From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
QUOTE: Originally posted by twhite Gambino--you can double-head to your heart's delight, my friend. On the Southern Pacific Donner Pass run during the steam era, trains would usually be headed with a Cab-Forward 4-8-8-2 running up the Sierra grade with a 2-8-0 helper out of Colfax, and there might be a 'swing helper' 4-8-8-2 in the middle of the train along with another 4-8-8-2 pushing ahead of the caboose. On the Rio Grande during steam days, you could see three and four steamers on the train--maybe a 2-8-8-2 helping a 4-8-2 (or vice versa) with another couple of 2-8-8-2's (either Compound or Simple) cut in at various points in the consist. It was very common, especially out here in the West to run multiple locos on almost any mainline consist. It was smoky, noisy, and WONDERFUL!! Tom [:P][:P][:P]
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!