I am a fairly young railfan who just moved to California, and I was wondering if anyone knows what frequencies the TWD’s are heard on or if they have their own frequencies. Also what frequencies the EOTs are on. I have the Compendium of Railroad Radio Frequencies, but it doesn’t tell exactly what the frequencies are used for when it comes to EOT and TWD frequencies.
Thanks for any help in advance,
Ryan
S.F. Bay Area
Wayside detecters are on the same frequncies as the the current sub-division operating radio channels so the train crews can hear them as they past by.As for EOT’s don’t see the need for you to have that information as they are strickly for the use of the train crews.
Thanks for the info. It’s greatly appreciated.
Ryan
Normally the talking wayside defect detectors are the best way to determine when a train is near, however, on some railroads they may be silent when a train passes unless they detect a defect. The EOT devices typically transmit to the cab in the locomotive over a frequency of 457.9375 megaHertz, and your scanner will put out an intermittent beeping type sound at that frequency. [Note, the Norfolk Southern’s EOT’s broadcast at a frequency of 161.115 megaHeretz] But, the EOT Device signal may not be powerful enough to be picked up by your scanner until the train is almost right on top of you so it may not be too useful as a warning of an approaching train; however it would be very helpful if you are chasing a train.
Also, with some railroads, the front end communicates with the rear end on 452.9375. What I do is program those 2 on a bank, and turn the bank off when I hear and EOT blip. Otherwise, it can get a little annoying, since you’ll hear it about every 40 seconds or so.