Chasing Trains with a Scanner

Catch more railfan action. Use this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PA9ExgNpeg&list=PL05wIKjXooC0TnZvxpQ7TIAD2evGWnI9M

I have the exact setup! I've taken my scanner (BC125AT) on a couple of my Amtrak trips from Houston to Beaumont and have always been fascinated by the defect detectors, especially the ones with the SP lady's voice!

One of the most powerful features of the Uniden scanners is "Close Call." Close Call sits in the background and listens for active frequencies you may not have programmed in your radio. It's valuable in busy rail yards. I've heard switchmen, car shop, MOW, contractors and other services I would have missed. I've even found short line railroads using 150 MHz frequencies, not in the RR band and not listed in the public databases.

Ron, This is a great video. I agree with you about how and what we can learn from rail fanning. Rail fanning has made my layouts a lot more interesting to look at. You made a great reference to Danny Harmon. I lived in Florida for 35 years (I recently moved) and learned a lot about the railroads in my area from Danny.

Howdy Ron I am a retired truck driver and when I was on the road, I listened to dot for road conditions and RR channels on my scanner it was a lot of fun. sometimes I got to follow a train for many miles if going in the same direction :)

Looks like it was an interesting day. Glad to see I'm not the only one that forgets batteries 😂

Hey Ron pretty cool info there. My late Grand parents lived in Nevada. Been years since I passed through. Well keep having fun, Chris

Great train watch Ron. I enjoyed watching with you in spite of the 🔋 battery glitch. Meanwhile nice fleets of trains you did catch. My continued viewing with you. 👍👏

Thanks Ron for the cool tip on the scanner, I’ve never thought about one and yours looks cool, I’m getting one 👍🏻 I do live only a couple of blocks from the BNSF line about 40 west of Chicago and I love going to a classification yard that only a couple miles west of me and watch the switching and building of stock that goes on there, I get a great view from the Eola Rd bridge that’s right at the east end of the yard. The only thing that I bring other than my phones camera is a pair of binoculars to zoom in and catch some pretty neat stuff. Years ago I lived in Berwyn where that had a huge yard to the East that reach into Cicero (these are the 2 city’s just west of Chicago), I used to love sneaking into that yard or up on Laramie Ave bridge to watch them hump cars off onto so many tracks, I’ll never tire of the railroads. I’ve seen some of your other videos on rail fanning, it’s good to know that others like it too 😊

Ron, I'd like to add that to get the most out of using a scanner along the line, it is helpful to listen to the scanner (or a scanner app on your phone/computer) when you aren't out railfanning. This helps you get used to the terms and locations on your particular line. Railroads have their own lingo (jargon?) and location names which can differ from the actual name of a town. So listening ahead of time will prepare you to be able to better interpret what you are hearing when you do get out trackside.

Alongside my favorite railroad frequencies, I program the EOT device frequencies in their own specific bank as well. This way, when a train is approaching or nearby, I will hear an EOT “chirp”, and be alerted of it. Very helpful when sitting trackside.

Ron just a update on the mna railroad. The older sd's are being retired and replaced with ex BNSF dash 9s. Now bnsf at ft Scott on the fort Scott sub they dropped as a crew change. If a train stops and changes crews it's a Afton sub train.my scanner i bought a whistler WS 10-10 with energizer rechargable battery's. For a antenna i have roof mount magnetic, works very good

This really helped me as I think about replacing my current scanner, especially along the fort scott sub which I also railfan!

Those hoppers and tank cars are possibly heading out to ADM West of Nevada on the old MKT line Ron.

great video.... thanks for posting

In the UK we have couple of websites/apps that allow us to track trains on the network, I'm surprised that there are not US based railfans with IT knowledge that haven't done similar. When chasing in the car I tend to have some items that can be charged whilst driving from the 12V power and or USB socket.

Tip: if you have a handheld scanner that will charge by USB cable buy a power bank that has a solar panel (that way you can power/charge the scanner as well as charge the power bank when away from a power source), that way you can plug the scanner into the battery bank to power and or charge the scanner and be out for longer. If the unit can't charge by USB, you can get one of those USB AA chargers to plug into the power bank. And always trying to use rechargeable AA batteries over non rechargeable for multiple reasons (including being able to recharging the batteries with the power bank above).

Ron Thanks for the video on the scanner and and antenna upgrade, just one problem the antenna you link is the SRH77CA and not the RH77CA. The SRH will not fit with the scanner because it uses a barrel nut connection and not a push in type which is what the SRH is. I know because I order both of them and now I have to reorder the correct antenna to fit the scanner. Just wanted to let you and everyone else know so they don't order that antenna. Thanks for the great video

Rail Guide, great tip Ron, thx. Might want to think about a car charger in the event of a battery issue.

Enter in the frequency 452.9375 for every railroad in North America. Some Norfolk Southern trains use 161.115. (This may have changed after the Conrail take over.) These are the end of train data channels. If a train is in the area you will hear a data burst. If it gets louder the train is coming nearer to you. If you get several in a row the crew is doing a rear end brake pipe reduction. Multiple trains will will also trigger multiple bursts. Patrick Lavallee