Historic Rail Freq Assignments

[N9JIG]

Back in the old days, say the mid 1970s and before, when the railroad portion of VHF was still mostly 60 KHz. channel spacing, most Class 1's and larger Class 2's had a single channel assigned, used for most operations.

I have complied mostly from memory what I think is accurate as to those assignments but there are a lot of holes:

160.230 Baltimore & Ohio
160.290
160.350 Elgin Joliet & Eastern
160.410 Missouri Pacific
160.470 Union Pacific
160.530 DT&I
160.590 Grand Trunk Western
160.650 Santa Fe
160.710
160.770 Milwaukee Road
160.830
160.890 Chicago & Northwestern
160.950 Southern
161.010
161.070 New York Central
161.130 CB&Q, Northern Pacific
161.190 Illinois Central
161.250 Frisco, Nickel Plate
161.310
161.370 Soo Line, Chesapeake & Ohio
161.430
161.490 Norfolk Western
161.550 Southern Pacific
161.610 Rock Island

Obviously this is pre-merger for the most part and radios were mostly single channel crystal controlled units. I am only really interested in the original 60 KHz. channels, the 30 KHz. channels (such as 160.260 and 161.220...) came around in the mid 70's, followed closely by the 15 KHz. channels (160.455, 161.085...).

Can I get some corrections, additions etc.?

Thanks!

 

[CryptoBoy]

Sure, as an old geezer who used to have one of those treasured crystal scanners you speak of and who used to listen to nothing but railroads in the 1970s. And sorry, these are 30KHz channels, but they were what was being used in 1975 when I started listening.

160.740 Union Pacific road (the real one, not that phony MP/WP/MKT/CNW/SP crap)
(I think you're 160.470 is maybe transposed/mistaken)
160.290 Union Pacific PBX (output, 161.520 input)
161.100 Burlington Northern (road channel)
161.160 Colorado & Southern (road) also BN yards
160.590 Missouri Kansas Texas

Sadly, in ancient times, you had to be right about this, because you had to buy the crystals mail-order and if they weren't right, you were just out of luck.

 

[PJH]

Stickers are still found on some UP loco's that had "legacy" railroad channels printed on them. They are/were applied up until the 2000's.

Most railroads had around four standard channels. UP used 20, 24, 27 and 42. 38 was a common yard channel.

Most are still used on legacy lines unless changes were needed. This was especially true until recent times as narrowband and replacement requirements had base stations swapped out.

 

[cbehr91]

Back in the old days, say the mid 1970s and before, when the railroad portion of VHF was still mostly 60 KHz. channel spacing, most Class 1's and larger Class 2's had a single channel assigned, used for most operations.

I have complied mostly from memory what I think is accurate as to those assignments but there are a lot of holes:

160.230 Baltimore & Ohio
160.290
160.350 Elgin Joliet & Eastern
160.410 Missouri Pacific
160.470 Union Pacific
160.530 DT&I
160.590 Grand Trunk Western
160.650 Santa Fe
160.710
160.770 Milwaukee Road
160.830
160.890 Chicago & Northwestern
160.950 Southern
161.010
161.070 New York Central
161.130 CB&Q, Northern Pacific
161.190 Illinois Central
161.250 Frisco, Nickel Plate
161.310
161.370 Soo Line, Chesapeake & Ohio
161.430
161.490 Norfolk Western
161.550 Southern Pacific
161.610 Rock Island

Obviously this is pre-merger for the most part and radios were mostly single channel crystal controlled units. I am only really interested in the original 60 KHz. channels, the 30 KHz. channels (such as 160.260 and 161.220...) came around in the mid 70's, followed closely by the 15 KHz. channels (160.455, 161.085...).

Can I get some corrections, additions etc.?

Thanks!

Great thread idea. Something I've wanted to do for a long time.


Pennsylvania: 160.800 -- later PC and Conrail channel 1
Santa Fe: 160.560, 160.650
Seaboard: 161.100
Atlantic Coast Line: 160.590
Erie-Lackawanna: 161.400
DT&I: 161.220, 161.430
Grand Trunk: 160.530, 160.590
L&N: 161.370, 161.520
N&W (straight from the timetable): 161.190 Scioto road (channel 1), 161.250 NKP road (channel 2), 160.440 Wabash road (channel 3). They intermixed the three channels outside the Lake Region. Channels 1 and 2 were banned in Chicago and Detroit due to interference from other railroads.
Illinois Central: 161.190, 160.920
Southern: 160.950, 160.830, 160.245
Chicago North Western: 161.040, 160.890
Union Pacific: 160.470, 160.740


I know the Central of New Jersey was radio equipped but I don't know what channel they used. And I know for a fact 161.61 was Rock Island's channel 2 but I don't know what channel 1 was. The D&H was radio equipped too but again I don't know what channel they used.

