Cattron-Theimeg locomotive remote control
increases safety and efficiency
by Joe Zentis

In 1946, 22-year-old Jim Cattron opened a two-way radio service shop in Sharpsville. It was the first Motorola Service Station in the world. Through more than fifty years, the company has kept up with quantum leaps in communications technology. Cattron Communications continues strong, selling and servicing two-way radio equipment, pagers, access control systems, cellular phones, dispatching units, and desktop stations.

Most people would consider that a classic example of American free enterprise. But it's only a relatively small part of the Cattron success story.

In 1976, Cattron branched out into servicing a new line of Motorola radio remote control products. Before long, Cattron Incorporated was designing and manufacturing wireless remote controls for many industrial applications – switching locomotives, overheard cranes, military testing facilities, mining equipment, and even amusement park rides. In 2000, they acquired a German company, Theimeg Elektronikgerate GmbH, and became Cattron-Theimeg – the world's largest supplier of industrial portable radio remote controls. Headquartered in Sharpsville, it markets and services its products throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

As new markets open up to remote control, Cattron-Theimeg aims at providing the most advanced technology to lead the industry in those markets. For example, remote controls have been used on switching locomotives for thirty years, but not on the major (Class 1) U.S. railroads due to governmental restrictions.

“We've been making locomotive remote controls for some time,” said Frank Rudge, vice president of Cattron-Theimeg. “They've been all for privately owned switching locomotives in industrial settings. The Federal Railroad Administration had regulations in place that prohibited the use of remote control technology in Class 1 railroads. The debate has been going on for years, whether or not that should be legalized.”

The change finally came on February 14, 2001, when the FRA issued new guidelines. Cattron-Theimeg was ready for it.

“We've been developing the Accuspeed for about five years in the background, Rudge said. “When the FRA made the final ruling and allowed remote control technology on Class 1 locomotives, we were preparing in the background a product to meet that specification and go into the marketplace with the class ones – a much more sophisticated product than our standard industrial style locomotive remote controls.”

The new product, called Accuspeed, uses advanced technologies including the satellite-based Global Positioning System. Cattron-Theimeg named its new system Synchronized Time Sharing TM (STS). Utilizing a GPS timing device on-board the locomotive along with two-way digital data radios, it allows the remote control of a number of locomotives on a single radio channel. It also allows two operators, one on the ground near the front of the train and one near the back, to hand off the operation of the train from one to the other.

The operator is positioned on the ground, at a vantage point that offers the best and safest view of the operations. With light-weight Operator Control Unit (OCU), he or she simply sets the desired direction and speed, and the on-board Locomotive Control Unit (LCU) continually applies the right amount of throttle or brake to maintain that speed, regardless of the slope of the tracks or the size of the train. Speeds can be set from 14 mph to less than 1 mph. With this “cruise control,” the operator doesn't have to constantly adjust the speed, so he or she can concentrate more on train movements and track conditions.

The LCU constantly feeds the data to LED and text displays on the OCU, so the operator is always aware of what is happening. It also continually records data like a black box on an airplane so it can be analyzed later if necessary.

Because they anticipated the regulatory changes, Cattron-Theimeg was prepared to put Accuspeed units into the marketplace within less than a year. Their first major order came from CSX Transportation in December, 2001.

“ The most significant benefit to adopting this new technology is safety," said Alan F. Crown, executive vice president-transportation for CSXT. "One Canadian railroad experienced more than a 50 percent improvement in train accidents after adopting locomotive remote control technology.”

Cattron-Theimeg's success hasn't merely put Sharpsville on the map in respect to industrial remote controls – it has made it the center of the universe.