Amtrakhogger-- Interesting speculation. I'll have to look at the E-44 operator's manual and see what it says about raising and lowering pantographs. (Am I right in remembering that PRR practice was to use the rear-ward -- relative to the direction of operation -- pantograph, so that if something happened to it (collision with fallen tree branch, for example) the front-ward one would probably not have been fouled and could be used as a spare?)
Amtrakhogger--
I looked at the E-44 operator's manual at
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/manual/e44-om.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Pantograph raising and lowering were done by air (see section on "Auxiliary air equipment"), with control valves not with the operating controls but in the nose: pantograph raising and lowering were things to be done before and after a run, with the locomotive stationary. And it looks as if the pans on each unit had to be raised and lowered separately. So… good speculation, but I don't think pantograph control was relevant to m.u. operation. The section on m.u. operation suggests that each unit had to be set up individually before a run.