Ha, yeah it ended up making a super powerful shot blaster, firing ballast the size of tennis balls, no wonder the idea never took off!
At first ithoyght the same as you about it pushing the train backwards, but I imagine the weight of a steam engine would be more than enough to stop it, I don't know exact figures but I imagine a plane is no more than a ton (probably a lot less) and even a small loco is 30t plus, also the loco has a direct tractive force on the wheels,
Regardless I found it hard interesting, it's great to see these prototype ideas!
At first ithoyght the same as you about it pushing the train backwards, but I imagine the weight of a steam engine would be more than enough to stop it, I don't know exact figures but I imagine a plane is no more than a ton (probably a lot less) and even a small loco is 30t plus, also the loco has a direct tractive force on the wheels,
Regardless I found it hard interesting, it's great to see these prototype ideas!