Some fans now carry laptop computers and are able to tap in to railroad radio data transmissions and see exactly what the Dispatcher sees in real time! I have no experience with this sort of thing and from what I gather, it takes some knowhow to set up.
It's called ATCS. I use it for the Rochelle area all the time at home and on my laptop. It only shows you train movement however it can not at this time tell you what train (number) of if is freight or passenger.
It also is only available for certain areas. Just because you're near train tracks does not mean a "Map" or "A Feed" is available for that area. You need both. Some location you only have one and it will not work.
Here is a sample I found on Youtube. Some maps like this one have a hot links for audio feed.
ATCS & Scanner talk - YouTube
Not a user friendly program it is quite intense to set up
If you would like to know more about the ATCS Yahoo group and software please contact me in a private message so we don't plug up this thread.