What Am I doing wrong?

[Flintlock76]

Harrison

Thanks for the help and encouragment everyone. I'm still pretty down on myself but it sounds like it happens to everyone.

 

It does!  You're not the first and you won't be the last!

[Harrison]

Thanks for the help and encouragment everyone. I'm still pretty down on myself but it sounds like it happens to everyone.

[tree68]

Lithonia Operator

Harrison, I've gone train hunting all day and never saw a single one. It sounds like you did okay to me.

Even on a busy mainline, there will be lulls.  I've seen that happen at Utica - sit in the overhead walkway for an hour or more and nothing comes through.

Even my favorite, Deshler, with up to 60 trains per day, experiences this.  An hour or two with nothing, then a traffic jam, sometimes three trains at once with another in siding and more in line behind them.  

[daveklepper]

Tree68, Larry, you are amazing at giving good advice.  A real friend.

[selector]

When you get out to the hole before sun-up, and throw in a line and retrieve the bait about 400 times, catch nothing, and then trudge back home near noon to do other things, have you been fishing or washing the deck?

[MMLDelete]

Harrison, I've gone train hunting all day and never saw a single one. It sounds like you did okay to me.

[Flintlock76]

Some good advice from tree68 and SD60 Harrison, but I'd advise you of one more thing.

Relax. Railfanning's a bit like hunting, some days you get the eight-point buck, some days you get skunked, that's just the way it is.  It's not the end of the world, not by a long shot. 

You're a young man, and statistics being what they are you've got at least another 60 or 70 years of railfanning ahead of you, as hard as that is to fathom.  You'll see things we never will and possibly can't imagine.  Your adventure's just beginning, so hang in there!  You've got plenty of time.

[SD60MAC9500]

 

To me this is the best antenna. Been using this brand for 15 years.

https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/scanants/2368.html

 

 

[tree68]

For the scanner, invest in a good mag mount antenna, assuming your parents will allow you to place it on the family ride.  You won't believe the difference.

If you're within radio range at home, get yourself an outdoor antenna.  You can still hook up your pocket scanner to it, and you'll hear a lot more than with the rubber duck.  If you can't afford a commercial outdoor antenna, look up "J-Pole" and find someone with plumbing skills to help you to assemble it.  The pipe and fittings might cost you $10-15 - the coax and adapter for your radio will likely be the expensive part.

Check on rail cams in the areas you haunt.  Most Virtual Railfan sites have a chat, and some fans are now keeping a log of trains that pass.

What's important about that log is that you can develop a sense of when trains consistently pass that cam.  While the railroads don't run on a schedule (other than Amtrak), they are often quite regular, which might help allow  you to plan your outings.  

Another thing you can draw from the rail cams is symbols and consists.

Keep a log of your own.  

[Harrison]

I just got home from a trip to my grandparents. We did some railfanning both ways, between Schenectady and Catskill (on the CSX). I caught four trains, and missed (didn't see engines/pulled off the road when I saw them, etc) 6 trains. Well, ok, one of those trains I missed because there was roadwork and we had to detour, but I am seriously depressed. What am I doing wrong? I have a scanner and I am listening for Defect Detectors/crews calling signals, but my handheld can only pick up stuff a couple miles away, and by the time I figure out where it is it's already passed. The other problem is I can't drive, so my time is dictated by the drivers/complaining little brother. If I was driving myself I would just sit back, relax, and wait for them, but I can't do that. What can I do to not miss so many trains?