Crest Train Engineer - Model Railroader Magazine

I too use the Aristo Craft/Crest Train Engineer wireless throttles on my HO layout.

There are actually four different but related products:

The orginal Train Engineer, 27 mhz, 10 amp, now available as the #55470, 10 channel version is a track side wireless throttle with 10 channels on ten frequencies. In is usual application it powers the track and requires a seperate power supply. To correct some miss-information, this Train Engineer can not be used by putting a "reciever" on each track block and then moving trains from block to block. It simply does not work.

Aristo offers an onboard version of the 10 channel reciever for use in large scale. These recievers are too large for smaller scales.

There is 3 amp version known as the Basic Train Engineer with fewer frequencies.

There is the HO Train Engineer which uses onboard recievers.

There is the NEW Train Engineer Revolution which is 2.4Ghz and is designed for either onboard or trackside use in large scale. I believe Aristo is planning to offer HO recievers for the Revolution as well.

 I use the 10, 10 channel model for HO and have developed my own walk around cab selection system to assign the cab to the blocks while walking around the layout.

A great power supply to use with the Train Engineer are simple regulated 13.8 volt supplies sold to power CB radios in your home. 4 amp models can be bought in the Pyramid brand for $25 and work well for using the TE with HO or N scale.

As others mentioned, these systems do not support DCC sound control. So, if you want sound, go DCC.

BUT, if you want good reliable wireless control without sound, you may want to understand your options with the TE.

Let me conclude by saying a few things, being short on time right now, and knowing this response would be long, I only skimmed over the posts in this thread. Nigel has provided correct info, a lot of the other posters seem only partly informed. Please understand I have done extensive developement work with DC wiring for use with the Train Engineer in HO and have installed my system on one other layout beyond my own.

I will be happy to answer specific questions but at this moment cannot disect all of the posts, answer all the questions posed or correct all the mis information.

A search of this board will find some of my earlier posts about the use of the TE in small scales, and, both the Aristo forum and the Bachmann forum contain extensive posts on my work in using the TE in HO scale.

Properly intergrated into a well designed cab control system the Aristo Train Engineer can provide excelent control of your trains. Signaling, automatic route selection, automatic territory protection and more can all be wired into your layout. Walk around and dispatcher operation can be used on the same layout. 

The TE provides excelent speed control because its output is pulse width modulated full voltage DC, just like the output of a DCC decoder. Because of this constant lighting circuits work very well.

Feel free to post questions here or to send me a PM. Again you are incouraged to look up this topic on the Bachmann or Aristo forums and you can read about the complete developement of my control system using the TE.

Sheldon