Reverser

Reverser is a component of motorized rail vehicles used to set their moving direction. It is typically controlled by a lever found in the vehicle's cab . Besides forward and reverse, reversers also feature a neutral setting, which disengages drivetrains altogether, akin to a gearbox .

Vehicles equipped with a reverser can run both forward and backward with equal capacity, and are even equipped with lights on both ends for this purpose. Depending on the vehicle design, the only difference when changing orientation can be in driving visibility, and cooling behavior .

Reversers should never be operated when vehicles are in motion, to avoid catastrophic damage to the powertrain . For the same reason, to operate the reverser, throttle and dynamic brakes need to be disengaged.

On steam engines , cutoff is the closest feature to a reverser, albeit with more functionality.