Double Heading Steam Loco's


H

hamltnblue

Active Member
Hello All

How common was it to double head Berkshire Loco's?

Also, did the railroads ever double head Berkshire's with Mikado's?

Thanks
 
Im sure every loco combo has been double headed. I think It would have been common in the hills not so common on the flats.

I have seen pics of diffrent sized locos doubleheaded but would assume they would have to maintain speeds that dont exceed the smaller locos ability. most likely a large loco could be double headed with a small loco just to get the train over a long steep grade. then they part ways?

I normaly double head locos of the same size just for speed matching reasons.
I run 2 mikes and 2 berks when pulling 80 car trains at the club. One think that erks me is when you can see one loco slipping and the other not. As you know with steam you can easly see the drive wheels in motion.
 
lmackattack said:
I normaly double head locos of the same size just for speed matching reasons.
I run 2 mikes and 2 berks when pulling 80 car trains at the club. One think that erks me is when you can see one loco slipping and the other not. As you know with steam you can easly see the drive wheels in motion.
Click to expand...
I have two IHC Mountain locos that love to run together...pre DCC. Almost looks better than one single articulated. I've even added a different tender to each one.

When I finally become all DCC I will likely try the double-head along with a pusher....3 locos for one train ;)
 
The larger 'super steam' locomotives, of which the Berkshire was the first, were generally meant to operate solely. It would have been rare to assign two of anything to a consist that only needed the second locomotive during climbs on grades exceeding, say, 1.5% or so. Most railroads used helper districts to keep operating costs down.

I'm not prepared to say it didn't happen, but it wasn't an everyweek occurrence.

Crandell
 
Depends on :

What railroad

Where

The circumstances.

Railroads generally did whatever they had to do to get the job done in as cost effective a manner as possible. If a helper was needed, and there was no helper pool, they would grab whatever was handy. I model the SP, and common helpers were:

2-8-0's; 2-8-2's, 2-10-2's, and cab forwards in the steam era.

If you want to do it, do it. As we say in this hobby, there is a prototype for everything! :D
 
I have seen several photos of Berks double heading with Mikes on the C&O and I understand it wasn‘t uncommon on the PM. General practice is to put the lighter loco in front.

Jim B.
 
I have a photo of F-3's double heading with a 4-8-4. Now I just have to find it.
 
Since steam engines don't have MU cables, I bet that they had to match the steam loco to the diesel since the engineer would know the insides and out of the steamer and what combo would produce the specific speed needed. Since there are no MU cables, they would need to shout or use radios (if they used them back then)
 
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