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Westport, IN | It wasn't real common to tandem steam engines.
Yes in mountains they would have helpers going up grade. Then they would break of and return to the bottom and wait for next train. Probably at that moment the extra was just not needed.
A little more information on chuffing.
The Pistons both push and pull on each side. The wheels on the axle are a quarter turn offset from each other. So one complete turn off the wheel will yield four equally timed chuffs. These chuffs as mentioned above are directed up through the smoke box inducing a draft for the fire. There is also an engineer controlled 'blower' or steam jet also pointed up in the steam box. This is used to start or keep a fire going while stopped.
When starting and engine from a stop, the sideways bursts of steam while starting are from bleed valves also controlled by the engineer. When starting the cylinders are cold and when steam enters then some steam is converted to water. It is necessary to bleed the water off because water stuck in the cylinder would cause tbe cylinder head to blow off.
Steam also powered the air compressor and the water injector.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injector
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another steam locomotive question,