 

[N9JIG]

Were a lot of railroads actually using radios prior to the 30 KHz. split occurring? I think the 30 KHz. split occurred in the mid 1970's, this brought about channels like 160.74, 161.04, 160.92 and 161.10.

Does anyone have the actual schedules for the various channel spacing splits (60 to 30 KHz. and 30 to 15 KHz.)? I presume this occurred at a similar time to the rest of the VHF band being narrow-banded this way.

 

[cbehr91]

I know the Pennsylvania did. I have tower radio recordings from Summit Tower near Columbus from 1965 and 7. And I think the PRR switched from Trainphone to VHF radio on a division-by-division basis between 1955 and 1963.

Sent from my SM-S765C using Tapatalk

 

[AK9R]

Rich, I went to work for Conrail at Logansport (Indiana) Yard in November 1976. Radios were in common use both on the road and in the yard, though many yard conductors still preferred to use hand signals when possible. As I recall, road trains in the area used 160.800 and yard crews used 161.070, so there were radios for both frequencies mounted on shelves on the wall above the Yardmaster's desk. I don't recall yard men carrying handhelds, but they must have. I do recall the TP&W conductors coming in on trains from the west carrying Motorola "lunchbox" radios. The Marion Branch, which ran from Anderson to Goshen was a former NYC line so they used 161.070 for their road frequency and I can remember their dispatcher coming in on our "yard channel".

 

[michael_m_rubino]

A Railroader that I follow in Twitter posted a 1966 map of radio frequencies and call signs for the former Boston & Maine Railroad. Many of the same frequencies and channel assignments still the same for the current Pan Am Railways in 2015.

161.160 Dispatch
161.520 Road
161.400 Yard
161.25 Yard

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Nasby]

Rich, I went to work for Conrail at Logansport (Indiana) Yard in November 1976. Radios were in common use both on the road and in the yard, though many yard conductors still preferred to use hand signals when possible. As I recall, road trains in the area used 160.800 and yard crews used 161.070, so there were radios for both frequencies mounted on shelves on the wall above the Yardmaster's desk. I don't recall yard men carrying handhelds, but they must have. I do recall the TP&W conductors coming in on trains from the west carrying Motorola "lunchbox" radios. The Marion Branch, which ran from Anderson to Goshen was a former NYC line so they used 161.070 for their road frequency and I can remember their dispatcher coming in on our "yard channel".

In my neck of the woods, I live near what once was the Erie Mainline but later became a secondary track under Conrail.

When the local came to town, the crew would sometimes use the lunchbox radios but more often than not, they would use hand signals because the lunchbox radios were "too heavy" as the crew would say.

The radios had 4 channels: 1) CR mainline 160.800 2) Mainline 2, 161.070 3) Yard 160.860 and 4) Yard 160.980

Back in the early 1980's when I first started scanning, every Conrail line in my area was on 160.800.
With a rooftop antenna the chatter was almost non-stop. There were tower operators, dispatchers, yardmasters, etc. all using the same frequency and talking over each other.

Later, they began switching some of the mainlines to road channel 2 (161.070) to cut back on all of the overlap.

 

[xmo]

In the late 1960's the C&NW was using what was at the time called narrow-band. (narrow-band = +/-5 KHz deviation) Actually, we had just got used to calling it kilohertz instead of kilocycles.

They used 160.890 and 160.455 for road and yard operations.

Here is a picture of one of their base stations from that era. They simply mounted a Motorola Motrac mobile, battery, and charger in a weatherproof cabinet attached to a pole with the antenna at the top. Note the wireline control panel that connected to a control unit in the office.

 

[N9JIG]

In the late 1960's the C&NW was using what was at the time called narrow-band. (narrow-band = +/-5 KHz deviation) Actually, we had just got used to calling it kilohertz instead of kilocycles.

They used 160.890 and 160.455 for road and yard operations.

Here is a picture of one of their base stations from that era. They simply mounted a Motorola Motrac mobile, battery, and charger in a weatherproof cabinet attached to a pole with the antenna at the top. Note the wireline control panel that connected to a control unit in the office.

So that tells me that the 15 KHz. channels were already in use during the 1960's.

Does anyone have a firm date on when the various narrowbanding deadlines were?

 

[cmdrwill]

MoTrain....

 

[Kitn1mcc]

out base at the valley was just a mitrek in a cabinet

 

[n8wel]

In the SW Ohio area in the 60/70's

I have the following from Southwest Ohio.....

