Could an 844-4014-3985 triple header ever happen?

daylightrain said:

My best guess is the skill of engineers back in the day. Many engineers can get a "feel" for the engine they are operating, and are able to judge whether or not the locomotive ahead was accelerating or deaccelerating, simply be feeling how the locomotive moves and watching for telltale signs, like more or less smoke exausted from the stack. I know that some railroads used flags or signal lamps before radios became standard.

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I recall seeing somewhere that the two crews (one on the front, one on the rear) would communicate via whistles. I know that during the days of the caboose and flagman, there are a series of whistles that the engineer would blow to tell the flagman to go protect the train and when to come back to the train. If you look around on YouTube, you'll be able to find videos of double-headers where the lead steam locomotive will whistle twice, then the second will repeat the two whistles, afterwards the train will start moving.