Word.ws English Dictionary

double-heading

double-heading noun: the use of two locomotives at the front, or head, of a train. Also the present participle and gerund of double-head.

Noun

double-heading (uncountable)

  1. The use of two locomotives at the front, or head, of a train.
    • Mr. S. T. Yaxley recalls that the Garratts were first placed in service on the Toton-Brent and Toton-Wellingborough coal trains and empties back, eliminating much of the double-heading which prior to their introduction was so prevalent in Midland freight train operation.1959 March, “Talking of Trains: The L.M.S. Beyer-Garratts”, in Trains Illustrated, page 122
    • There appeared to be no restrictions on single-manning of locomotives in Belgium, but multiple-unit control of two locomotives by one driver has not been adopted; when double-heading is required a driver is put in charge of each locomotive.1960 February, A. S. Gillitt, “The operation and maintenance of Belgian main line diesels”, in Trains Illustrated, page 88

Also used as

double-heading is also the present participle and gerund of double-head.

Forms of double-heading

alternative formdouble heading

Questions about double-heading

What does double-heading mean?
Double-heading means the use of two locomotives at the front, or head, of a train.
What part of speech is double-heading?
Double-heading is a noun.

Words near double-heading in the dictionary

  1. double-head
  2. double-headed
  3. double-headed bug
  4. double-header
  5. double-headers
  6. double-heading
  7. double-heads
  8. double-hearted
  9. double-hulled
  10. double-hung
  11. double-jab

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: double-heading (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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