160.800 PRR Road PC/CR 1
161.070 NYC Road PC/CR 2
160.860 PRR Yard PC/CR 3
160.980 NYC Yard PC/CR 4
160.710 PRR MofW PC/CR 3
161.130 NYC MofW PC/CR 4
160.560 PRR Police PC/CR 3
160.680 NYC Police PC/CR 4

161.400 EL Road

160.230 B&O Road Chessie 1
160.320 C&O Road Chessie 2
160.530 B&O Yard Chessie 3
161.160 C&O Yard Chessie 4

161.370 L&N Road

161.220 DT&I Road GTW 4
161.430 DT&I Yard GTW 5

161.190 N&W Road N&W/NS 1
161.250 NKP Road N&W/NS 2
161.440 Wabash Road N&W/NS 3
160.950 Southern Road NS 4

 

[radioman2001]

The first narrow banding I was aware of took place in the late 50's at least that's what my shop manager told me in 1973 when I brought in a "T" power or was it "V" power or maybe even a dynamotor power GE Progress Line mobile for repair and tuneup before re-installation in a customers newer truck. He said it was strange that the radio still worked with the 5kc bandwidth of the other radios, and I know he had to change out some filters in the RX strip. At the time I had no idea what he meant as I had just been hired in the summer of 1973 to do mobile installations and tower work. BTW that was the year the GE Mastr II came out.

Nice picture of a Motran in a base configuration with a DC panel from a GGB base. NYCTA had roughly 150 of them installed in the mid 60's scattered throughout their system in different mounting trays (horizontal) and with "poor boy" DC remote panels. The Motran had multiple programmable by jumper plug configurations from 12, 32 and 72 VDC or even 110VAC and they could be remote mounted or with a control head mounted on it as I have seen in some towers. I would have to look around in my notes to say what frequency they were. At the time I worked for a contractor that was changing out all the Motran base stations with MASTR II equipment in 1985-86.

I recently found while cleaning up a shop some Penn Central Micor mounting trays with lots of stickers and repair dates, but unfortunately no radios. I am pretty sure they are 5kc radios as all of the ones that were not RR type I have bought over the years at auctions have been. In my cleaning I also found a working (was probably a base as it's very clean) Harmon Radio Co 4R ( think Repco radio just very large modules) on 161.280. It dates back to the late 70's to early 80's as it has multiple dates throughout it so I believe it had parts replaced. I can be pretty sure of the frequency for both the Harlem and Hudson lines with information from a boss who has been here since 1979.

Another thought I had was Penn Central used 161.07 in our territory I just don't know where and for what. We had to run around and pull that crystal out of our Mitreks after AMTRAK supposedly stole it (according to another ancient boss)

If I can find the time with all the reprogramming going on I'll take some pictures of what I have and post them

 

[Kitn1mcc]

The micors are from the 70's early 80's still lots in service on lowband

 

[spreckles]

On the west coast, here are a few from the late-70's:
160.26 WP Interline
160.29 WP PBX
160.32 SP Locals
160.38 WP Dispatcher
160.41 UP
160.47 UP Yard
160.65 ATSF Road (systemwide); SP&S
160.68 SP Yard
160.74 UP Road
160.77 MILW PCE lines
160.80 SP Road
160.83 SP Locals
160.86 Bay Area Rapid Transit
160.98 SP
161.49 Portland Terminal RR
161.55 SP (systemwide)

 

[cbehr91]

On the subject, did anyone used to record railroad radio on tape? For instance, I have tower radio audio on recorded on reel-to-reel tape by a PRR/PC tower operator from the mid-60s to the late-70s (they just took a reel-to-reel machine to work with them and set it on the desk so you hear all the other ambient noise inside the tower also).

 

[EricCottrell]

A Railroader that I follow in Twitter posted a 1966 map of radio frequencies and call signs for the former Boston & Maine Railroad. Many of the same frequencies and channel assignments still the same for the current Pan Am Railways in 2015.

161.160 Dispatch
161.520 Road
161.400 Yard
161.25 Yard


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello,

When I worked for a Motorola Shop in the late 1970s, I came across some 1950's Twin-Vs and T-Powers that were converted from 15 KHz to 5 KHz deviation. Later radios where already 5 KHz.

I started to listen to railroads in the late 70s when B&M ran the RDCs for the Boston commuter rail. I am on the Boston to Salem line. They used a duplex system with the dispatcher on 161.160 and the mobiles on 161.520. The MBTA uses the same frequencies.

I remember the RDCs in B&M block letter livery, not the minuteman livery.

73 Eric

 

[cbehr91]

This page says the FCC mandate from 60 to 30 khz spacing for hi and low VHF was in 1962.

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