Tender locomotive
Encyclopedia
A tender or coal-car is a special rail vehicle
hauled by a steam locomotive
containing the locomotive's fuel
(wood
, coal
, or oil
) and water
. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so tenders are necessary to keep the locomotive running over long distances. A locomotive that pulls a tender is called a tender locomotive. Locomotives that do not have tenders and carry all their fuel and water on board the locomotive are called tank engines
.
A brake tender is a heavy variant used primarily to provide greater braking efficiency.
to a tender that carries the water and fuel. The fuel source used depends on what is economically available locally. In the UK and parts of Europe
, a plentiful supply of coal
made this the obvious choice from the earliest days of the steam engine. Until around 1850 in the United States
, the vast majority of locomotives burned wood until most of the eastern forests were cleared. Subsequently coal burning became more widespread, and wood burners were restricted to rural and logging districts.
According to Steamlocomotive.com,
The water supply in a tender was replenished at water stops and locomotive depots from a dedicated water tower
connected to water crane
s or gantries. Refilling the tender is the job of the fireman, who is responsible for maintaining the locomotive's fire, steam pressure, and supply of fuel and water.
Water carried in the tender must be forced into the boiler, to replace that which is consumed during operation. Early engines used pumps driven by the motion of the pistons. Later steam injectors replaced the pump, while some engines used turbopump
s.
The fuel and water capacities of a tender are usually proportional to the rate at which they are consumed, though there were exceptions. The Pennsylvania Railroad
and the New York Central Railroad
used track pan
s on many of their routes, allowing locomotives to pick up water at speed. The result was that the water tanks on these tenders were proportionally much smaller.
In the UK water troughs were used by three of the Big Four
railways. The exception was the Southern Railway
– mainly because the majority of the Southern's operations were based around short-distance commuter, suburban and rural services with frequent station stops where water could be taken on from water columns
. The Southern's decision to electrify
its routes into London
with a third rail
system also made the installation of water troughs impractical. Only on the former London and South Western Railway
routes west of Salisbury
, where long-distance express trains operated, was the lack of troughs a problem. Rather than install troughs the L&SWR (and the Southern) equipped its express locomotives with special high-capacity tenders with a water capacity of 4,000 gallons (18,200 l) running on a pair of twin-axle bogie
s. These were known to railwaymen as 'Water Cart' tenders.
A primitive approach to condensation simply injected the spent steam into the tender tank, relying on the mass of water for cooling. More sophisticated tenders, such as those used in the South African Railways Class 25
locomotives designed for service in the Karoo
, replaced most of the water tank with a huge radiator in which the steam was cooled and condensed. Exhaust steam, after passing through an oil separator, was conveyed to the tender, where it powered a low pressure turbine used to drive the radiator fans. The steam then passed into the radiator. The condensate was injected into the boiler with another turnbine-driven pump. This was a quite complex bit of machinery, also requiring another turbine in the smokebox to provide the exhaust draft normally obtained by blowing the exhaust steam up the stack. Eventually the SAR examples were converted to conventional locomotives by replacing the radiator with a long water tank.
, whose great-grandfather founded the New York Central Railroad
, invented a cylindrical tender which was soon adopted by a number of American railroads
with oil-burning and coal-burning locomotives.
Compared to rectangular tenders, cylindrical Vanderbilt tenders were stronger, lighter, and held more fuel in relation to surface area. Railroads in the U.S. and Canada who were noted for using Vanderbilt tenders include:
service, because they greatly improved the engineer's ability to see behind the locomotive when switching cars. The reduced water capacity was not a problem, as the tender's water tank could be frequently refilled in the rail yard
.
