Just a General Question

Upon reaching the destination, i.e. the "end of the line", the whole consist of units would NOT have to be turned around. The operating crew would just cut-out the controls in the cab that they had been operating from, walk to the other end, and set-up the controls in that cab, and away they go.

I've often wondered that also.

Besides, it looks prettier than "elephant style!"

(I love the Q, but man, that always bothered me...)

Rusty

Yes; one of the selling points was no turning at the end of the run, which was ALMOST always done with steamers. This was especially good when the end of the run had no turntable, wye or balloon track.

But, never say never...the photo below is of an ATSF 2-10-10-2, which was so long that

most turntables of the day could not handle it, so the ATSF instructed Baldwin to slope

the tender rear for visibility and add a "cowcatcher" to the tender. These big things

ran at track speeds backwards, commonly.

Who said that the Santa Fe never had any Cab-Forwards?

If memory serves trollies have the same set up, the operator takes the control lever that may  double as a key from one end to the other removing the need to turn around.

The push-pull trains, using the auto coach set up ,of the Great Western railway took this even farther, with the driver (roughly engineer in the US) leaving the engine and driving from the break van (caboose), or rear coach during the steam era.

Nice comparison, D500. Nicest steam engine ever.

Not for very long. They were so unsuccessful that after only 2 or 3 years the Santa Fe cut them in half and made 2-10-0 and/or 2-10-2 locomotives out of all of them.

Some commuter trains also were not turned around either.

And Don't forget the CNJ Double ender.

NO explanation needed for that one.

OK, now where did you obtain an O Scale model of THAT????

I was born and raised at Cranford, NJ thru 1955, and remember those double ended Baldwins (I also have photos of them, some in color). I sure would like a model of one in 3-Rail SCALE.

Hotwater, I never stated it was an O scale model. IF you want one that badly, get a Williams PA drive train and have Rev Boyd make you the body. Otherwise your other option is to find and purchase either a loco workshop kit or a brass model and add the 3 rail pa trucks to it. The first option is more quicker and less stressful.

I figured the slope-back was for visibility, but never realized they ran it backward at a full clip.

http://www.bluebell-railway.co.../locos/vis/1450.html

Here we go, an example of auto coach and its 0-4-2 tank engine, a take on the not needing to reverse the train. At one time the engine was supposedly painted to match the coaches to hide the fact it was an engine. There was or is a cab in the coach making reverse operation possible wit ha clear line of sight.

My response is that an AA combo simply looks better flat side to flat side.