CSX Detector Overview

CSX Talker

CSX's custom female voice can be heard in a variety of applications, such as wheel impact detectors, clearance detectors, dragging equipment detectors, and radio-operated switches. The same voice was even tested on a Servo 9000 detector - see the Servo 9000 section for details.

CSX Talker (HCD)
CSX Talker (WILD)
Devtronics 68178

The oldest of the Devtronics detectors, designed to interface with Servo tube-based equipment. The 68178 shares an identical voice with the 68278 and MA1B, making them very difficult to differentiate.

Devtronics 68178
Devtronics 68278

The next iteration of Devtronics detectors, which were designed to interface with solid-state Servo equipment. The 68278 shares an identical voice with the 68178 and MA1B, making them very difficult to differentiate.

Devtronics 68278
Devtronics CMA02

The final iteration of Devtronics hotbox detectors. While these still utilized Servo bearing scanners and transducers, the rest of the system was Devtronics-designed.

Devtronics CMA02
Devtronics MA1B

An overlay system for existing Servo detector sites which did not have a built-in alarm capability. The MA1B shares an identical voice with the 68178 and 68278, making them very difficult to differentiate.

Devtronics MA1B
Devtronics S.C.A.T.

The newer non-heat detecting model from Devtronics. Note that the results message with the newer voice is identical to the Devtronics UT-1, making it difficult to differentiate between the two.

Devtronics S.C.A.T.
Devtronics TSA3000

A short-lived predecessor to the CMA02, the TSA3000 was found exclusively along CSX's former Seaboard Air Line routes in Florida (the Auburndale and Wildwood subdivisions).

Devtronics TSA3000
Devtronics UT-1

The older non-heat detecting model from Devtronics. Note that the results message with the newer voice is identical to the Devtronics S.C.A.T., making it difficult to differentiate between the two.

Devtronics UT-1 - Older Voice
Devtronics UT-1 - Newer Voice
Harmon Cyberscan 2000

Although originally conceived by Servo, the Cyberscan 2000 started selling right as Harmon purchased Servo's train inspection product line.

Former Conrail Cyberscan 2000s are easy to identify due to their speaking of the location name in the results message. However, CSX's own Cyberscan 2000s share the same voice as their Servo 9000s, making them difficult to differentiate. The true Cyberscan 2000s transmit a tone at the start of the results message, whereas the Servo 9000 only transmits a tone in the entrance message; the tones themselves sound different; and the Servo 9000 tends to give a safety message at the end of the results message, which was not something the Cyberscan 2000s were capable of.

Harmon Cyberscan 2000
Harmon Cyberscan 2000 (ex-Conrail)
Harmon Model 24

A very early model hotbox detector from the Chessie System days. Not much is known about these, with most having been retired by the late 90s. The Model 24 shares the same voice as the Model 32 and Model 75.

Harmon Model 24
Harmon Model 32

After the Model 24 came the much more common Model 32, which was an all-Harmon setup using pyrometer scanner technology acquired from General Electric and Harmon's own transducers. The main processor, WCO-34, was the same one used on the Model 75.

Harmon Model 32
Harmon Model 75

The Model 75 was an overlay system version of the Model 32, utilizing the same WCO-34 processor as the Model 32, but using the existing Servo scanners and transducers. As they share the same processor, there is no audible way to tell the difference between the two models.

Harmon Model 75
MicroHBD/Micro Talker

Perhaps the most common voice heard in defect detectors across North America is the one heard from the MicroHBD/Micro Talker. This was CSX's preferred detector model from the late 2000s to the late 2010s. As GE/Progress Rail offered upgrade kits for existing detector sites that utilized Servo field hardware, they became common replacements for many Devtronics CMA02s, Harmon Model 75s, Servo 9000s, and Cyberscan 2000s.

CSX was quick to replace Conrail's Parker DED 1GG dragging equipment detectors with GE Micro Talker CPU 1 units after the Conrail split, as the Parker units did not have transducers and thus could not provide an axle location of a defect. These CPU 1 models have a little extra spacing between the letters 'C-S-X', an extra pause between the word 'Track' and the track number, and do not feature a tone at the start of their messages.

Every MicroHBD on CSX has since been upgraded to CPU 3 due to its advanced filtering providing better protection against false alarms, although MicroHBD CPU 1s did exist for a period of time. Many of the Micro Talkers in dragging equipment roles were never upgraded, and are instead either being retired or replaced with a full hotbox detector site.

MicroHBD/Micro Talker (CPU 1)
MicroHBD/Micro Talker (CPU 3)
Servo 9000

As with the Cyberscan 2000s, the ex-Conrail units are easy to differentiate due to their speaking of the location name in the results message. However, CSX's original Servo 9000 units use the same voice as their Cyberscan 2000s, making them difficult to tell apart - see the Harmon Cyberscan 2000 section above for details on how to tell them apart.

A one-off and short-lived example was CSX's attempt to use the CSX Talker voice on former Conrail Servo 9000 units. However, crews reported difficulties hearing & understanding the new voice, thus it was quickly reverted back to the classic robotic Servo 9000 voice.

Servo 9000
Servo 9000 (ex-Conrail)
Servo 9000 (ex-Conrail, female voice)
Servo 9909

The Servo 9909 was Servo's first microprocessor-equipped hotbox detector introduced in the early 1980s, with many installations along Chessie System lines. Most were retired by the late 1990s.

Servo 9909
STC iCUBE

The iCUBE is Southern Technologies' non-heat sensing detector offering that has been in production long enough that it had multiple voices: first the standard voice as heard on the SmartScan NG, and later the voice of the SmartScan NG2² when that hit the market.

STC iCUBE - Older Voice
STC iCUBE - Newer Voice
STC Sentry 2100

The Sentry 2100 was the predecessor to the more common SmartScan NG, and the two sound nearly identical. One noticeable difference is that most Sentry 2100s say 'nine', whereas all SmartScan NGs say 'niner'; however, a handful of Sentry 2100s have been heard saying 'niner' as well. The Sentry 2100s also had a slightly quicker pace.

STC Sentry 2100
STC SmartScan NG

The SmartScan NG was CSX's preferred unit in the mid 2000s to replace aging Devtronics and Harmon models. They sound extremely similar to the Sentry 2100 - see the Sentry 2100 entry above to learn how to differentiate the two.

Existing SmartScan NG sites are almost always replaced with a SmartScan NG² due to the upgrade simply consisting of swapping out the chassis - all connecting hardware remains intact.

STC SmartScan NG
STC SmartScan NG²

Southern Technologies' newest model, complete with a new, unmistakable robotic voice. These have become CSX's preferred model since the model's introduction in 2017.

STC SmartScan NG²