's non-stop Flying Scotsman
service on 1 May 1928, ten special tenders were built with means to reach the locomotive from the train through a narrow passageway inside the tender tank plus a flexible bellows connection
linking it with the leading coach. The passageway, which ran along the right-hand side of the tender, was 5 feet (1.52 m) high and 18 inch (0.4572 m) wide. Further corridor tenders were built at intervals until 1938, and eventually there were 22; at various times, they were coupled to engines of classes A1, A3
, A4
and W1
, but by the end of 1948, all were running with class A4 locomotives. Use of the corridor tender for changing crews on the move in an A4 loco is shown in the 1953 British Transport film "Elizabethan Express
", the name of another London-Edinburgh non-stop train.
s were placed at regular intervals along the track, making a canteen unnecessary in most cases. However, there were times that canteens proved economical. The Norfolk & Western used canteens with its giant 2-8-8-2
locomotives on coal trains. Use of the canteen allowed one of the water stop
s to be skipped, allowing the train to avoid climbing a hill from a dead stop. Currently, Union Pacific uses canteens with its steam locomotives 844
and 3985
on excursion trains. Virtually all the trackside tanks were removed when steam locomotives were retired. Nowadays, fire hydrant
hookups are used, which fills the tanks much slower. The canteens allow for greater range between stops.
Canteens were also used on the Trans-Australian Railway
which crosses the waterless Nullarbor Plain
.
In the United Kingdom
a canteen was used on the preserved Flying Scotsman
during enthusiast excursions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The water troughs that had previously supplied long-distance expresses had been removed during dieselisation
of the railway network. On 25 July 2009, "Bittern"
made a 188-mile run from King's Cross to York non-stop using a second tender. As railways in Britain tend to be much shorter than those in the US, the canteen was not an economical proposition.
. This is typically a tank car with a fuel line that connects to the locomotive and MU
connections to allow locomotives behind the tender to be controlled remotely. The Burlington Northern used fuel tenders in remote territory where fuel was expensive. Diesel fuel could be bought cheaply and loaded into the tender. A common consist was two EMD SD40-2
s with a tender between them. Some of the tenders survived the Burlington Northern Santa Fe
merger but retain the black and green BN colors. The Southern Pacific
also briefly experimented with fuel tenders for diesels. Some slugs
have fuel tanks and serve as fuel tenders for the attached locomotives.
Union Pacific used fuel tenders on its turbines
. These tenders were originally used with steam locomotives, then reworked to hold heavy "Bunker C" fuel oil
. Fuel capacity was about 23,000 gallons (87,000 liters). When the turbines were retired, some of the tenders were reworked to hold water, and employed as canteens for steam locomotives.
Tenders have also been developed to carry liquefied natural gas
for diesel locomotives converted to run on that fuel.
, brake tenders were low, heavy wagons used with early main line diesel locomotive
s. One or two were coupled next to the locomotive to provide extra braking power when hauling unfitted or partially-fitted freight trains (trains formed from wagons not fitted with automatic brakes). Originally intended to be used in North East England, where they were usually propelled (pushed) by the locomotive, and later used in other regions. On the Southern Region
they were normally hauled behind the locomotive.
The tender took the form of a hollow box, low enough to avoid obscuring the driver's view when pushed. The body was carried on a pair of former carriage bogies, which provided the automatic brakes. The body was filled with scrap steel to raise the weight of the vehicle to 35½–37½ tons; consequently increasing the available brake force. Four lamp brackets were provided at each end to display locomotive headcode discs describing the class of train – when propelled, the tender obscured the front of the locomotive, and hence the headcode.
Introduced around 1964-5, they were taken out of use in the 1980s when the practice of using unfitted trains was discontinued.
's River Mite, and the Garratt
locomotive may be seen as an extension of this principle. Powered tenders were also seen on the 2-8-8-8-2
and 2-8-8-8-4
locomotives in the United States, but these experiments were not considered successful.
(2-10-0
) locomotives, for example, were capable of 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph) in either direction, and were commonly used on branch line
s without turning facilities.
A source of possible confusion with regards to German locomotives is that in German
, means a tank locomotive. A locomotive with a separate, hauled tender is a .
In some instances, particularly on branch lines having no turnaround such as a turntable or wye at the terminus point, locomotives ran in reverse with the tender leading the train. In such instances, a headlamp (US) or headcode lamps/discs were placed on the leading end of the tender. Locomotive crews often rigged a tarpaulin
(or the locomotive's storm sheet, if available) from the rear of the cab roof to the front of the tender to provide protection from the wind and to prevent coal dust being blown into the cab. Tenders designed for more frequent tender-first workings were often fitted with a fixed cab panel and windows, providing an almost fully enclosed cab.
