"Robert Swinney" fired this volley in
:

Jim, my confusion arises in that AFAIK if we were to "plug reverse"
only the load motor, the connections would be single-phase line to
A,
B of the idler, A of idler to B of load, and B of idler to A of
load,
With C terminals together. It seems to me this connectivity would
reverse only the load motor, not both motors.

Please explain if this is not the case.

My read on this is that, in the absence of start or run capacitors,
the motors could be spun up in either direction. When the attempt is
made to plug-reverse the load motor, it won't reverse the idler
(alone) What it's actually trying to do is reverse BOTH of them, and
it'll simply stall both in the effort.

In this perfect parallel connection, there's nothing to distinguish
the idler from the load motor except where it's physically located.

LLoyd