B Smith posted:It's a little odd that "smoke" comes out of the tender's overflow ports along the bottom of the tank on each side (designed to prevent the tank from rupturing), but the overall effect isn't too bad. Maybe the tank could be filled with water under pressure from compressed air, which could then be squirted out the ports, soaking everything along the track, including any onlookers who happen to be watching the action!
The PT tenders were truly fascinating bits of engineering. The reason the pipes are at the bottom of the tender and pointed outward was because the water spray from higher overflow ports would soak any passenger with a window open. Before the redesign of the NYC tenders and the adoption of the PT type, many passengers complained of being woken up soaked during the night! As for soaking the onlookers, I think the NYC would rather they get wet than their paying passengers. Another story that spurred the development of the PT tender had to do with hobos. If anyone hitched a ride on the tender during the winter, they likely got soaked and froze to death, because of the overflow from the tender tank hatch. There was even an instance where a stowaway was found with his lands literally frozen to the grab irons on the back of a scooping tender. This was another problem that the NYC wanted to avoid, so they decided to point the overflow ports down and away from the train.
One last hobo story: One night a hobo decided to hitch a ride atop the (non-PT) tender tank of an NYC engine. When the engine went over the track pans, the force from the overflow was so great, that the man was washed off the tender and deposited on the adjacent track in the track pan, just as another train was approaching. He was actually scooped into the tender tank of the oncoming train. Need I say it, he didn't survive. Just another reason to have the overflow ports pointed down and away.
These stories were originally published by the New York Central Historical Society. They have graciously published comprehensive articles on NYC track pan and tender design, as well as many other subjects, on their website for free. The link to these articles may be found here: https://nycshs.org/nycs-research-information/