Railroad car
A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...
hauled by a steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
containing the locomotive's fuel
Fuel
Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...
(wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
, coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, or oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
) and water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so tenders are necessary to keep the locomotive running over long distances. A locomotive that pulls a tender is called a tender locomotive. Locomotives that do not have tenders and carry all their fuel and water on board the locomotive are called tank engines
Tank locomotive
A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...
.
A brake tender is a heavy variant used primarily to provide greater braking efficiency.
General functions
The largest steam locomotives are semi-permanently coupled by a drawbarDrawbar (haulage)
A drawbar is a solid coupling between a hauling vehicle and its hauled load. Drawbars are in common use with rail transport, road trailers, both large and small, industrial and recreational, and with agricultural equipment.-Agriculture:...
to a tender that carries the water and fuel. The fuel source used depends on what is economically available locally. In the UK and parts of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, a plentiful supply of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
made this the obvious choice from the earliest days of the steam engine. Until around 1850 in the United States
Rail transport in the United States
Presently, most rail transport in the United States is based on freight train shipments. The U.S. rail industry has experienced repeated convulsions due to changing U.S. economic needs and the rise of automobile, bus, and air transport....
, the vast majority of locomotives burned wood until most of the eastern forests were cleared. Subsequently coal burning became more widespread, and wood burners were restricted to rural and logging districts.
Water supply
By the mid-1800s most steam locomotive tenders consisted of a fuel bunker (that held coal or wood) surrounded by a "U" shaped (when viewed from the top) water jacket. The overall shape of the tender was usually rectangular. The bunker which held the coal was sloped downwards toward the locomotive providing easier access to the coal. The ratio of water to fuel capacities of tenders was normally based on two water-stops to each fuel stop because water was more readily available than fuel. One pound of coal could turn six pounds of water (0.7 gallons) to steam. Therefore, tender capacity ratios were normally close to 14 tons of coal per 10,000 gallons of water.
The water supply in a tender was replenished at water stops and locomotive depots from a dedicated water tower
Water tower
A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....
connected to water crane
Water crane
A water crane or standpipe is a device used for delivering a large volume of water into the tank or tender of a steam locomotive. As a steam locomotive consumes large quantities of water, water cranes were a vital part of railway station equipment, often situated at the end of a platform, so that...
s or gantries. Refilling the tender is the job of the fireman, who is responsible for maintaining the locomotive's fire, steam pressure, and supply of fuel and water.
Water carried in the tender must be forced into the boiler, to replace that which is consumed during operation. Early engines used pumps driven by the motion of the pistons. Later steam injectors replaced the pump, while some engines used turbopump
Turbopump
A turbopump is a gas turbine that comprises basically two main components: a rotodynamic pump and a driving turbine, usually both mounted on the same shaft, or sometimes geared together...
s.
With track pans or water troughs
In the UK, the USA and France, water troughs (US track pans) were provided on some main lines to allow locomotives to replenish their water supply while moving. A 'water scoop' fitted under the tender or the rear water tank in the case of a large tank engine; the fireman remotely lowered the scoop into the trough, the speed of the engine forced the water up into the tank, and the scoop was raised once it was full.The fuel and water capacities of a tender are usually proportional to the rate at which they are consumed, though there were exceptions. The Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
and the New York Central Railroad
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
used track pan
Track pan
A track pan or water trough is a device to enable a steam railway locomotive to replenish its water supply while in motion...
s on many of their routes, allowing locomotives to pick up water at speed. The result was that the water tanks on these tenders were proportionally much smaller.
Big Four British railway companies
The Big Four was a name used to describe the four largest railway companies in the United Kingdom in the period 1923-1947. The name was coined by the Railway Magazine in its issue of February 1923: "The Big Four of the New Railway Era".The Big Four were:...
railways. The exception was the Southern Railway
Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
– mainly because the majority of the Southern's operations were based around short-distance commuter, suburban and rural services with frequent station stops where water could be taken on from water columns
Water crane
A water crane or standpipe is a device used for delivering a large volume of water into the tank or tender of a steam locomotive. As a steam locomotive consumes large quantities of water, water cranes were a vital part of railway station equipment, often situated at the end of a platform, so that...
