The transmitter was designed to simulate the television "clicker" that virtually everyone has now come to use instinctively. The case is made to be ergonomically easier for most sized hands and to make single thumb control practical. A flexible "rubber ducky" type antenna was chosen to add a safety factor. The buttons were given long life switches for reliability. The entire case was molded out of ABS plastic to minimize breakage.
A strong R/F (Radio Frequency) design was implemented that allowed up to 300 feet (100 meters) of range. This distance was determined to be the furthest practical range that the user could see and control a train. The train could continue out of range in a "cruise control" maintained speed, but the user would not be able to vary the memorized instructions sent to the train while out of range. The R/F signal was designed to operate on a 27 MHz FM band to give a tighter signal that was less prone to interference and to cause interference on other products. Finally, we added Post Code Modulation (PCM) to the FM signal. A coded signal is sent along the FM carrier preventing most interference from spurious signals. The receiver is designed to respond only to the coded information it receives from the transmitter.
The transmitter functions were changed for the 1996 production to add several setup functions to now be controlled by the computer chip. First, the transmitter now allows the hobbyist to choose the momentum ratios from a choice of 5 different settings. These setting allow the hobbyist to better simulate the real life operations of trains regardless of the scale or physical size of the locomotive being controlled. Another change causes the motor(s) in the locomotive(s) to pause before changing direction while running. This feature was added to help prevent damage of the locomotives' motor(s) and gearing caused by forces involved with sudden electrical direction change.
A third generation of the Train Engineer was introduced in 2000. The 2000 version of the Train Engineer allows a single transmitter to control up to 100 individual receivers. There are ten radio frequencies and ten track channels per frequency which together provide one hundred unique frequency/channel combinations. Utilizing the one hundred frequency/channel combinations, it is possible to have ten people operating their own transmitter running their own trains and controlling switches and accessories without causing radio frequency interference with each other.
At the top of the front of the transmitter is a 10 LED display with two buttons directly underneath marked C-L and C-R. At the bottom of the front of the transmitter are three buttons marked 'SPD', 'DIR', and 'FRQ'. These are used in the transmitter receiver linking process and to indicate frequency, track channel, train speed (by voltage to track or motors), and train direction (relative to electrical current).
It is possible for one person to operate several trains from one transmitter. While one train is being controlled, the others remain on cruise control maintained by a memory circuit. The memory circuit maintains the last command that was sent to the receiver until a new command is sent to the receiver. This feature can keep trains operating at the same speed indefinitely. The cruise control feature will try to maintain the speed of the train even up or down grades just as an automobile speed control varies power to maintain a uniform speed.
The transmitter also has six function buttons marked 'A' through 'F'. The function buttons are used in the linking process of linking the transmitter to the receiver(s). With the use of remote receivers, the function keys can be used for the operating of accessory receivers controlling accessories including track switches, building lights, external sound systems, and animated accessories.
The Aristo-Craft/CREST Train Engineer Track Receiver is designed to function within a great level of amperage and voltage. Larger G Gauge locomotives with multiple motors and multiple lash ups of locomotives with long and heavy trains can require up to 10 amps of DC power on a continuous basis. The Train Engineer Track Receiver (track receiver) is capable of handling these demands. The track receiver is also at home with the relatively low amperage and voltage demands of the locomotives and trains of the smaller gages including O, HO and N scales.
The track receiver is placed in the wiring between your power source and the track so it can interrupt the power to the track. It controls the speed of the train by varying the power to the track in response to commands it receives from the transmitter. It will maintain the last command that it received from the transmitter until it receives a new command.
The receiver can be switched between a linear and Pulse Width Control (PWC) mode. The linear mode gives a traditional type of control that is equivalent to the power used in most model train DC power packs. Power to the track is increased or decreased by the track receiver in response to commands sent by the transmitter. PWC system uses a more modern way to control the speed of the train. With PWC, voltage and amperage are separated. With the first command of the transmitter, voltage to the track is constant. The receiver varies the amperage to the tracks in response to commands from the transmitter. Since accessories including lights and sound systems only need voltage to operate, they can remain constant. Since motors need amperage to work, locomotives run in response to increases and decreases of amperage in the rails. A key advantage of this system is that far less motor heat occurs. Aristo-Craft designed its PWC system to be free of the acoustical motor noise that often occurs with similar systems. PWC is free of AC current that can harm DC motors. PWC should not be confused with Pulse Power added to some manufacturer's power packs to improve momentum speeds.
The receiver communicates with the transmitter on ten track channels on ten different radio frequencies. This allows multiple receivers to operate at the same time. The receiver is assigned the track code/frequency combination by the transmitter during the transmitter/receiver linking process. The communication link between the receiver and transmitter sets the code without the use of dip-switches. There is also no crystals used by the receiver. Instead there is a digital chip that electronically seeks and locks to the channel and frequency of the transmitter.
