Of course, it would be a one time move for an event.
If they wanted to “arrive” just for show they could shove past the station and pull in. I was thinking they just wanted to stage the train at the station for the day.
The gates will go back up once the train has cleared the island circuit.
No problem. And yes, it is very confusing. I’m not a aficionado by any means when it comes to all the ins and outs of how they work. I just know the bare minimum lol. But knowing Disney, they could have the system rigged completely different. If you sit towards the very back of the last car, you can see that the gates start going up before the car even clears the crossing.
I once asked a CM about running backwards, but they never said anything re:crossings. What they said, though, was that while it isdoable, it caused wear and tear on the couplers back in the 90s and it wouldn’t be ideal. I’m not entirely sure where she was getting this from as I’ve done plenty of model railroading in different scales and even have the opportunity to play with 7.5” gauge trains every Saturday when I’m in chicago, and have done some shoves, but never worn out a coupler. Not that it’s not possible, but it’s certainly not common. Unless of course the couplers that the Walt Disney World Railroad use are different (they certainly look smaller) and more fragile (the second part which is HIGHLY unlikely)
It's an interesting hypothesis, though. I would think couplers are more designed to handle 'pull' rather than 'push' as far as wear and tear goes, so it makes sense from the engineering/mechanical perspective, especially when you're pushing and pulling all day.
So use a coupler that can handle a “push” better? I’d think couplers on “normal” trains are designed for such use, but maybe “normal” railroads just accept the extra wear?
From an engineering standpoint that doesn't make sense, as long as the couplers are attached the way they should be, the force is traveling the same way through the couplers, just the opposite direction. The only thing I can think of is if there's too much 'swing' laterally that could cause an issue on curves under compression, but I don't think the curves or sharp enough or the train is heavy enough for that to come into play.
Roy is last in line for an overhaul and will be sent to Strasburg once Roger has returned.
Man has a dream, and that’s the start 
