> It doesn't make any sense to talk about static vs kinetic friction for the cars because they have roller bearings. Well, modern trains don't have cabooses ei

> It doesn't make any sense to talk about static vs kinetic friction for the cars because they have roller bearings. Well, modern trains don't have cabooses either. So the scenario wouldn't even come up. But suppose that this is a train from 1940, with a caboose, with journal bearings instead of roller bearings, and with a steam engine. Can it start? I wonder if maybe this was a legitimate problem from the steam era, which led to the procedure to compress the train and the start it one car at a time. It's conceivable that we'd keep passing along the received wisdom, even after roller bearings and electric motors changed the picture.