Little activity for local rail

I'm still new to this forum and scanners in general so this topic may have been covered before...

I recently programed these frequencies into my handheld.

160.92750 CSX 154 Dispatch Greenwood
161.10750 CSX 166 Dispatch/Road Greenwood

My question is, How much traffic should I expect out of these frequencies? Or better yet, how close do I have to be? The reason I ask is because I almost never hear anything out of these frequencies and I'm not sure if there is just not that much going on or maybe I'm too far away to pick them up. I am about 12-15 mi away from Maxwell yard and I would think that there would be a lot going on in the way of communication with dispatch and the engine crew ( switching cars etc. )

I only get a few broken transmissions every other day or so. One of them sounds "automated" so to speak. Is there anyone on here that monitors railroads in this area or anyone that can give me some insight into monitoring railroad talk? Thanks in advance.

Hello GWD81,
Both of those frequencies are the new narrowband frequencies in between the existing channels. In my monitoring, even in crowded cities, I have seen very little use of these yet. I would add the other channels listed for your area in the scanner as well:
160.41000 54/54 Monroe to Dover: Dispatcher "AF" FMN Railroad
161.10000 66/66 Monroe to Dover: Road Channel FMN Railroad
160.98000 58/58 Dover to Abbeville: Dispatcher "CE" FMN Railroad
160.59000 32/32 Dover to Abbeville: Road Channel FMN Railroad

Hope that helps!

That is pretty far away. Most transmissions will be from low power portables and locomotive mobiles. The automation you hear is probably track defect detectors, which detect overheated axles.

Thanks alabamarailfan. Good idea! I'll try those. Like I was saying, I'm still new to all of this and I'm trying to cover as much as possible to see what's out there and what's worth listening to...then I'll narrow it down in the future.

Thanks for your help!