As wireless technologies advanced in the 1960s, freight railroads began adding extra locomotives to the rear of trains to give them enough power to climb steep hills. This is how distributed power was born.
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In railroad terminology, double heading indicates the use of two locomotives at the front of a train, each operated individually by its own crew. The practice of triple-heading involves the use of three locomotives. The practice of multi-heading involves the use of multiple locomotives and so on.
Being the engineers in a push-pull train was considered to be a special skill. Today, the second locomotive is operated by remote control. And the reason the two locomotives face in opposite directions is that it makes them reversible when they get to wherever it is that they're going.
Passenger trains will usually have a driver and a guard, but empty stock movements would require a secondperson (usually a second qualified driver) or a guard to accompany the driver.
Mechanical transmission is the simplest type; it is mainly used in very low-power switching locomotives and in low-power diesel railcars. Basically it is a clutch and gearbox similar to those used in automobiles. A hydraulic coupling, in some cases, is used in place of a friction clutch.
The dispatchers will send one train or the other to a siding to wait until a train from the other direction, or a faster train coming up from behind, passes. If there are frequent delays due to single-tracking, railroads (or transit systems) will sometimes bite the bullet and lay a second track.