. The Southern's decision to electrify
Electrification
Electrification originally referred to the build out of the electrical generating and distribution systems which occurred in the United States, England and other countries from the mid 1880's until around 1940 and is in progress in developing countries. This also included the change over from line...
its routes into London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with a third rail
Third rail
A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...
system also made the installation of water troughs impractical. Only on the former London and South Western Railway
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
routes west of Salisbury
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
, where long-distance express trains operated, was the lack of troughs a problem. Rather than install troughs the L&SWR (and the Southern) equipped its express locomotives with special high-capacity tenders with a water capacity of 4,000 gallons (18,200 l) running on a pair of twin-axle bogie
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
s. These were known to railwaymen as 'Water Cart' tenders.
Condensing tenders
Some locomotives were designed to recycle exhaust steam by condensing it into feed water. The principal benefit of this is conservation of water, but the thermodynamic efficiency of the engine is also increased, since much of the heat otherwise lost in the exhaust is used to preheat water injected into the boiler. In some cases condensing was employed simply to improve visibility by eliminating clouds of exhaust.A primitive approach to condensation simply injected the spent steam into the tender tank, relying on the mass of water for cooling. More sophisticated tenders, such as those used in the South African Railways Class 25
South African Class 25 4-8-4
Between 1953 and 1955 the South African Railways placed ninety Class 25 condensing steam locomotives with a 4-8-4 Northern wheel arrangement in service...
locomotives designed for service in the Karoo
Karoo
The Karoo is a semi-desert region of South Africa. It has two main sub-regions - the Great Karoo in the north and the Little Karoo in the south. The 'High' Karoo is one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger South African Platform division.-Great Karoo:The Great Karoo has an area of...
, replaced most of the water tank with a huge radiator in which the steam was cooled and condensed. Exhaust steam, after passing through an oil separator, was conveyed to the tender, where it powered a low pressure turbine used to drive the radiator fans. The steam then passed into the radiator. The condensate was injected into the boiler with another turnbine-driven pump. This was a quite complex bit of machinery, also requiring another turbine in the smokebox to provide the exhaust draft normally obtained by blowing the exhaust steam up the stack. Eventually the SAR examples were converted to conventional locomotives by replacing the radiator with a long water tank.
Fuel supply
A factor that limits locomotive performance is the rate at which fuel is fed into the fire. Much of the fireman's time is spent throwing wood or shoveling coal into the firebox of the locomotive to maintain constant steam pressure. In the early 20th century some locomotives became so large that the fireman could not shovel coal fast enough. Consequently, in the United States, various steam-powered mechanical stokers (typically using an auger feed between the fuel bunker and the firebox) became standard equipment and were adopted elsewhere, including Australia and South Africa.Tender design variants
In the early days of railroading, tenders were rectangular boxes, with a bunker for coal or wood surrounded by a U-shaped water jacket. This form was retained up to the end of steam on many coal-burning engines. Oil-burning engines substituted a fuel tank for the bunker. Variations on this plan were made for operational reasons, in attempts to economize on structure.Vanderbilt tender
In 1901, Cornelius Vanderbilt IIICornelius Vanderbilt III
Cornelius Vanderbilt III was a distinguished American military officer, inventor, engineer, and yachtsman, and a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family.-Biography:...
, whose great-grandfather founded the New York Central Railroad
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
, invented a cylindrical tender which was soon adopted by a number of American railroads
Rail transport in the United States
Presently, most rail transport in the United States is based on freight train shipments. The U.S. rail industry has experienced repeated convulsions due to changing U.S. economic needs and the rise of automobile, bus, and air transport....
with oil-burning and coal-burning locomotives.
