MARITIMES SCANNING SITE

RAILWAYS IN THE MARITIMES
Last updated November 10, 2006

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.

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.

Please click here for a link to an excellent railfan site scanning page.

MY RAILWAY  FREQUENCY LIST FOR THE MARITIMES IS BEING REBUILT AS OF NOVEMBER 2006.   The frequency list orders the information by frequency.  Beside each frequency is the corresponding American Association of Railroads standard channel number.  This AAR number is now being used on some scanners.  The other designation given in some cases is the railway company's own channel designation. This list was produced with the assistance of Reen.