Railworks America

Something I always kind of wanted to get into but never knew how so many people get such great shots of trains. TBH 100% of the trains I have seen were just by luck...
What are some good tips for spotting trains?

Maybe invest in a scanner, it has helped us find the NS 911. And figure out what trains come through, and try to maybe learn the general time when they are going through your town. These are just things I have picked up in my few years of railfanning.

Matchstick101 wrote:Something I always kind of wanted to get into but never knew how so many people get such great shots of trains. TBH 100% of the trains I have seen were just by luck...
What are some good tips for spotting trains?

Finding trains, and taking great photos of trains are two different things. Being able to find them, or figure out where/when to see them is the first step

Berkshirefan is right, I consider a scanner a 'must have' for mobile railfanning. That said, I'm not sure your exact circumstances, ie: are you driving around to different locations, or just walking down to the track closest to your home. If you're mobile, and actively driving around, the scanner is a must. If you are not, then you could potentially get better train awareness without the investment by listening in on http://www.railroadradio.net These channels are from people rebroadcasting the same AAR frequencies that you would hear on a scanner. I'll sometimes leave it open in the background while playing Train Simulator for more authentic 'chatter' than our dear friend foreman Dan Hernandez...

scanner huh, I know a little bit about them but how do you find out what channel everything is on? is it more or less just scanning until you find one?

Matchstick101 wrote:scanner huh, I know a little bit about them but how do you find out what channel everything is on? is it more or less just scanning until you find one?

The specific frequencies that each railroad uses in your area are easy to find using a google search, or by looking in the RR timetables for your area. What area & railways do you live near?

Matchstick101 wrote:Something I always kind of wanted to get into but never knew how so many people get such great shots of trains. TBH 100% of the trains I have seen were just by luck...
What are some good tips for spotting trains?

Same here.Get them by luck.I live 10 minutes away from Gaithersburg,MD and I don't know what it's called if someone were to radio it.

Matchstick101 wrote:Something I always kind of wanted to get into but never knew how so many people get such great shots of trains. TBH 100% of the trains I have seen were just by luck...
What are some good tips for spotting trains?

And I don't know where you live, but I'm guessing CA. But I use this site to help find Heritage units in my area, it helped me find the Virginian. NOTE:these are sighting reports, not GPS but the site is updated every day. But a scanner + this site = easier time finding HUs
https://heritageunits.com/

BoostedFridge wrote:

Matchstick101 wrote:scanner huh, I know a little bit about them but how do you find out what channel everything is on? is it more or less just scanning until you find one?

The specific frequencies that each railroad uses in your area are easy to find using a google search, or by looking in the RR timetables for your area. What area & railways do you live near?

LA county so mainly UP and BNSF

Matchstick101 wrote:LA county so mainly UP and BNSF

http://www.railroadradio.net/content/view/17/145/

This should be the page for your area. The scanner frequencies are listed, and you can listen in using Windows Media Player, Itunes, Realplayer, or Winamp.

BoostedFridge wrote:

Matchstick101 wrote:LA county so mainly UP and BNSF

http://www.railroadradio.net/content/view/17/145/

This should be the page for your area. The scanner frequencies are listed, and you can listen in using Windows Media Player, Itunes, Realplayer, or Winamp.

sweet! thanks

I use ATCS. Very helpful, but using a scanner is really good to have as a secondary device, just be sure to get the right antenna.

My advice would be to try to stay off the tracks. Not only for safety reasons but it also attracts unwanted attention from the police.

Which gets to my second piece of advice.... be mindful of where you observe trains from. I don't know what the laws are in other states, but in California a railroad police officer (even though they are a private police force) has the same use of force, arresting and booking powers as regular police do. Depending on where you are observing the train from and who the individual officer is, you could get verbally hassled, given a verbal warning, ticketed and in rare cases even arrested. This can happen from both railroad police and local city or county officers.

Having a scanner or especially when using a video camera like me is when you tend to attract extra unwanted attention from police. I've been questioned on a few occasions about why I'm filming by police. Part of it has to do with concerns of rail sabotage after the 911 attacks. The most famous sabotage indecent in recent memory is the "1995 Palo Verde, Arizona derailment"...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Palo ... derailment

The other concern they have is theft of trains....especially intermodals that are often filled with computers and other expensive electronic devices. Gangs of professional thieves will have a guy looking out for police while his buddies break open containers and steal stuff from trains parked on sidings and in yards. In the case of some of the yards in Chicago, a BNSF cop told me they have been known to shoot at the rail cops as they are trying to flee.

I can't speak in general or for other areas of the country. But along Tehachapi Pass, based on my experience and the feedback of some other railfans there.... the Union Pacific cops tend to be much more aggressive at policing than the BNSF cops are. Yes... UP does own the tracks, but BNSF sends 3-4 times more trains over the pass than UP does. You'd expect the railroad with far more to lose in cargo than UP would be the one hassling you the most, but that hasn't been my experience.

On my last trip to Tehachapi Pass in December, the BNSF police gave me no hassle. I had 2 encounters with UP police. One didn't hassle me as he drove by at Bealville even though technically he could have. I was just off the road and a little bit on rail property there.

Bakersfield was a different story. I was simply just off the shoulder of the Edison Highway about halfway to the tracks filming and just as I was folding up my tripod to leave, I saw a UP cop in his SUV making an aggressive beeline towards me. Just as I was getting into my car, at the very last second the cop turned and decided he wanted to hassle a homeless man walking beside the tracks more than me.

My advice on filming on railroad property? Go onto the property, get your shot and then quickly get off the property. This way you get the shot and you minimize the time and chance of them catching you on it.

Ive had my my share of experiences with the RR police. Just recently i had some fun time with "Joint Base Lewis McChord Military Police" last week. What you get for trying to watch a military train...

Either I'm just lucky or the guys at Frankfort yard are really nice because I've been invited into an SD40-2 and we have sat near the tracks and the crew just asked "y'all like trains"? And we said "yep" and he said "alright just stay safe".

wow thats a little sad that you get hassled for doing a hobby..... Thanks for the tips I'll remember that for when I go and take photos...

I was thinking of going to LA Union Station to see if I can get some pics of Amtrak loco's, thinking now it maybe a good idea to ask one of metro pd if its ok. Has anyone done railfanning there? seems like it would be a hot bed for Amtrak.