Compared to rectangular tenders, cylindrical Vanderbilt tenders were stronger, lighter, and held more fuel in relation to surface area. Railroads in the U.S. and Canada who were noted for using Vanderbilt tenders include:
- Baltimore & Ohio
- Canadian National
- Grand Trunk Western
- Great Northern
- Southern Pacific
- Union Pacific
Whaleback tender
A form peculiar to oil-burning engines was the "whaleback" tender (also sometimes called a "turtle-back" or "loaf" tender). This was a roughly half-cylindrical form with the rounded side up; the forward portion of the tank held the oil, while the remainder held the water. This form was particularly associated with the Southern Pacific.Slopeback tender
In the United States, tenders with a sloped back were often used for locomotives in yard switchingSwitcher
A switcher or shunter is a small railroad locomotive intended not for moving trains over long distances but rather for assembling trains ready for a road locomotive to take over, disassembling a train that has been...
service, because they greatly improved the engineer's ability to see behind the locomotive when switching cars. The reduced water capacity was not a problem, as the tender's water tank could be frequently refilled in the rail yard
Rail yard
A rail yard, or railroad yard, is a complex series of railroad tracks for storing, sorting, or loading/unloading, railroad cars and/or locomotives. Railroad yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock stored off the mainline, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic....
.
Corridor tender
For the introduction of the London and North Eastern RailwayLondon and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...
's non-stop Flying Scotsman
Flying Scotsman (train)
The Flying Scotsman is an express passenger train service that has been running between London and Edinburgh—the capitals of England and Scotland respectively—since 1862...
service on 1 May 1928, ten special tenders were built with means to reach the locomotive from the train through a narrow passageway inside the tender tank plus a flexible bellows connection
Corridor connection
A Corridor connection is a flexible connector fitted to the end of a railway coach to enable passage from one coach to another without falling out of the train.-Coaches:...
linking it with the leading coach. The passageway, which ran along the right-hand side of the tender, was 5 feet (1.52 m) high and 18 inch (0.4572 m) wide. Further corridor tenders were built at intervals until 1938, and eventually there were 22; at various times, they were coupled to engines of classes A1, A3
LNER Gresley Classes A1 and A3
The London and North Eastern Railway LNER Gresley Classes A1 and A3 locomotives represented two distinct stages in the history of the British 4-6-2 "Pacific" steam locomotives designed by Nigel Gresley...
, A4
LNER Class A4
The Class A4 is a class of streamlined 4-6-2 steam locomotive, designed by Nigel Gresley for the London and North Eastern Railway in 1935. Their streamlined design gave them high-speed capability as well as making them instantly recognizable, and one of the class, 4468 Mallard, still claims the...
and W1
LNER Class W1
The LNER W1 No. 10000 was an experimental steam locomotive fitted with a high pressure water-tube boiler...
, but by the end of 1948, all were running with class A4 locomotives. Use of the corridor tender for changing crews on the move in an A4 loco is shown in the 1953 British Transport film "Elizabethan Express
Elizabethan Express
Elizabethan Express is a 1954 British Transport Film that follows The Elizabethan, a non-stop British Railways service from London to Edinburgh along the East Coast Main Line...
", the name of another London-Edinburgh non-stop train.
Canteen
An additional tender which holds only water is called a "canteen." During the steam era, these were not frequently used. Water tankWater tank
A Water tank is a container for storing water. The need for a water tank is as old as civilized man, providing storage of water for drinking water, irrigation agriculture, fire suppression, agricultural farming, both for plants and livestock, chemical manufacturing, food preparation as well as many...
s were placed at regular intervals along the track, making a canteen unnecessary in most cases. However, there were times that canteens proved economical. The Norfolk & Western used canteens with its giant 2-8-8-2
2-8-8-2
.A 2-8-8-2, in the Whyte notation for describing steam locomotive wheel arrangements, is an articulated locomotive with a two-wheel leading truck, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a two-wheel trailing truck. The equivalent UIC classification is, refined to Mallet locomotives, D1...
locomotives on coal trains. Use of the canteen allowed one of the water stop
Water stop
A water stop or water station on a railroad is a place where trains stop to replenish water. The stopping of the train itself is also referred to as "water stop". The term originates from the times of steam engines, when large amounts of water were essential...
