NS frequency changes system wide

[JoshuaHufford]

I don't know how accurate this is as I haven't spent a lot of time on this line, but what I have in some info I have is this.

Stamper-S Liberty AAR 022 160.440
S Liberty-Block 222 AAR 018 160.380
Avondale Yard AAR 072 161.250
Claycomo Yard AAR 031 160.575

I'd suggest if you can just scan the railband to confirm what is in use.

 

[cipher66]

NS Southern-West District (St Louis to Princeton IN)
Hearing the following...
Road: 160.83 (Replaced 160.95 as road) Trains calling signals and defect detectors heard
Dispatcher: 160.245 (simplex, no longer paired with 160.83)

 

[wa8pyr]

NS Southern-West District (St Louis to Princeton IN)
Hearing the following...
Road: 160.83 (Replaced 160.95 as road) Trains calling signals and defect detectors heard
Dispatcher: 160.245 (simplex, no longer paired with 160.83)

Great, thanks! What dispatcher desk are you hearing; ID as "Southern West" or something else?

 

[cipher66]

Great, thanks! What dispatcher desk are you hearing; ID as "Southern West" or something else?

Yes, "Southern West Dispatcher" and also (incorrectly) "South West Dispatcher"...

 

[wa8pyr]

Yes, "Southern West Dispatcher" and also (incorrectly) "South West Dispatcher"...

OK, thanks!

 

[Dispatcher308]

All this is what I have for Norfolk Southern in Baltimore, I have not heard any other frequencies used, even pulled the licenses and put the frequencies listed in the Scanner and I get no hits on them with an outside antenna. NS does not have a large presence in Baltimore like CSX and when they do travel out of the area they use Amtrak NE Corridor to do so and its mostly at night.

Freq​	Description​
160.800​	Possible Road Baltimore​
161.070​	used in and around Port of Baltimore for switching, controlled by Bayview Yard​
160.860​	used in Port of Baltimore possibly in conjunction with Canton Railroad​
161.325​	Baltimore - Bayview Yard Repeater​
161.130​	Baltimore MOW Repeater​

In reference to 161.070 in Baltimore, I am hearing Lancaster yard answering locomotives in Baltimore. Just wanted to update.

 

[iceman977th]

In reference to 161.070 in Baltimore, I am hearing Lancaster yard answering locomotives in Baltimore. Just wanted to update.

I believe NS is transitioning to a CYO/remote yardmaster style operation like CSX does. I recall seeing a post that they are getting rid of the yardmaster at Crewe, and I believe Portsmouth has been handling operations at Williamson for a while.

Mike

 

[wa8pyr]

I believe NS is transitioning to a CYO/remote yardmaster style operation like CSX does. I recall seeing a post that they are getting rid of the yardmaster at Crewe, and I believe Portsmouth has been handling operations at Williamson for a while.

True. The Watkins Yardmonster in Columbus has been handling Rickenbacker for a couple of years, and was also handling what little work was being done at Buckeye before it's recent unfortunate demolition.

Not sure who is handling Moraine now, but my guess would be either Watkins or Sharonville.

 

[videobruce]

CYO/remote yardmaster style operation

CYO? Explain.

 

[iceman977th]

CYO? Explain.

Centralized yard(master) operations. NS has gotten rid of several yardmaster positions and are having one yardmaster handling several yards, IE Portsmouth handles Williamson and I think Bluefield, while the rest in between are handled by the dispatchers.

CSX has been doing this for a while.. there are two yardmasters in the old Huntington Divison office, one handles the main line yards (Russell, Huntington, South Charleston, Quinnimont, Hinton) and the other handles the coalfields (Peach Creek, Danville, Elk Run, Paintsville, Shelby, Martin, and Coal Run)

 

[AK9R]

Don't the CYOs also do some clerk duties? IOW, informing crews about which cars in their train or in the yard go where?

 

[wa8pyr]

Don't the CYOs also do some clerk duties? IOW, informing crews about which cars in their train or in the yard go where?

They would have to; with most of the railroads slashing staffing levels to the bone in the name of profit there's no one left to do it.

Most of the time (around here at least) I simply hear crews going to the yard office to "pull the switch list off the printer" or what have you. Every now and again I'll hear the yardmaster tell them where a car specific goes (or adding/deleting a car to/from the list), but that's generally only when the switch list got jacked up for some reason.

 

[wa8pyr]

Centralized yard(master) operations. NS has gotten rid of several yardmaster positions and are having one yardmaster handling several yards, IE Portsmouth handles Williamson and I think Bluefield, while the rest in between are handled by the dispatchers.

I spent the afternoon this past Saturday at Portsmouth and actually saw a half-dozen trains in just a few hours, and got an interesting confirmation in the process; in addition to being the primary yard channel for Star Yard, the ARN8 repeater is also the road channel for the Portsmouth Terminal, and is monitored by the dispatcher; I heard two trains calling up the Kenova desk to get clearance to roll.

 

[cbehr91]

Yesterday near Cleveland, Ohio I heard the dispatcher (D&H desk) talking to 316 around Conneaut. This is in no way unusual except it was on a different frequency (160.455MHz). The road channel remains 161.085MHz, but I wonder if they're starting to do the channel 2 thing up here. I checked the FCC database and 160.455 is licensed to all the dispatcher bases east of Cleveland, but its purpose isn't listed.

Even though Conneaut is a crew change point and has a small yard, I doubt it's a busy enough terminal to warrant a yard channel there. I could be wrong, of course.

 

[wa8pyr]

Yesterday near Cleveland, Ohio I heard the dispatcher (D&H desk) talking to 316 around Conneaut. This is in no way unusual except it was on a different frequency (160.455MHz). The road channel remains 161.085MHz, but I wonder if they're starting to do the channel 2 thing up here. I checked the FCC database and 160.455 is licensed to all the dispatcher bases east of Cleveland, but its purpose isn't listed.

Even though Conneaut is a crew change point and has a small yard, I doubt it's a busy enough terminal to warrant a yard channel there. I could be wrong, of course.

What's the territory for the D&H Desk?