Shenandoah Sub around 3-330 (including Saturdays) and comes back between 2 and 3 hours later with a loaded train.

Down the road a piece at Point of Rocks I found 3 eastbounds between 2 and 4, but no westbound action. Of those three 2 went to the north side of the station, one went to the south side of the station. Nice spot to take pictures.

One of the local fans told me a weekday between 3 and 7 yields a ton of freight and passenger action. Saturday freight action is hit or miss he said. Some days quite a few freights, some days nada.

I suspect that early morning to about 11ish yields alot of action eastbound.

CSX tends to run east in the morning and west in the evening to correspond with MARC