s to be skipped, allowing the train to avoid climbing a hill from a dead stop. Currently, Union Pacific uses canteens with its steam locomotives 844
Union Pacific 844
Union Pacific 844 is a 4-8-4 steam locomotive owned by Union Pacific Railroad. It was the last steam locomotive delivered to Union Pacific and is unique in that it is the only steam locomotive never retired by a North American Class I railroad....
and 3985
Union Pacific 3985
Union Pacific 3985 or UP 3985 is a four-cylinder simple articulated 4-6-6-4 Challenger-type steam locomotive owned by Union Pacific Railroad. The UP 3985 locomotive was built in 1943 by the American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, New York...
on excursion trains. Virtually all the trackside tanks were removed when steam locomotives were retired. Nowadays, fire hydrant
Fire hydrant
A fire hydrant , is an active fire protection measure, and a source of water provided in most urban, suburban and rural areas with municipal water service to enable firefighters to tap into the municipal water...
hookups are used, which fills the tanks much slower. The canteens allow for greater range between stops.
Canteens were also used on the Trans-Australian Railway
Trans-Australian Railway
The Trans-Australian Railway crosses the Nullarbor Plain of Australia from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia...
which crosses the waterless Nullarbor Plain
Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about...
.
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
a canteen was used on the preserved Flying Scotsman
LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman
The LNER Class A3 Pacific locomotive No. 4472 Flying Scotsman was built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway at Doncaster Works to a design of H.N. Gresley...
during enthusiast excursions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The water troughs that had previously supplied long-distance expresses had been removed during dieselisation
Dieselisation
Dieselisation or dieselization is a term generally used for the increasingly common use of diesel fuel in vehicles, as opposed to gasoline or steam engines.-Water Transport:...
of the railway network. On 25 July 2009, "Bittern"
LNER Class A4 4464 Bittern
4464 Bittern is a London and North Eastern Railway Class A4 steam locomotive. Built for the LNER in 1937 at Doncaster Works as works number 1866, it was originally numbered 4464. It was renumbered 19 on 16 August 1946 under the LNER 1946 renumbering scheme and after nationalisation in 1948 BR added...
made a 188-mile run from King's Cross to York non-stop using a second tender. As railways in Britain tend to be much shorter than those in the US, the canteen was not an economical proposition.
Fuel tender
Sometimes a tender will be used for a diesel locomotiveDiesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
. This is typically a tank car with a fuel line that connects to the locomotive and MU
Diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board diesel engines. They may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country.-Design:...
connections to allow locomotives behind the tender to be controlled remotely. The Burlington Northern used fuel tenders in remote territory where fuel was expensive. Diesel fuel could be bought cheaply and loaded into the tender. A common consist was two EMD SD40-2
EMD SD40-2
The EMD SD40-2 is a C-C locomotive produced by EMD from 1972 to 1989.The SD40-2 was first introduced in January 1972 as the mid-range offering in EMD's six-axle "Dash-2" series, competing against the GE U30C and the MLW M630...
s with a tender between them. Some of the tenders survived the Burlington Northern Santa Fe
BNSF Railway
The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...
merger but retain the black and green BN colors. The Southern Pacific
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
also briefly experimented with fuel tenders for diesels. Some slugs
Slug (railroad)
A railroad slug is an accessory to a diesel-electric locomotive. It has trucks with traction motors but is unable to move about under its own power, as it does not contain a prime mover to produce electricity...
have fuel tanks and serve as fuel tenders for the attached locomotives.
Union Pacific used fuel tenders on its turbines
Union Pacific GTELs
Union Pacific operated the largest fleet of gas turbine-electric locomotives of any railroad in the world. The prototype, UP 50 was the first in a series built by General Electric for Union Pacific's long-haul cargo services. The prototype was introduced in 1948 and was followed by three series...
. These tenders were originally used with steam locomotives, then reworked to hold heavy "Bunker C" fuel oil
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
. Fuel capacity was about 23,000 gallons (87,000 liters). When the turbines were retired, some of the tenders were reworked to hold water, and employed as canteens for steam locomotives.
