I also recall being the fireman on the second of two T1 "Selkirk" locomotives on a run east from Field to Calgary. (See picture of the CPR’s 5917, page 22). Working behind an oil burner was OK because there were no shower of cinders coming from either locomotive and we only had to watch and keep our heads inside when the lead engine was being sanded out as indicated by the clouds of very black smoke being blasted out of the smoke stack when the locomotive was being worked very hard. I distinctly remember that only one T1 class locomotive at a time was allowed on the bridge over the Kananaskis River just east of Seebe. So our train had to be stopped before crossing. There the lead engine was uncoupled and run over the bridge to wait while our 2-10-4 Loco pulled the train over the span to couple up again to the lead locomotive on the east side of that steel bridge. I guess that that structure wasn’t strong enough to take the weight of the two large locomotives, or maybe repair work was being done at that time and we were just following orders.

The next time that I was called to "Double Head" was one morning when I was holding a regular assignment firing on the Brooks subdivision east of Calgary. The locomotive that I was to work on was a fairly new (built in 1938) 4-4-4 F1a class "Jubilee" number 2923. (See picture of the CPR’s 2916, page 23). This semi streamlined loco. had tuscan red panels painted on both engine and tender just like all of the CPR’s Royal Hudson’s, but was only about two thirds as large with a total weight of just over two hundred tons compared to the Hudson’s three hundred and twenty six tons. A larger G3 class "Pacific" 4-6-2 was coupled behind our 2923 and it was also a coal burner but was stoker equipped. We were informed that the two engines were to "double head" from Alyth (Calgary) to Medicine Hat.

When two locomotives are coupled together it was always the practice to put the smaller of the two in the lead, I guess because of the lighter frame and weaker drawbar between engine and tender. When I checked the coal pile up on the tender I got my scoop shovel and took the time to level it off and push the piled up coal to the front and into the corners of the coal hopper, so that when we got going along at a good speed the coal wouldn’t be blown back into the cab of the second engine. I wanted to stay in good with those guys back there so that they would work their stoker-equipped steamer harder to save me from having to do quite as much shovelling!

When "Double Heading" the air brakes are always handled by the engineer on the lead locomotive and also all the whistling for highway crossings etc., but the second engine is expected to do its share of pulling the train. The first engineer’s responsibility is to control the speed, however today the larger second engine was expected to do most of the work as it was much more powerful and equipped with a mechanical stoker (which meant that its fireman didn’t have to perform as much physical labour as I would have to while shovelling coal into the firebox on my F1 Jubilee).

When we stopped for water and coal at Bassano I didn’t dump very much fuel into our tender, partly because we hadn’t used much, and again I didn’t want that dusty stuff blowing into the faces of the second locomotive’s crew. We had made good time so far on this trip and we continued to do so all the way to Suffield where ordinarily a pusher engine would have been added. Today it wasn’t required for the run up the hill to Bowell, so when both locomotives were watered again we were on our way down through the short dip then up the eight-mile hill to Bowell. My engineer worked our small "Jubilee" very hard this time but I didn’t mind because it was a good steaming engine and besides, when the summit was reached, it would be all down hill for the next fifteen miles to "The Hat" and I could sit back and watch the country fly past my open window. When both locomotives were placed on the shop track and the two engine crews were walking toward the booking in office I couldn’t help but notice how clean my engineer and I were because I had kept our coal supply dust free by dampening it down using the squirt hose. Compared to the two men who had ridden, on that dusty second engine, all the way from Calgary you would have thought that we had been working on oil burning locomotive instead of dusty coal burning hand bomber!

Later that same year, on a cold winter evening, engineer Gordon Ritchie and I were called for a class 5300 "Mikado" 2-8-2 out of Medicine Hat (See picture of CPR’s 5361 behind what appears to be a Pacific, page 24). We were to double head behind a 4-6-2 "Pacific" all the way to Calgary, a distance of a hundred and seventy five miles. This time we were the second engine and would be traveling along in the dust of one of the CPR’s stoker fired cinder throwing coal burning two hundred and seventy eight ton high wheeled 2300 hundreds. While the lead engine wasn’t too adept at climbing hills it was real fast on more level track because of its larger seventy-five inch diameter driving wheels. It was generally up hill all the way west, on the Brooks Subdivision, and we wouldn’t be traveling nearly as fast as was the case on my eastbound trip I talked about before. Our locomotive was classed as "P"2e and when built about 1926 it weighed 312 tons and was rated at 56% and had 63-inch driving wheels. The "G"3g "Pacific" lead engine was built around 1940 and was well equipped to handle passenger or fast freight trains but, as stated, it couldn’t handle its tonnage too well on hills.

