CB&Q racetrack photo in Classic Trains

[Anonymous]

The aerial photo of a Q bilevel commuter train was taken when the Q was using power cars for HEP but before push pull operation. It reminded me that the turning process at Union Station involved backing the train out to the coach yard, cutting off the E units and running them around the wye in batches 4-6 units at a time, as opposed to turning the whole train. I've read that the idea was to keep the power cars on the west end of the train, but I wonder if tying up the wye with all those commuter trains was also an issue? How did other commuter roads handle turning trains? Any other unusual but useful practices?

[jimrice4449]

Most commuter cars had "flop over" seats where a trainman could walk through, grabbing a seat back w/ each hand, and convert an "eastbound" car into a "westbound" w/o moving the car