NS/CSX Pittsburgh + Mon Line!

Whats up guys! NEW member and poster here, and sorry to bring up an old topic. I just started to railfan around my area (The Mon Line below route 51 like monongahela, the shot branch around my town and such). always wanted to do it just never really had time to railfan but im trying to make time now. I plan on going up to pittsburgh and i know the areas of station square and i think southside. What are some EASY accessible area's or spots where you really won't get into too much trouble if the cops are around or something. The only place i can think of is station square right now. And how do you get to the south side of the OC Bridge. I can't go too far north or west of pittsburgh, around the south and east sides of pittsburgh like towards kennywood and around the incline/station square/southside areas. Any help is apprecited for this noob! thanks!

also does anyone have any freqs for this region for CSX and NS?

160.320 CSX AS Jacksonville
160.230 CSX road
160.800 NS

161.520 is also used by CSX further to the east, they refer to it as Channel 94.

Also I forgot 161.070 is the NS channel for the Conway Terminal and the Mon Line.

A couple of blocks north of Station Square is a park between the river and the tracks. Great spot for watching trains.

Whats up guys. Thanks for the info, i just bought an old bearcat off the net so ill have to give those freqs a shot. What's the basics of using a scanner to know if a train is coming close by or not? When i head up to pittsburgh i plan on going over to homestead/waterfront, there's a crossing there that you can park right next too right by the tracks. Then i plan on heading up to the OC bridge somehow. I can't seem to locate where this "park" is a couple blocks north of station square. Is it anywhere near that parking garage by the ft pitt bridge? If time allows i want to head south towards duquesne (not the university, thats on the other side of the river lol) see if i can get a good spot there or even down further towards the coke plant. Then hit station square on that platform above the tracks or somewhere on the river side if it's allowed. i know there's a lot of fence at station square. thanks for the help guys!

ben

Ben:

I can't speak to the Pittsburgh area, but to the basics of using a scanner to know when a train is coming, it works roughly as follows:

You get a timetable that shows the locations of mileposts, detectors, etc. on the line you are interested in fanning.

Then when you hear radio communications, mention of mileposts, or an automated detector report, you have a sense of where the train is and where it is coming. Sometimes the detectors tell you which track, etc. I am in no way and expert, but this I generally how a scanner helps you so you don't spend needless hours trackside only to see nothing. Also, this is a common method for mainlines, if you are interested in trying to watch operations of a short-line or branch lines, that is usually more hit or miss, and posting on the web, reading forums and lists, etc. is very helpful to determine when the 1 train may be running. A scanner is better for mainline action, but can be helpful for listening to any radio communications.

I hope this helps, have fun in Pittsburgh and stay safe.

Brooks

hey thanks man! Where would one obtain a timetable?

If you go to the Waterfront (big shopping center) in Homestead you can park in the plaza and the CSX line and NS Mon line run parallel past there over several crossings. The CSX line comes across the Mon River to the east of the plaza. The Mon line is double track in that area and CSX is only single track. But the Mon Line carries double stack and trilevel auto racks in addition to normal Mon Line traffic.

I don't know of a good place to view the south side of the OC bridge, but the West End Overlook is good for seeing the bridge as well as the CSX and Mon Lines, and even part of the Ft. Wayne Line. Here's my railimage page with pics from there. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/sh ... puser/1751

Thanks for the info dood! The waterfront was actually one of my spots of interest. I just didnt know where at the waterfront was a good place. I am very interested in the Mon Line as that's where I grew up south on the river near Monongahela and lived off the Ellsworth Secondary for years. Now they shut the 84 mine portion down due to the mine closing. So all that really gets traffic is a chemical plant closer to the Mon Line. I've been searching for Timetables for the Mon Line and NS Pittsburgh/CSX Pittsburgh but really no luck. But thanks again for your help!

Riverfront Park. Sorry it is east of Station Square. Accessed from South 18th Street.

benpsut wrote: Now they shut the 84 mine portion down due to the mine closing. So all that really gets traffic is a chemical plant closer to the Mon Line.

Is this something that happened recently? I just chased a train the whole way up the branch to the mine in mid May of this year and I hadn't heard anything about it getting shut down since. Then again I really wasn't looking for any info about the branch.

Scooter

yea scooter the mine JUST shut down recently. im 90% sure, because i moved from the tracks 2 months ago so im not that close to the tracks anymore. And there's nothing along the way except for the chemical plant up track just a little ways out of monongahela. and thanks andy

That's kind of a shame as that was a really cool line to chase a train on. They creep the whole way up and there are curves and bridges everywhere. I'm kind of glad I decided to chase the train up there when I did. Thanks for the info.

Scooter