Tenders have also been developed to carry liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport....
for diesel locomotives converted to run on that fuel.
Brake tender
On British railwaysHistory of rail transport in Great Britain
The railway system of Great Britain, the principal territory of the United Kingdom, is the oldest in the world. The system was originally built as a patchwork of local rail links operated by small private railway companies. These isolated links developed during the railway boom of the 1840s into a...
, brake tenders were low, heavy wagons used with early main line diesel locomotive
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
s. One or two were coupled next to the locomotive to provide extra braking power when hauling unfitted or partially-fitted freight trains (trains formed from wagons not fitted with automatic brakes). Originally intended to be used in North East England, where they were usually propelled (pushed) by the locomotive, and later used in other regions. On the Southern Region
Southern Region of British Railways
The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992. The region covered south London, southern England and the south coast, including the busy commuter belt areas of Kent, Sussex...
they were normally hauled behind the locomotive.
The tender took the form of a hollow box, low enough to avoid obscuring the driver's view when pushed. The body was carried on a pair of former carriage bogies, which provided the automatic brakes. The body was filled with scrap steel to raise the weight of the vehicle to 35½–37½ tons; consequently increasing the available brake force. Four lamp brackets were provided at each end to display locomotive headcode discs describing the class of train – when propelled, the tender obscured the front of the locomotive, and hence the headcode.
Introduced around 1964-5, they were taken out of use in the 1980s when the practice of using unfitted trains was discontinued.
Powered tender
Certain early British steam locomotives were fitted with powered tenders. As well as holding coal and water, these had wheels powered from the locomotive to provide greater tractive effort. These were abandoned for economic reasons; railwaymen working on locomotives so equipped demanded extra pay as they were effectively running two locomotives. However, the concept was tried again on the Ravenglass and Eskdale RailwayRavenglass and Eskdale Railway
The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is a minimum gauge heritage railway in Cumbria, England. The line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth Station near Boot in the valley of Eskdale, in the Lake District...
's River Mite, and the Garratt
Garratt
A Garratt is a type of steam locomotive that is articulated in three parts. Its boiler is mounted on the centre frame, and two steam engines are mounted on separate frames, one on each end of the boiler. Articulation permits larger locomotives to negotiate curves and lighter rails that might...
locomotive may be seen as an extension of this principle. Powered tenders were also seen on the 2-8-8-8-2
2-8-8-8-2
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-8-8-8-2 has two leading wheels, three sets of eight driving wheels, and two trailing wheels. Because of its length, such a locomotive must be an articulated locomotive. It is not longer than a normal articulated; the third...
and 2-8-8-8-4
2-8-8-8-4
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-8-8-8-4 has two leading wheels, three sets of eight driving wheels, and a four trailing wheels.Other equivalent classifications are:...
locomotives in the United States, but these experiments were not considered successful.
German practice
In Germany, attention was given to ensuring that tender locomotives were capable of moderately high speeds in reverse, pushing their tenders. The numerous DRB Class 50DRB Class 50
Because the Deutsche Bundesbahn had sufficient goods train locomotives, they could quickly phase out the DRB Class 52 engines, so that the ageing boilers on the Class 50s could be replaced by those of the Class 52s. Even the 'bathtub' tender of the Kriegslokomotiven was used by the 50s amongst...
(2-10-0
2-10-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-10-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, ten powered and coupled driving wheels on five axles, and no trailing wheels...
) locomotives, for example, were capable of 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph) in either direction, and were commonly used on branch line
Branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...
s without turning facilities.
A source of possible confusion with regards to German locomotives is that in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, means a tank locomotive. A locomotive with a separate, hauled tender is a .
Tender-first operations
Tarpaulin
A tarpaulin, colloquially tarp, is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water-resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas or polyester coated with urethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene. In some places such as Australia, and in military slang, a tarp may be known as a...
(or the locomotive's storm sheet, if available) from the rear of the cab roof to the front of the tender to provide protection from the wind and to prevent coal dust being blown into the cab. Tenders designed for more frequent tender-first workings were often fitted with a fixed cab panel and windows, providing an almost fully enclosed cab.