I wonder how many cars this could pull if needed. Imagine if you wanted a particular loco from the middle how many you would have to move.
https://youtu.be/bffyqIJbtNg (https://youtu.be/bffyqIJbtNg)
For the first question, I would imagine that they were mu'd for the trip. For the second part, you're SOL.
those are stored units, not needed at the moment. As traffic levels increase they may be reactivated.
Since these are in long term storage, most likely they have had all fluids drained and were towed here dead. If and when the order comes down to reactivate them, it will be for specific locomoaites which will be dug out of the line and taken to a yard to be prepared for service.
if they were all online, they wouldn't be able to pull any more than a normal consist, due to the strength of the couplers. Most railroad have restrictions on the number of axles that can be under power at the head of a train. Apply too much power and you can yank the drawbar right out of the first car. During my time on the railroad i saw it happen numerous times. Always a bad day for the crew when that happens.