@wjstix posted:To echo an earlier post, tenders weren't swapped around willy-nilly. Yes an engine built in 1908 might only have it's original tender until 1940, when it might be replaced with a larger one whose added water and fuel supply allowed it to go longer between stops, and it used until it was retired in 1955. In 1995 the engine, which had been on static display, was restored to working condition - but the tender had considerable rust damage, so a tender that was available that had been used in maintenance of way service after it's engine was scrapped was found and mated to the restored engine. So yes the tender could change, but it wasn't like coupling a car to the engine where it would have one tender one day and a different one tomorrow.
I knew Willy Nilly. He never swapped tenders. He worked in the freight car shops. 😎
Actually, tenders were separated from all locomotives for class repairs. If a tender was serviced and ready to go and another locomotive of the same class was road-ready but its tender was still under repair, the tenders would be swapped. Many Union Pacific locomotives trailed different tenders for that reason. Roadworthy locomotives would not be held out of service just to get their original tender.