Our "Mikado" locomotive was pretty good at ascending grades, so together we expected to be able to make a fairly fast run. Because we had enough power a pusher locomotive wasn’t required west out of Medicine Hat, so we blasted out of town and up the steep grade through Redcliff and to the summit at Bowell. Both tenders were filled with water when we stopped at Suffield and we made running time over to Brooks where our water supply was again replenished. At Bassano both tenders were again filled with water and a full load of coal was taken which would get us the eighty miles into our destination. I noticed, while cleaning out the ash pans at Bassano, that the front cylinder head on my side of our locomotive was leaking slightly and I mentioned this to the engineer. He suggested that was probably one of the reasons this engine was being sent to Alyth for repairs; besides we only had tonnage for one locomotive so neither had to be worked too hard to be able to still make track speed unless the grade got too steep. It was twenty-seven miles of heavy going over to Gleichen where the train was headed over onto the Strathmore subdivision then five miles to the lonely water tank at Stobart where both locomotive tenders were filled for the last time.

I remember us traveling through Namaka and across Eagle Lake at a real good clip to get a run for the grade up the next hill and it was just west of Strathmore when all hell broke loose. There was one Hell of a BANG! As our engine passed over an irrigation ditch on a small bridge, and a loud roar followed by a mighty cloud of steam came from my side at the front end of our 5300 "Mikado" every time the drivers made one revolution until engineer Ritchie shut off the throttle. A light brake application brought the train to a stop quickly because of the grade we were on, then all five head end crew members climbed down to have a look at what damage had been done.

There was only a small portion of the main cylinder head left bolted to the large steel cylinder casting and the remaining bolts that had held the head in place were either broken off or were stripped. There was no sign of the missing head or any other parts. I think that I had

seen the thirty-inch diameter head cover sailing up over the snow-covered field just ahead of that first sudden blast of steam. On inspection the piston itself appeared to be OK and the piston rod was still firmly attached to the large crosshead, as was one end of the main driving rod. That meant that our "Mikado" was still three quarters of a locomotive because the engineer’s side was all right and there was half an engine on my side so without waiting for the conductor and tail end brakeman to walk up from the caboose the engineer on the lead Loco. whistled off and released the brakes then the throttles on both locomotives were opened wide to start the train on that grade. There was a very loud roar of escaping steam for every revolution of the sixty three inch driving wheels and it blew forward out of the open ended cylinder on the left side. I have often wondered how many farm families were awakened that night by that unusually loud racket.

As soon as the train was up to speed our crippled locomotive was shut off and wasn’t used again until needed for the grade just west of Langdon. From there it was down hill for five miles from Bennett to Shepard then fairly level for seven miles to Alyth yard so again our help wasn’t needed but after heading into the terminal our engine had to be worked to help pull the entire train up a slight two mile grade to the top end of the yard where the train was to be left. What a hell of a racket that blasting steam made as it echoed off the freight cars on the nearby tracks. The yardmen and switch tenders climbed to the tops of many of the boxcars to see what was causing the unusual loud noise. After the train was tied down (hand brakes set) the lead engine pulled both locomotives onto the shop track and while walking toward the foreman’s office, engineer Ritchie met and warned the Hostler about what a commotion he would cause when he attempted to move that crippled "Mike" toward the roundhouse . The locomotive foreman was also informed of the trouble we had encountered and that we were able to bring that scrap heap into the terminal in spite of losing one cylinder head, in a snow bank, on "Strathmore Hill".

In the late 1940’s, or early 50’s, while making my second solo trip as an engineer, I remember "Double Heading" a disabled G3, 4-6-2 "Pacific" from Olds to Red Deer and the Master Mechanic met us on the shop track (he had driven up from Olds by car) and accused us of exceeding the speed limit He claimed that he had to drive faster then the highway speed and even then he couldn’t catch up to our train with it’s two locomotives. (That story was published in the Oct. 2002 WCRA News).

The last time that I can remember "Double Heading" on a steam locomotive was when

I was firing a G3 Pacific on the "Midnight North" train Number 521 between Calgary and Edmonton. On this particular night our express train was extra heavy so a smaller G5 twelve hundred Pacific was called out to assist northward up the twelve-mile grade to Blackfalds. That pusher stayed on until the next regular stop was made at Lacombe where there was an operator on duty and a wye that the pusher could be turned on for its return run to Red Deer. That was the last time that I can remember "Double Heading" on a steam locomotive except, of course, when being assisted up Field Hill or up the heavy grade westward out of Medicine Hat on both freight and passenger trains.

As a rule it isn’t necessary to double head diesel locomotives because all units can be controlled from the lead loco, unless the units trailing are not equipped with MU jumper cables as in the case of some yard locomotives.