A British tender locomotive

Fuel tender from one of Union Pacific's turbines. Courtesy of Don Ross

Steam locomotives often haul a tender, which is a special railway truck designed to hold the locomotive's fuel (wood, coal, or oil) and water. In America, tenders are sometimes called coal-cars. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of both fuel and water. Locomotives that do not have tenders and carry all their fuel and water on board the locomotive itself are called tank engines. Examples are the fictional locomotive Thomas the Tank Engine and the German BR 89. Download high resolution version (1033x655, 76 KB)British Railways standard class 5 Steam locomotive - 73096 - at Virginia Water railway station England - 280404 Photo taken by Tagishsimon File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (1033x655, 76 KB)British Railways standard class 5 Steam locomotive - 73096 - at Virginia Water railway station England - 280404 Photo taken by Tagishsimon File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1166x680, 184 KB)The fuel tender from UP 61. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1166x680, 184 KB)The fuel tender from UP 61. ... Union Pacific Big Boy #4012 at work on a cold November 29, 1941 A steam locomotive is a locomotive powered by steam. ... Great Western Railway No. ... Fuel is any material that is capable of releasing energy when its chemical or physical structure is changed or converted. ... Trunks A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is a solid material derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Coal Coal (IPA: ) is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by coal mining, either underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Ignacy Łukasiewicz - inventor of the refining of kerosene from crude oil. ... Impact of a drop of water. ... A tank locomotive (occasionally tank engine, especially in England, notably used in reference to Thomas the Tank Engine) is a steam locomotive that carries its own fuel and water on it, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. ... Thomas the Tank Engine. ...

Advantages and disadvantages

One reason not to carry the fuel and water aboard the locomotive is that the rate of consumption of both is such that it is hard to carry enough for an extended range. Another is the desire to keep the locomotive's weight near constant, so that its hauling abilities remain consistent (since they are dependent on weight on driven wheels multiplied by a coefficient of friction). Friction is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency toward such motion of two surfaces in contact. ...

The disadvantages of a tender are that it reduces the locomotive's weight and hence its adhesion and that it has difficulties running in reverse at speed, especially in tight curves. It also tends to block the view to the rear of the locomotive, much more so than the boiler blocks the view to the front. For these reasons, when locomotives cannot easily be turned at the end of their runs, or if the maximum adhesion possible is needed, tank locomotives are preferred. Tenders used with steam switch engines are typically small, and the tops of their water tanks typically slope down in back, for better visibility.

German practice

In Germany, special attention was given to ensuring that tender locomotives were capable of moderately high speeds in reverse, pushing their tenders. The numerous BR 50 (2-10-0) locomotives, for example, were capable of 80 km/h (50 mph) in either direction, and were commonly used on branch lines with no turning facilities. This 2-10-0 steam locomotive is a Pennsylvania Railroad class I1s, the most successful class of such locomotives in North America. ... A branch line is a relatively minor railway line which branches off a more important through route. ...

A source of possible confusion with regards to German locomotives is that in German, Tenderlokomotive means a tank locomotive. A locomotive with a separate, hauled tender is a Schlepptenderlokomotive.

Track pans or water troughs

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 pans 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. 1893 map The Pennsylvania Railroad (AAR reporting mark PRR) was an American railroad that was founded in 1846 and merged in 1968 into Penn Central Transportation. ... The New York Central Railroad (AAR reporting mark NYC), known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the North-Eastern United States. ... A track pan is a long trough filled with water, lying along a stretch of railroad track between the rails. ...

In the UK track pans were called water troughs and were used by three of the Big Four railways. The exception was the Southern Railway and some Southern Railway locomotives were equipped with eight-wheel "Water Cart" tenders. // Big Four may refer to: The Big Four, a name given to the powerful four men who owned the Central Pacific Railroad. ... The Southern Railway in the United Kingdom was geographically the smallest of the four railway systems created in the Grouping ordered by the Railways Act 1921. ...

Canteens

An additional tender which holds only water is called a "canteen." During the steam era, these were not frequently used. Water tanks 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 stops to be skipped, meaning that the train did not have to climb 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 far more slowly. The canteens allow for greater range between stops. Norfolk and Western Railway (AAR reporting mark: NW), a US class 1 railroad, was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. ... A USRA standard 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 Union Pacific Railroad (NYSE: UNP) is the largest railroad in the United States. ... Union Pacific 844 is a 4-8-4 steam locomotive owned by Union Pacific Railroad. ... Union Pacific 3985 or UP 3985 is a 4-6-6-4 steam locomotive owned by Union Pacific Railroad. ... Fire hydrant in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA A fire hydrant (also known colloquially as a fire plug in the United States or as a johnny pump in New York City), is an active fire protection measure, and a source of water provided in most urban, suburban and rural areas with municipal...

Canteens were also used on the Trans-Australian Railway which crosses the waterless Nullarbor Plain. Looking east on the Trans-Australia Railway from Cook, South Australia The Trans-Australian Railway crosses the Nullarbor Plain from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and contains the longest straight stretch of track in the world. ... NASA - Visible Earth, Nullarbor. ...

The only example of a canteen in the United Kingdom was on Flying Scotsman during the late 1960s and early 1970s. As railways in Britain tend to be far shorter than those in the USA, the canteen was never seen as an economical proposition. This article is about the locomotive the Flying Scotsman. For the passenger service, see Flying Scotsman (train). ...

Other tenders

Sometimes a tender will be used for a diesel locomotive. 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 SD40-2s 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. Diesel locomotives became the dominant type of locomotive in rail transport in the mid 20th century in much of the world. ... Categories: Rail stubs | Defunct railroad companies of the United States | California railroads | Colorado railroads | Idaho railroads | Illinois railroads | Iowa railroads | Kansas railroads | Kentucky railroads | Minnesota railroads | Missouri railroads | Montana railroads | Nebraska railroads | North Dakota railroads | Oregon railroads | South Dakota railroads | Washington railroads | Wisconsin railroads | Wyoming railroads ... A Montana Rail Link SD40-2. ... The BNSF Railway (AAR reporting marks BNSF), headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is one of the four remaining transcontinental railroads and one of the largest railroad networks in North America (only one competitor, the Union Pacific Railroad, is larger in size). ... The Southern Pacific Railroad (AAR reporting mark SP) was an American railroad. ... For other meanings, see Slug (disambiguation) Cabless slug Cabbed slug A railroad slug is an accessory to a locomotive. ...

Union Pacific used giant fuel tenders on its massive 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 kept and reworked to hold water and used as canteens for steam locomotives. The Union Pacific Railroad (NYSE: UNP) is the largest railroad in the United States. ... UP 18, preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum. ...

On British Railways, brake tenders were used with early main line diesel locomotives. These were coupled in front of the locomotive to provide extra braking power. British Railways (BR), later rebranded as British Rail, ran the British railway system, from the nationalisation of the Big Four British railway companies in 1948 until its privatisation in stages between 1994 and 1997. ...

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 strength and adhesion. However, these were abandoned for economic reasons - railwaymen working on locomotives so equipped demanded extra pay as they were effectively working on two locomotives. However, the concept was tried again on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway's River Mite, and the Garratt locomotive may be seen as an extension of this principle. The terminus of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway at Dalegarth Station near Boot. ... Garratt on the Welsh Higland Railway South African Garratt Diagram of a Garratt locomotive A Garratt is a type of steam locomotive that is articulated, normally in three parts. ...

See also

• Tender, for other uses of the word