"what part of the train is always going backwards"...hmmm That would be the brakeman's paycheck. Goes backwards regardless of which way the train moves. Goes backwards faster if the train is standing still, and, speaking of stills, goes backwards in direct proportion to the rate of increase in the cost of liquor. How's that for stereo-typing? And yes, I am using both hands.

Still having a hard time with the idea that flanges don't have anything to do with turning corners. I suppose that an object in motion tends to go in a straight line. Like a bullet, or my wife at the sale table at Filene's, but there must be more to it. Wouldn't the flanges be needed to compensate for the correolis effect? (got the wrong dictionary).

I've got it! Isn't that what the engineer does?