Western Railroad Discussion > Identifying trains

I have noticed a lot of you guys know where trains originate from and what there destinations are. Throughout time I have noticed similar trains with similar loads,  but am never sure where specific trains are destined. For Instance I'll see West Colton trains leaving the station, but they could have come from LA or they could have originated at West Colton I'm guessing. The only indicators I have found are that Intermodels leaving on the Eastbound track usually follow the Sunset Route and Intermodels heading Northbound are destined for Roseville or Oregon.
Any little tricks or education you could throw my way?
Thanks

work for the railroad and look on the computer. 

Buy a scanner and program it to the areas where you usually watch trains

I don't know about the western roads but online there are totally complete listings of all CSX train ID's. This info includes originating and terminating yards/terminals, type of cargo, days of operation, etc. I'd suggest doing a computer search for that kind of info. You may be surprised at what's available.

If you spend a lot of time trackside, as you noted you begin to see patterns.  You listen to a scanner and you hear the car department, the roundhouse and the dispatcher talking about the train symbols.  You talk with other railfans at Pepper Avenue and they clue you in on symbols and indicator cars to look for.  You look through "Southern California Local Freight Trains" by TO's erielackawanna (a new edition is coming out shortly).  You see info posted on TO, photos and videos.  Get a copy of California Timetable #19 (2008; #20 2009 is out of print) from Altamont Press' website.  It has symbols, radio frequencies, and timetables with mileposts and speeds.LA&SL (that's trains via Cajon Pass-Yermo-Las Vegas-Salt Lake) info from 2012 here-  <http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2952656,2953845#msg-2953845&gt;Here's a post on L.A. area intermodal destinations-  <http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3514012,3514925#msg-3514925&gt;  Have fun!
mapboy

The new edition of "Southern California Local Freight Trains" by TO's erielackawanna is available at Aamzon. Link here-  http://www.amazon.com/Southern-California-Local-Freight-Trains/dp/1511781556/ref=sr_1_2_twi_2_pap?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1430247796&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=freericks+california

mapboy

Thank you this is the kind of info I was looking for. Ill look into both of these and put the time in on that dang scanner. Gettin the RR jargon down I found is key.