Is there a site I can check out to find a railroads schedule.
Say I was sitting at Sheffield, Illinois on the Iowa Interstate line, on a Sunday between noon and 3pm can I expect to see a train? more that one? or how bout if I was sitting at Clinton, Wisconsin on the old C&NW line (UP) on a Tuesday between 7am and noon, any trains?
you get the idea, I know that exact times cannot be pinpointed but there should be a ballpark schedule that says, Such & such railroad runs “X” amount of trains on this day. and how do I find out where a train is going… or been?
Railroads do not operate that way. A scheduled train may depart the yard near the same time everyday (+/- an hour or two). Once it is out on the mainline there are too many varibles as to when it will pass a certain point.
Even the “departure” time from the initiating terminal can be mere suggestion. Any times I’ve seen posted on the web for freight trains have more than likely been “call” times, as in what time the crew normally gets called for their train. What time they actually get the train out of the yard is another story altogether. I’ve heard crews that died on the law a mere 70-80 miles out of their originating terminal.
In practice, I know I can often encounter a given symbol train around the same time nearly every day, and hear meets occuring at the same places on a regular basis. But you can’t set your watch by them.