I am not a competent enough T&P historian to give the exact date that T&P converted to oil but by 1917-18 it was all oil fired. Oil fields by then had popped up all over Texas. The 500 class mikados that Lionel made up a few years back are technically correct in that they based the model on a builder's photo. BUT...That batch of engines was sent to the T&P by the USRA and was refused by T&P because the road was by then all oil fired. Those locos were passed on to the Rock Island. The 2-10-4s were thus oil fired from the get go.
It is a longstanding gripe of T&P model fans especially in O gauge 3 rail that everything Lionel and MTH have done in T&P colors has inaccurately sported coal tenders. To add insult to injury this has extended to post-WW2 blue and white passenger color schemes on Pacifics and Mountains. I mean, they had to look at photographs; how could they not notice the tenders?
Lionel even got the colors wrong on their recently released Legacy F-3 AAs. I understand the white stripe was done in silver.
