Norfolk Southern Chicago Mainline

Listen	Feed	Genre	Listeners	Player Selection	Links	Status
	Norfolk Southern Chicago Mainline NS Elkhart Dispatcher, Elkhart Yard West End	Rail	3			Online

Feed Notes

Audio delay ~1-2 minutes from real-time so keep that in mind

Welcome to the Mishawaka, IN area Norfolk Southern Chicago Mainline! This is the main dispatch channel for Norfolk Southern railroad through the Northern Indiana area. Antenna is roughly 1 mile directly north of NS Milepost 431. Train symbols can be heard from the dispatcher especially around the Elkhart yard area since it's super busy. Elkhart dispatcher area goes from NS milepost 479 to NS milepost 320. This feed will hear the dispatcher from about CP 463 to about CP 400ish. If you have no idea what any of these numbers mean, consider downloading a NS or CN timetable of the South Bend/Elkhart area and comparing it to Google Maps.

Little bit of information on what you will be hearing:

Dispatcher tone is a long beep sound on the NS frequency. NS dispatcher will announce themselves as "Elkhart", "Elkhart Terminal", or "Elkhart dispatcher". These tones could also be for Mechanical, PTC, or IDS.

Train callouts near 448-417 MP for NS. These are the closest to me so they will be heard the most. CN mostly uses their leading locomotive number while NS always uses their Train Symbol. CN trains cross NS tracks in South Bend so there will be a constant stream of CN trains calling up the NS dispatcher for permission to cross.

Defect Detectors are automated voices that tell if the train has any defects (ie. hot wheel, dragging equipment). The detectors are along the tracks and automatically senses the train going by. The 430.7 detector goes off every time a train goes by. The 430.7 recognizes dragging equipment and was recently upgraded to a hot bearing dectector as well. Other NS detectors by me are 445.1 and 445.2. Unfortunately, these 2 are only heard in the dead of winter when conditions are just right.

Frequencies Monitored:

NS - 160.620 (Road), 160.800 (Road East), 161.070 (Marion Branch/Elkhart Yard) and 160.070 (Elkhart Yard West End)

~~CN - 160.590 (Road) and 160.530 (Dispatcher)~~

CSX Garrett Sub - 160.290 (Dispatcher)

Thank you to everyone listening and I hope you enjoy! If you have any questions or comments, my email should on the "contact broadcaster" page or get a hold of me on the Youtube Live VRF Elkhart, IN railcam chat. I am almost always on there if I'm not at work. Also, if you like the feed, let your railfan friends and family know about it!

*Updates*

3/23/2024 - Got rid of the CN frequencies as NS traffic is more of the focus of this feed. West End Yard and Elkhart East (160.800) on one radio. Elkhart West (160.620) has it's own radio. Might end up setting up another feed for the CN traffic later on down the road.

12/23/2023 - Notch filter added to NS radio to block out NOAA weather radio interference. Seems to have done the trick!

9/14/2023 - Antenna upgrade! Comet CA-F22GFN. NS and CN now have their own seperate antenna AND radio.

1/15/23 - Scanner upgraded to BCT15X. Feed now has alpha tags so can see which freq you're listening to.

11/27/22 - Not much has changed. South Shore freq was removed. New audio dongle has fixed the interference I was getting on 160.590. I am currently brainstorming ideas on a multi-scanner setup so that we can hear more than 1 channel at a time.

9/17/22 - Finally got around to setting up the good antenna on the roof today. Should hear way more symbols go by (hopefully) and can even hear Channel 46 (160.800) dispatcher to the East of Elkhart, IN. Will be making an audio dongle change on the stream PC as well to maybe sort out an issue I am having with interference with the CN road frequency (160.590).

8/31/22 - Moved feed to Mishawaka, IN! Antenna is now about a mile north of NS MP 431. The 430.7 defect detector comes in great and so do the train symbols as they go by. Yard frequency has some chatter now as well but it's not the best. Still using my Traintenna indoor antenna for now until I can get my roof antenna set up.

8/12/22 - Location of feed will be moved to Mishawaka, IN at the beginning of September! Should hear way more than we do currently. Not certain on dates yet as I am not sure when I can get internet up and going. Expect a better feed by the start of the month!

7/16/22 - Old antenna is back up. Will be moving soon so big antenna will be back up in about a month or so. Dispatch will still be heard pretty clear, but 441 detector may not come in too well if at all. Like I said before, this feed is a work in progress. Thanks for tuning in!

5/9/22 - Not really an update but wanted to let yall know that with summer atmospheric conditions and foliage fastly approaching, reception might not the best at times. Gotta keep in mine, I live 5 miles away from the closest point of NS trackage. Oh yeah, new antenna will probably have to wait until I move. Will hopefully have a lot more gain at the new location.

3/13/22 - Added CN (Canadian National) main road and dispatcher frequency. CN comes in pretty quiet so NS will still be the dominating chatter on here. If the addition of this frequency starts causing more static, I will consider removing it. Also added the South Shore frequency just for sh*ts and giggles

3/12/22 - Got my new scanner hooked up and running. Old scanner was a handheld SR-30C and I wanted to use it for other things. Now running a base scanner that is meant to be left on for long periods. Hopefully will work well with new antenna coming soon.