RAILWAY SCANNING

As in other areas of North America there have been major abandonments and divestitures over the past 25 or 30 years. For example, all rail service is gone from Prince Edward Island and from southwestern Nova Scotia. Service in eastern New Brunswick and to Cape Breton Island has passed from Canadian National Railways to short-line operators. Similarly, service from Saint John into, and through, Maine has been sold by Canadian Pacific (CP Rail).

Before checking the frequency list I suggest checking this map showing all the railways left in the Maritimes, with the exception of localized industrial operations.

Following is a chart of the VHF North American railway band channels and corresponding frequencies. Please note that individual railways may have both simplex and repeater channels. Repeater channels are made up of two different AAR channels, one for input to the repeater and one for the output (which is what you would listen to). Railways usually give their own channel numbers to the frequencies they use. For example, hypothetically, the Moncton Atlantic Railway might use AAR Channel 33 (160.605 MHz) for a simplex channel and call it their Channel 1. Then they might have a repeater channel made up of AAR 13 (160.305) and AAR 86 (161.4) and call it their Channel 2. They might even also have one using only AAR 13 as a simplex instead of in a repeater and maybe call it their Channel 3. In fact, most of the time if you have a conventional scanner it is easier to just go with the railway's own Channel numbers as identification, and of course the frequencies that go with them. On the other hand, dedicated railfans who travel and monitor many railroads, may prefer to use the AAR channels for identification. In addition there are some scanners I believe that have the AAR channels preloaded in a search bank and identify them on the display according to AAR numbers.

Please note that there is no longer a Channel 01. I have never seen any explanation of its demise or even what it was. Channels 02 to 06 are used only in Canada. In the USA those frequencies are allocated to other services. Note that from Channel 05 and upwards the spacing between channels is consistently 0.015 MHz (15 kHz).

There are also 400 MHz frequencies in use however these are not being used in the Maritimes, other than possibly for links. Industrial railways such as the gypsum loading facility in Dartmouth use business frequencies outside this dedicated railway band.

Ch	Frequency	Ch.	Frequency	Ch.	Frequency	Ch.	Frequency
02	159.810	26	160.500	50	160.860	74	161.220
03	159.930	27	160.515	51	160.875	75	161.235
04	160.050	28	160.530	52	160.890	76	161.250
05	160.185	29	160.545	53	160.905	77	161.265
06	160.200	30	160.560	54	160.920	78	161.280
07	160.215	31	160.575	55	160.935	79	161.295
08	160.230	32	160.590	56	160.950	80	161.310
09	160.245	33	160.605	57	160.965	81	161.325
10	160.260	34	160.620	58	160.980	82	161.340
11	160.275	35	160.635	59	160.995	83	161.355
12	160.290	36	160.650	60	161.010	84	161.370
13	160.305	37	160.665	61	161.025	85	161.385
14	160.320	38	160.680	62	161.040	86	161.400
15	160.335	39	160.695	63	161.055	87	161.415
16	160.350	40	160.710	64	161.070	88	161.430
17	160.365	41	160.725	65	161.085	89	161.445
18	160.380	42	160.740	66	161.100	90	161.460
19	160.395	43	160.755	67	161.115	91	161.475
20	160.410	44	160.770	68	161.130	92	161.490
21	160.425	45	160.785	69	161.145	93	161.505
22	160.440	46	160.800	70	161.160	94	161.520
23	160.455	47	160.815	71	161.175	95	161.535
24	160.470	48	160.830	72	161.190	96	161.550
25	160.485	49	160.845	73	161.205	97	161.565

It may be of interest to note that frequencies from 36 upwards are used outside North America for the Marine VHF band. In North America the Railway Band takes precedence, and disallows the use of the high side of Marine Channels 1 to 19.

Click here for a chart produced in approximately 2004 showing usage of railway frequencies in the Maritimes. This should be substantially still current.