Railroad

Finding Specific Railroad Frequencies

A great place to start is the RRDB for your particular area. Sometimes, there is not any information to be had and this is where it can be fun!

If you live in the USA you can find all the railroad licenses in your area with a visit to the FCC's website

Next, select one of the Frequency (Range) queries and then enter 160.2150 and 161.5650 for the begin and end search frequencies.
For Service select Land Mobile - Private [LP]
For Radio Service select Industrial/Business Pool - Conventional [IG]

You can then download the results or search them and make a custom spreadsheet with only the fields you want and download it.

As always, be sure to submit any new information for inclusion in the RRDB!

If you don't find it here or in the database, feel free to post a message in the RadioReference Railroad Railfan Monitoring Forum

Amtrak routes and frequencies can be found on the On Line On Track Amtrak page

VHF Frequencies

Railroad radios display the transmit and receive frequency as American Association of Railroads (AAR) channel numbers. For example, these numbers will be referred to over-the-air as "1616" for AAR channel 16 (160.350) or "1180" for AAR channels 11 and 80 in full duplex use (Dispatch transmits on one channel and the train transmits on the other channel).

AAR Ch	Frequency
02	159.8100	Canada Only
03	159.9300	Canada Only (Used by Trucking Companies in the US)
04	160.0500	Canada Only (Used by Trucking Companies in the US)
05	160.1850	Canada Only (Used by Trucking Companies in the US)
06	160.2000	Canada Only (Used by Trucking Companies in the US)
07	160.2150
08	160.2300
09	160.2450
10	160.2600
11	160.2750
12	160.2900
13	160.3050
14	160.3200
15	160.3350
16	160.3500
17	160.3650
18	160.3800
19	160.3950
20	160.4100
21	160.4250
22	160.4400
23	160.4550
24	160.4700
25	160.4850
26	160.5000
27	160.5150
28	160.5300
29	160.5450
30	160.5600
31	160.5750
32	160.5900
33	160.6050
34	160.6200
35	160.6350
36	160.6500
37	160.6650
38	160.6800
39	160.6950
40	160.7100
41	160.7250
42	160.7400
43	160.7550
44	160.7700
45	160.7850
46	160.8000
47	160.8150
48	160.8300
49	160.8450
50	160.8600
51	160.8750
52	160.8900
53	160.9050
54	160.9200
55	160.9350
56	160.9500
57 	160.9650
58	160.9800
59	160.9950
60	161.0100
61	161.0250
62	161.0400
63	161.0550
64	161.0700
65	161.0850
66	161.1000
67	161.1150
68	161.1300
69	161.1450
70	161.1600
71	161.1750
72	161.1900
73	161.2050
74	161.2200
75	161.2350
76	161.2500
77	161.2650
78	161.2800
79	161.2950
80	161.3100
81	161.3250
82	161.3400
83	161.3550
84	161.3700
85	161.3850
86	161.4000
87	161.4150
88	161.4300
89	161.4450
90	161.4600
91	161.4750
92	161.4900
93	161.5050
94	161.5200
95	161.5350
96	161.5500
97	161.5650
--	161.6100 Shared with Marine (Existing railroad users are grandfathered)

UHF Frequencies

Frequencies on the same line can be paired for possible full duplex or repeater use. 452.9375 is a common EOT device frequency in Canada. 457.9375 is a common EOT device frequency in the USA.

452.3250 / 457.3250
452.3750 / 457.3750
452.4250 / 457.4250
452.4750 / 457.4750
452.7750 / 457.7750
452.8250 / 457.8250
452.8750 / 457.8750
452.9000 / 457.9000
452.9125 / 457.9125	Telemetry
452.9250 / 457.9250	Remote Control/Remote Indicator
452.9375 / 457.9375	Telemetry/Remote Control/Remote Indicator
452.9500 / 457.9500	Remote Control/Remote Indicator
452.9625 / 457.9625	Telemetry/Remote Control/Remote Indicator

Monitoring

Scanners / Radios

Motorola Spectra Railroad radio
BC125AT

Uniden Bearcat BCD1600DN and BCD2600DN

Announced July 26, 2023 - Simple BANK scanner for transportation enthusiasts (rail, air) that also supports (non-trunked) DMR and NXDN.
Train Aficionado Announcement

Railroading/Railscanning/Railfanning Links

Websites / YouTube / Facebook

Distant Signal with Danny Harmon YouTube Railfan Danny on Facebook
Train Aficionado Website Facebook page YouTube

Amtrak routes and frequencies On Line On Track Amtrak page

Livestreams - Live Feeds / Live Video

Related Links

Railroad Companies

AMTRAK WikiPedia Map
BNSF (32,500 miles with 35,000 employees; 28 states) Wikipedia Map
Canadian National (CN) (20,000 miles with 24,000 employees) WikiPedia Map
Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CPKC) (20,000 miles with 20,000 employees; the only single-line railway connecting Canada, Mexico, and the US) WikiPedia Map
CSX (20,000 miles with 25,000 employees) WikiPedia Map
Norfolk Southern (21,300 miles with 20,200 employees; Southeast, East, and Midwest United States) WikiPedia Map
Union Pacific (32,124 miles with 32,124 employees; covering 23 states in the western two-thirds of the US) WikiPedia Map

In the center of the US, connecting the different companies, is Chicago (see RailChicago): the largest US rail gateway. The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad WikiPedia and the Belt Railway of Chicago. WikiPedia Without them, traffic would come to a halt. Both switching railroads sort this mess out every day and keep traffic moving.

There is another major rail center located in East St. Louis, with switching operations by Terminal Railroad Association (Class III with 2 Mississippi bridges) WikiPedia Trainweb.org Info Map

The Association also owns and operates Madison Yard, the largest classification yard in the St. Louis region. The switching yard consists of 80 inbound, outbound, and holding tracks with a capacity of 2,200 cars.[5] The company is planning to expand Madison Yard to hold another 1,500 railcars, for a yard total of 4,000. Owned by BNSF Railway, Canadian National Railway (Illinois Central until 1999), CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, and Union Pacific Railroad. All own one-seventh of the railroad except UP, which owns three-sevenths.

The railroad operates 30 locomotives to move cars around the yard, deliver cars to local industries, and ready trains for departure.

Related Wiki Pages

Related Software Applications

Return to DB page: Railroads
Return to Wiki page: Common Frequencies