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Thanks for the responses.  Now you've gone and raised a bunch of other questions with this "myth".1) What is the heaviest steam locomotive still in operation? I think it's the Challenger out in Cheyenne- but I'm not sure.  The reason I ask is because were the myth to be tested today, I would want to see it done using something so big, so implausible to common sense, that viewers will be amazed and amused.  And I can feed my railfan addiction for free.  I think that it would be a fair test to use a big steam locomotive- the biggest- that was regularly maintained and operated by professionals.  Does Steamtown have anything bigger?  Or is there anything heavier in operation overseas?2) Can you push a modern diesel locomotive by hand?  The consensus of opinion here says, sure, they are all equipped with roller bearings.  But there's a bit more to it than that.  Aren't the traction motors mechanically linked into the drive axles?  To get a modern locomotive to move by hand, would you not have to overcome the resistance offered by the traction motors as well?  This assuming that the locomotive is NOT running and the brakes are off... which I think would be a fair test.  I know that diesel locomotives are capable of "running away", but it seems to me that in every instance, the locomotives were "on" and "running" to start with.3) For the physics people out there-  if you can "push" a locomotive into motion, can you "stop" the locomotive the same way?  I am not a physicist, but Newton's laws and inertia must come into play here somewhere.  OK, I fell asleep in the High School science class, so I admit my ignorance.4) The Discovery Channel folks claim they "tested" the myth of "coin chocks" by sticking a nickel behind every wheel of a freight train, including the locomotives.  I think they were talking about actually keeping a train under power from moving, not keeping a locomotive in place. They agree that you can keep a boxcar in place by chains in front of and behind the wheels, but that's not the myth- it's a single dime (or a pair of them) can be used as a "chock" to keep a locomotive from rolling away.Thanks!
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