Great train gaffe?

[Mary Ann Jennings]

Catlady wrote:

>>>But trains can travel with the engine at the back. It's called 'push'
(even if that does contradict the words 'traction' and 'train'). I
found a wikipedia article on push-pull:
<http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ Push-pull_ train>
"This configuration means that the locomotive never needs to be
uncoupled from the train, and ensures fast turnaround times at a
railway station terminus."<<<

My trainspotter husband informs me that push-pull trains were used on small branch lines in the UK where there were no turntables or reversing loops.  Long-range trains with multiple coaches never had the push-pull configuration because push-pull trains couldn't reach high speeds as derailment was a constant danger for tender engines travelling in reverse.  It's not just steam engines; diesel engines (and I can name a-plenty!) working fast, long-range trains also never ran in reverse in such a manner.  It was the introduction of HSTs (High Speed Trains) in the 1970s that eliminated the need for engines to run 'round trains in the UK as these trains have engines at both ends.

Mary Ann, who doesn't make fun of her husband's diesel train obsession because she has several closets full of knitting yarn.  Tit for tat, and all that.