Cumberland Railfanning-- Again

[Cody J]

Sorry, but I'm going to Cumberland on the 1st (next Sunday) and I am planning on catching the EB Capitol Limited. I have decided to catch it coming through the Cumberland Narrows and race ahead and catch it at Mexico. Where might some spots be at the narrows where it will be able to see/photograph the Limited?

Thanks,
Cody

[Cody J]

Nevermind with the Narrows, I found a spot with the help of my brother. But I am planning on catching the EB Cap Limited. What frequency do they use?

Thanks,
cody

[jward]

i believe they use aar channels 8, 37 and 94 in the area. 8 is 160.230,
37 is 160.665, 94 is 161.520......

probably the best spot for eastbounds in the narrows is the picnic table in the parking lot of kline's restaurant. you can get a broadside of them going past the famous red rocks....this is also where trains waiting permission into the yard hold for clearance.

[ebtnut]

CSX in that area uses 160.23 for road freqs.  

[ebtnut]

Cody:  You need to tell us how you made out with your excursion. 

[Cody J]

Cody:  You need to tell us how you made out with your excursion. 

OK. I will as soon as I get my pictures on the computer on Sunday evening or Monday afternoon after school.

Cody

[Cody J]

By the way,

Does anyone have a list of the trains that depart, arrive and go through Cumberland or any websites that may have them?

Thanks,
Cody

[jward]

try here:
http://www.bullsheet.com/news/qts-cumberland.html

keep in mind that these are the scheduled trains only. there are also trains such as grain and coal which run on no particular schedule.

there is also a turn job that comes out of hagerstown in the middle of the night, sometimes you can catch it leaving cumberland for hagerstown very early in the morning. it usually has anywhere from 4 to 7 units.  other trains to watch for are q352 and q353 which are the pickup trains west of cumberland. they often ferry locomotives to and from cumberland shop for work.

[Cody J]

Thanks Jward, but when I click on a specific train it will say "Times are examples only" what does that mean?

cody

[jward]

the times shown are the official train schedules, but actual running times can vary widely from the scheduled times. generally, trains departing cumberland yard are pretty close to schedule, within an hour or so. but the trains arriving can be off schedule by as much as 12 hours depending on the delays encountered on their trip.

by the way, eastbound trains arriving at cumberland will often enter the yard at  the hump yard, and pull their train in to clear the main. if their train is too long to fit the track, they pull out at mexico and double the rest of their train over to another track. westbounds leaving cumberland will often hold near the amtrak station, and the helper engines used on sand patch lay over there.

[Cody J]

Thanks for the info Jward. I am very excited for my first "real" trip to Cumberland. The first time I was Cumberland was just passing through on my way to DC this past June then on the way home we planned leaving out hotel in Frederick, MD so that we could be in Cumberland to photograph the WMSR at the station, we also saw SD50-2 helpers and the Amtrak Station. We were going to view the yard but it started raining. My schedule (to all who cares) for November 1 is as follows:
9am- Photograph the Narrows from Route 40
9:10am- Set up at Franklin Street for the EB Capitol Limited
9:25am- Set up at Mexico Farms Road for the Cap Limited Again
9:40am- View the CSX Cumberland Terminal and Loco shops
10:45am- Western Maryland Scenic Railroad
3:00pm- Get off the WMSR and do a little bit of shopping at the station.
3:30pm- Wills Mountain State Park
Then after that maybe some more railfanning depending on what I hear on the scanner.

By the way does anyone know of this great website for radio frequencies?
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/
Click on a state then when the state comes up under the state map on the right under "(State's Name) Areawide Frequencies" choose Railroads and a list of railroad frequencies comes up. It is a really great site, it has Class I freight railroads, passenger railroads, shortlines and even some tourist lines.

Cody