How to Find Out When a Train Rolls Through

Hi All,

I'm somewhat new to railfanning as a hobby. I live near several road crossings for Pan-Am and was wondering how to find out when a train is going to come through a particular crossing. Is that even possible?

I'm really enjoying this site! Especially all of the info I've received on my favorite fallen flags, B&M and MEC and my favorite locos, B&M 4265, 4266, 4267 & 4268.

Also enjoying the conversation around Conway Scenic Railroad and the MBTA

Thanks!

-DRV

You should probably pick up a scanner and monitor train movements as it is hard to predict when a freight will go through because they don't have a schedule....Maybe you can hear the whistle from a distant crossing....For passenger trains you can get a
schedule from the MBTA r Amtrak....Enjoy!

Tim Mullins wrote:You should probably pick up a scanner and monitor train movements as it is hard to predict when a freight will go through because they don't have a schedule....Maybe you can hear the whistle from a distant crossing....For passenger trains you can get a
schedule from the MBTA r Amtrak....Enjoy!

Thanks! That's pretty much what I was wondering, if there was a schedule you can look up.

I have some nice MBTA stations nearby and can check the Amtrak/MBTA schedules to see those and just hope I get lucky with a Pan-Am freight crossing.

Also, when you're out railfanning, if you see a crew that's not tied up obviously doing something intense, try approaching them telling them of your interest in their craft. Most people feel complimented by that and of course there are some that are ogres out there as well. We have them on here also. If you happen to run up against one of them, just wave and walk away. Try someone else the next time. When you're watching, if you catch someone's eye and they give you a nod or a wave, if you can approach from a safe and public area, strike up a brief conversation. You never know - you might come out of it with an employee timetable that is the envy of your friends. I know of a young person on RRN who contacted the General Manager of a large transit organization requesting a tour of an engine house where non-employees rarely have access to. (I was contacted for a reference.) He got it.

Another vote for picking up a scanner. It really adds a new dimension to your time spent by the tracks (and can be used to listen to various other types of radio communications, by the way). If you can hear the dispatcher, you can get BIG hints on when a train will be by. That includes freight trains. And if a freight train is close by (within a couple miles give or take), the scanner could even pick up the chirping from the "End of Train Device" found on the tail end of freight trains.

If you're looking for freights in passenger territory, you may be able to discern a loose pattern to when the freights come through. You might find that the dispatcher gets freight traffic moving during a big midday lull in the MBTA schedule. No guarantees here, but it's a start.

I was thinking of picking up a scanner for myself...Can anyone recommend a good brand and what I should expect to spend?
I would like to monitor RR, police,fire and air traffic....Thanks!

Tim Mullins wrote:I was thinking of picking up a scanner for myself...Can anyone recommend a good brand and what I should expect to spend?
I would like to monitor RR, police,fire and air traffic....Thanks!

I've got a slightly older Radio Shack Pro-82 that has served me well. Radio Shack makes quite a few scanners, the most basic ones starting around $100. Their scanners might be manufactured by a name brand, I just forget which. There are some other brands out there too that some other people can recommend. One piece of advice you may hear is that an actual radio will tend to pull in more signals than a scanner. I've got no experience in that regard, but just remember that it is firmly illegal to transmit on most of the frequencies that are fun to listen to.

Most any scanner will be able to pick up the traffic you describe. Mine has presets for Police/fire, air, marine, weather, and Ham frequency bands. And you can program in or manually select any frequency in that range and beyond.

Note that some police, fire, and other users (not rail as of yet) are converting to "trunked" radios which cannot be picked up by a regular scanner. They do make trunking scanners though, if you want to fork over some more dough.

There is a Guilford forum on Yahoo eGroups. Someone may post when a train leaves Rigby. You will get to know the approximate travel times, then you will have a pretty good idea when it will show up.

Tim Mullins wrote:I was thinking of picking up a scanner for myself...Can anyone recommend a good brand and what I should expect to spend?
I would like to monitor RR, police,fire and air traffic....Thanks!

Do you want a handheld model or do you want something to leave plugged in on a desk or table? I recommend uniden either way but specific need would help recommend a model.

I'm looking for a plug in to put on a table next to my chair....Thanks for the info guys!

Get this, it will do everything you want. The only thing it wont do is some of the newer digital frequencies but for local police fire and railroad that's something you wont be worried about for a long time. Also depending on how far you are from what you want to listen to, you'll probably want to upgrade to a better antenna. But that's an issue for another time.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Uniden-BC-780-X ... 336c8cf2ca

The Guilford Sightings group on Yahoo is an incredible resource.