@Conductor Earl posted:Since the original post was curious about "matching" double headers, share with him the way two steam locomotives start off together. I'll bet most folks would like to know how your do it.
The engineers open their throttles and the train starts to move. It is really that simple.
There is no “magic” to this. Recall what I said about the throttle being a POWER control, not a SPEED control. If one engineer opens his throttle and the other doesn’t, it’s no big deal. Both engines are going to move regardless. In some situations, the train might be started with only one engine working, in order to save a little fuel. The second engineer would open his throttle to add the power of his locomotive to the train to help only when needed.
Care must be taken stretching the slack in the train, just as an engineer would do in every start, but it is not all that different than starting a train with a single locomotive.
