Visit any popular railfanning spot and you will find railfans armed with everything from just a simple notebook to sophisticated video camcorders and still photo equipment. There is a wide range of choices when it comes to items like scanner radios and cameras, and an equally wide range of prices. A portable scanner radio is basic railfanning equipment that makes it possible to monitor the radio frequencies used by the railroads. Being able to hear these radio transmissions provides a heads up on trains that are approaching your location, informs you of track maintenance and problems, and allows you to hear other communications between railroad personnel that helps pass the time between trains. My choice of radios is technically not a scanner. I use a Vertex VX-150 2 meter handheld transceiver.  A ham license is only required if you want to transmit with this radio. The radio signal reception with this unit is remarkable. The use of a scanner may not be legal in some states or localities. If photographing or videotaping railroad action interests you, investing in a good camera or camcorder is a must. My personal interest is still photography, and my cameras of choice are the Sony A77 and A700 bodys paired with Sony 16-105mm and 70-300mm lenses. A great number of the photographs displayed on this web site were taken with these cameras and lenses. A laptop computer is a good option for railfans due to it's portability. A laptop comes in handy while trackside for things like off loading or processing pictures, keeping observation records, and even surfing the internet during slow periods. RESOURCES Scanners Motive Power Rosters Live Railroad Radio Excellent information on the use of scanner radios. Also includes a table of all the American Association of Railroads assigned channel numbers and their corresponding frequencies. Visit On Track On Line for more. The Diesel Shop provides comprehensive roster information regarding the manufacturer and model of diesel locomotive in use by most every major railroad in North America. Includes info for class one railroads, leasing companies, regional railroads, fallen flags, and much more Listen to live radio transmissions from various railroad locations on your computer! Hear the action from selected places all across North America. Don't own a scanner yet? Get a taste of the kinds of chatter you can hear by listening to these live radio feeds from RailroadRadio.net AAR Reporting Marks Every railroad in North America uses a reporting mark, a sequence of two to six letters that uniquely identifies the owner of a piece of rolling stock as assigned by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). A comprehensive list defining these marks is available at Wikipedia. Railroad Terms Ever wonder what a "Hogger" is in railroad parlance? Who or what is "FRED"? Find answers to these questions and learn about railroad terminology here Railroad Directories RAILlinks.com is another acclaimed directory of railroad related web sites. Here you will find over 10,000 railroad links divided into four major sections : Railfan, Model Railroad, Travel, and Rail Industry RailServe.com is a worldwide resource for finding rail-related content on the Internet. A great deal of railroad related info is organized into nearly 100 categories covering all aspects of rail travel, hobby, and industry. A true must visit! Corporate Web Sites CSX    BNSF Norfolk Southern Union Pacific  Canadian National  Canadian Pacific  Kansas City Southern  AMTRAK Locomotive Manufacturers Nearly every modern diesel locomotive you will see during your railfanning adventures was manufactured by one of these two companies.  EMD is one of the largest builders of diesel-electric locomotives for all commercial railroad applications. Their most recent models are the SD70ACe and SD70M-2.  GE has been the market leader for diesel-electric locomotives for the past decade. Their GEVO series of locomotives includes the ES40DC, ES44DC, & ES44AC models.   Railroad Picture Archives Contains a huge collection of railroad pictures numbering over 2 million at present.  Free membership is required if you would like to contribute your photos to the site.  Easy to get pictures included.  Click here LocoPhotos Over 80,000 "roster" style photographs of both locomotives and rolling stock.  Membership (free) is required to submit, and all submitted photos are reviewed and measured against specific criteria before they are included on the web site.  Click here RailPictures.net A collection of over 473,000 railroad related photographs.  Requires free membership in order to submit pictures.  Acceptance standards are very strict. I currently have over 1,000 images in their database. Images here are generally rather good.  Excellent  forum section focused on the photographic aspect of railfanning.  Click here The Photographer's Ephemeris The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) is a free application for Mac/Windows/Linux designed for landscape photographers.  View sun position, shadow length, and more on a Google style map.  A MUST HAVE for every serious railfan photographer.  Click here to visit the TPE web site and download the free software. PHOTOGRAPHY RELATED