Radio on the NYS&W

Maybe us regular folks aren't really supposed to know this, but the on-board radios that the NYSW uses - do they use regular CB radio bands, or are they more like police radio where you need a special kind of radio/scanner to be able to hear them?

I don't know much about 2-way radio (probably quite obvious) but I see some people talking about knowing when trains are coming from listening to their scanner and I'm curious how you guys worked that out.

You can hear the NYSW on 160.485.

the radio's are VHF low band and all railroad voice communications are in 160 000 to 161 990 range , they van be received with a scanner.

I would also suggest a simple scanner. No need for a two way radio as you won't and shouldn't be talking to train crews on their frequency.

Just note that NY State has some rules about portable scanner use in a vehicle.

Just to clarify, I had no interest in interloping - merely mildly interested in being able to know when trains will be going by (like probably everyone else). Thanks a lot for the input.

NYS&W trains generally run Form D, or at least they did, with so few trains they may only talk to the dispatcher once or twice and then all you might catch is when they're switching someplace.