When John Snow held the reins of CSX there was no effort to run the scheduled freight network on time. Once he departed to become Treasury Secretary for the Bush administration and extracted his $69M Golden Parachute from CSX and was replaced by Michael Ward CSX began to emphasize operating the scheduled network On Time.
At the time of my retirement the CSX scheduled network was operating at about 90% on time originations and about 75% on time arrival at destination (all calculated on +/- 2 hours on the scheduled time.) PSR has decreased the number of trains operated and increased the size of the trains that are operated. PSR has increased the number of trains operating with DPU - a move that was having the necessary radio repeaters and other things necessary to permit them to operate safely in CSX territory which has many areas where line of sight radio cannot opeate.
I take zero credit for the spreadsheet - I don’t even have edit permissions.
The folks that do keep it up use the cams, scanner feed (available on-line), other on-line resources, and experience, plus some occasional inside knowledge, to keep it up.
An actual visit to Crossroads Park will usually include several regulars who know the traffic quite well.
Pay a visit to the Deshler cam on YouTube - you’ll see a lot of cooperation going on with regard to maintaining the spreadsheet.
I don’t know that “on-time” fits the trains seen through Deshler. “Consistent times” might be more appropriate - you’ll usually see certain trains around the same time each day, but don’t set your watch by them. The only thing you can set your watch to at Deshler is the noon siren…
I put together my own spreadsheet of trains I’ve seen at Deshler. It resembles the spreadsheet in question, but is a reference, not a log. There are well over 100 entries representing trains that could be seen on the cams. Deshler usually logs 50-60 trains a day.
So I was listening to my scanner today, and I heard “West Chazy Dispatch” tell D11 (the Plattsburgh local) that 931 (NS run through trains) would be coming north and that they were in Rockland (about a half hour south of Plattsburgh). So my mom takes me out and we catch the train, and then we chase the local around. Thanks for everyone’s help, or I might not have caught what I did today.
I just watched your YouTube video and I think that you actually had a pretty good day. I do have one railfan tip for you - try to better plan the driving portions of your trips. Plan out a number of good photo spots along your route of travel and try to maximize the amount of time spent at each location and minimize the amount of time driving around. If you are trying to railfan while making a long journey to a relative‘s house, sometimes it’s is best to focus on the best spots with the best light, then make time getting down the road towards your final destination when and where the light and locations aren’t so great.
Once the train traffic lets up at one location carefully move on to the next spot, preferably using the trains that have just passed or MOW forces getting track time to run ”interference“ for you to get safely to the next photo spot. This is is harder to do on a double track line, but it can be done if you are paying close attention to radio traffic on the the scanner. Picking spots near CTC control point signals can also help with this.
The worst days that I have ever had railfanning have been the ones when I got antsy and gave in to the temptation to just drive around to find something. It is so easy to get yourself out of position when you are wandering around. That’s what happened to you with your 6 “missed” trains. I know it can get very boring just sitting around at one spot, but you never have to scramble to get back to the tracks when a train does show up.
Last of all, remember that the worst day trackside is better than the best day at school or work!
Thanks, some words of wisdom here, I must admit that yes, a couple of the trains were because I was getting antsy (Q003 and Q627 mainly). It’s tricky because my family likes to keep moving towards
Another reason for an external antenna, and perhaps a set of headphones (or at least an earpiece, so the rest of the car doesn’t have to listen to the chatter).
I don’t know about CP, but CSX tends to call signals. That and there’s always defect detectors. If you’re used to the railroad geography in your primary watching areas, you’re half way there, as they say.
I can hear CSX call signals, but only when I’m less then about three miles can I actually understand what they’re saying, which is useless if I’m not sitting at a crossing. CP I believe calls signals, I heard them call a signal today, but it may have just been because they were passing a Control Point. Defect detectors are my main tool, that and listening to the D&H dispatcher (yes, they still call it D&H).
It’s tricky enough when you are driving by yourself! At least your family is willing to give you a shot at catching these trains while they are driving along. My dad wouldn’t have stopped the car for anything on a long trip (and I knew better than to ask).
Harrison, I don’t know how close you live to the tracks, but in warmer weather is bicycle railfanning an option? I lived about 3 miles from the Water Level Route in Rome growing up, and spent a lot of time riding my bike downtown to watch trains. I also had my parents drop my bike and me off about 15 miles from home a couple times so I could see trains while riding home.
Sounds like my youth. Every now and again, I would let Mom know what I was going to do and would walk about a mile and a half to Burnham crossing. With three parallel main lines crossing the PRR Bernice cutoff, I never had long dead periods between trains.
All of the advice I have read from others is good. The key thing I would say is Patience. I had similar issues growing up (50-60 years ago) plus lack of a good camera for the times I could get a photo. I did what I could with my old box Brownie camera. Don’t get discouraged the time will come when you are able to pursue railfanning more easily with access to your own transportation and set your own schedule at least to a degree.
The closest spot for me to bike to is South Junction Road (on the south end of the Bluff Point siding). It is 7.6 miles and (according to google) 34 minutes. If I chose to do that (when there’s no snow of course) it will be because I want to get out early in the morning (like 7). Two of the four regularly scheduled trains come through between 6 and 10 AM, along with the southbound Ethanol train (a few days a week, but not regulary scheduled).
When I was in junior high I crossed paths with the C&O on my way to and from school. About half my route was within sight distance of the ROW.
In the morning, C&O was kind enough to fleet three trains south through town during my walk to school. I wasn’t the railfan then that I am now, but I still got to see trains! I especially recall seeing smoke eminating from the smoke jack on the caboose on cold mornings…
Here is a note of caution for you: It is illegal in New York to use a mobile scanner which can receive police frequencies. That includes hand held units. If your mobile scanner is programmable it is illegal even if you have not programmed police frequencies in it. I have never heard of a railfan being questioned by police in NY, but it is certainly possible. So if you use a scanner do so carefully so as not to draw attention to it. A large antenna on your car might draw attention. Just to be sure I confirmed this info with my local police dept.
The end of train device also has a frequency that it transmits on. There is a tone it gives off so that is all you’ll hear but at least you’ll know a train is close by. If you can only hear two or three miles on the handheld then you’ll need to be quick with these long trains. But at least you’ll know one is in the area.
This is, indeed, true. There is a way around it, however. With a little bit of study, and a few bucks for for the 35 question test, (and I believe they are again charging a small fee for the license) you can attain an amateur radio license and listen to whoever you want.
In general, though, unless you are somehow committing a crime, you won’t be hassled by the police.
There are ham frequencies often used for railfanning. I don’t know what they might be for your area.
I also have local railroad frequencies programmed into my professional quality railroad handheld (which I use on the railroad), so I listen with that occasionally.
If you can’t drive, for whatever reason, I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong at all. I grew up next to fairly busy tracks, Toledo Terminal RR, and between the TTRR trains and run arounds, mostly C&O, I would say there were about 30-35 trains a day, everything from little short locals to 100+ car grain and coal trains with the newest road power. We moved away from there when I was about to turn 9, just far enough to still hear the horns, but too far for bicycle travel in time to catch the trains I could still hear. So from 9 until 16, I was severely limited in regards to train watching. My parents wouldn’t cooperate at all, especially my dad, and my mom was only slightly better. My sister just didn’t get it, but would occasionally indulge me, but it wasn’t often. I subscribed to Trains, and would ride my back back to my old neighborhood as often as possible, but as others have told you, it’s like fishing, and sadly, as time went on, the TTRR had less and less traffic on it. When I was about to turn 19, I moved to Las Vegas, and being able to drive and a best friend who was a ra