Here is what my knowledgable guy said about the backward transition. This might have been a later add-on SGL > > The Automatic Backward Transition was a standard E9 design > feature, I am pretty sure they just purchased the stock EMD > ABT panel and installed it on the E8 freight units. The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org ------------------------------