Railcar location using mutter networks and locomotive transmitter during transit

A method of tracking railcar's in a train including a locomotive, said locomotive including a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver and a transceiver for communicating with a central station, said method comprising the steps of:

• affixing a battery powered tracking unit to each one of a plurality of railcars in the train;
• forming a local area network of tracking units in the train, said local area network including a single administrator tracking unit selected among the tracking units;
• periodically reporting a unique identification (ID) from each respective one of said tracking units in the network to the administrator tracking unit;
• maintaining by the administrator tracking unit a list of tracking units by ID;
• periodically reporting from the administrator tracking unit to the transceiver the list of tracking units;
• and
• periodically reporting from the transceiver to a central station a GPS position and the list of tracking units.