Midweek Trivia | July 8th
It's more than a door instruction
Today, almost every diesel-powered commuter railroad in North America - from Metra in Chicago and the MBTA in Boston to Caltrain in California - operates using a "push-pull" configuration (where a locomotive pulls the train in one direction, but pushes it from behind on the return trip, controlled by an engineer sitting in a special "cab car" at the front).
Which legacy US railroad first invented and pioneered this modern push-pull diesel operation for its commuter lines in 1959, eliminating the time-consuming need to turn locomotives around at terminal stations?
Leave a comment with your answer.
I'm going to be "that annoying foamer" and point out that, now that Caltrain has been electrified, it now uses EMUs rather than push-pull trainsets, with the exception of the rush hour trips south of San Jose on the unelectrified section that still uses diesel-electric push-pull trains etc. 😉
Chicago and Northwestern