Pete,
Actually, real rr's DO already use remote engines but they are relegated strictly to yard service. They are controlled from a box that straps to the conductors chest and/or waist. There are all kinds of special rules covering the operation of them. The conductor gets $7 bucks more for doing the engineers work. A lot of this stuff is being brought on by the "younger generation" of railroad workers. They don't want to work nights, extra boards, week ends etc and the railroads are constantly struggling to find people to run the trains on weekends due to cronick layoffs by the younger folks. The remote engines in the yards will eventually force the yard engineers (who are always older)back out on to the road and they will eventually replace the younger engineers who are on the road which will force them to go back to the conductors ranks which means there will now be too many conductors and they won't get to work very often which means way less money on payday and they will either be glad to get the chance to work on the weekend or just won't be working on the railroad anymore period. In effect, the younger worker of today is screwing himself out of a job in the future and screwing the older guy who has worked and put up with railroad life all along by forcing him back out on the road away from home and assigned work hours.
Anyway, the system they are using was developed by a Canadian firm, CANAK, and it works pretty well except for the occasional equipment failure.
prof
