Add custom header for Checkout pages in Magento (1.8.x) - magento

Question

I am trying to add a customised header to my Checkout pages, I have figured out removing the header from the page is basically adding a node in the /layout/checkout.xml file, could anyone explain how to basically a new altered header that only applies to all the Checkout pages.
Current default/layout/checkout.xml
<default>
<remove name="footer"> <!-- removes the footer from checkout -->
... // all other xml data..
</default>
pseudocode for my theme
if (a CHECKOUT PAGE) {
use 'custom checkout header'
else
use the standard default header.

Answer 1

In your local.xml file add the below code to add a custom header to the checkout page
<checkout_onepage_index>
<reference name="root">
<block type="page/html_header" name="header" as="header" template="page/html/your_new_header_file_name.phtml"/>
</reference>
</checkout_onepage_index>
Now create a new_header.phtml in app/design/frontend/default/default/template/page/html and add the custom header contents in this file. Now update your new header file name in the above template field.
You can replace default/default with your_package_name/your_theme_name

Answer 2

You will have to add something like
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('new_header') ?>
in your page template files (1column.phtml, 2columns-left.phtml, etc)
Also try changing
<reference name="root">
to
<reference name="head">
if it is still not working.