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I find many rail cars rather repetitive with little difference other than color or railroad name.  Most tankers, gondolas, boxcars, flatcars and passenger cars are mostly similar.  Lionel and others have been good at producing fictional variations to make them more interesting for us model railroad fans like the giraffe and aquarium cars.  I think locomotives, tenders and cabooses have more individuality.  I enjoy the variations of this type of railroad equipment.

Tenders are some of my favorite type of cars.  The November 2001 CTT has a good article on Postwar Tenders to show the different tenders and charts to show which tender usually went with which engines.  Usually the larger engines look better with larger tenders and would need larger tenders as they use more fuel.

Lionel made a great number of coal tenders of the New York Central type from 1946 to 1952 and were used on 671, 2020, 2025, 2026, 2035 locos for examples.  They were 7 3/8 inches long.  This tender is tied for my “most number of tenders” in my collection. coal tenders 4 2019-01-12 008



Many locos had large (8 1/8 inch long) streamlined tenders made from Pennsylvania streamlined style tenders and some had water scoops on the bottom and 6 wheel trucks like the one below.  They were used from 1950 to 1968 for larger locos like 2046, 773, 2056, 671, 2065 and many more.Coal tenders 1 2019-09-01 003



Small (7 1/8 inches long) streamlined tenders were made from 1954 to 1966 for a great many middle sized locos like 1062, 242, 2018, 2037 and many more.  This is the other tender tied for my “most number of tenders” in my collection.  I had so many I painted several to match painted Lionel 242 plastic bodied 2-4-2 engines. Coal tenders 1 2019-09-01 020



Small slope backed tenders were made from 1946 to 1958 and use mostly on switcher and small engines like 244, 1060 235, 1061, 1625, 1656 and more.  They were 5 ¾ inches long. Coal tenders 1 2019-09-01 014



A typical square freight type tender (7 3/8 inches long) was made from 1953 to 1965 and was used on 233, 2018, 2029, 2037, 2055, 2016 and many others. coal tenders 4 2019-01-12 009



A small tender was made for the General 4-4-0 engines from 195 to 1962. It was 5 ¼ inches long. coal tenders 4 2019-01-12 006

I left out the sheet metal tenders (6 inches long) also called “coffin tenders” for reasons obvious from their appearance.  They were based on prewar 1936 tenders.  They were produced from 1946 to 1952.

I think most larger, longer locomotives (such as 671, 681, 773, 2020, 2046, 2065 etc.) look better matched with the larger Pennsylvania streamlined style tender even though many also came with the New York style tenders.

Almost all these tenders Lionel made were coal tenders.  There were a few fuel oil tenders that  were modified from the small streamlined tender, with the top coal load being replaced with a smooth top and hatches to represent a fuel oil tender.

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Some of these fuel oil tenders were made for sale in cheaper sets and had a noise maker on the bottom that rolled on the center rail and made a low rattle noise.  That is it hanging down in the middle of the car.  These rollers can be pried out and the side pieces cut off to make a presentable fuel oil tender.  They are very light and need some added weight to allow better pulling of a few cars.

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I recently got interested in fuel oil tenders when I converted an enclosed cab engine into a cab forward engine and realized a coal tender would not work.  I made a coupling on the front of the engine to hook up the fuel oil tender.

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Fuel oil tenders also create a need for a fuel oil storage tanks near the tender coaling stations so the fuel oil tenders can be filled also.  Fuel oil tenders were used in parts of the country in the where coal was not plentiful in the postwar era but do not get as much attention as the eastern part and coal country were more often modeled.  Coaling stations and coal loading and unloading and coal mining are more interesting operations than fuel oil operations also.

Fuel oil tenders also open up the use of a second flue oil tender after the first one next to the locomotive.  This can be done on real railroads to extend the range of the train as only fuel lines need to be added to connect the two fuel oil tenders to the engine.  On a model fuel oil tender, the front truck should be changed out with one that has coupling on it while retaining the coupling for use of tender also with an engine.

Charlie

Post Script:  See a following post dated 9-21-2019 for How to build Homemade Vanderbilt coal tenders.

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Last edited by Choo Choo Charlie
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Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Fuel oil tenders also open up the use of a second flue oil tender after the first one next to the locomotive.  This can be done on real railroads to extend the range of the train as only fuel lines need to be added to connect the two fuel oil tenders to the engine. 

Charlie

 

 

The prototype railroads never used the auxiliary tender for Bunker C fuel oil. 

The auxiliary tenders were only used for water.

Rusty

I have a collection of tenders but usually leave it on the track and switch out the engine. Like the older big ones with a nice looking coal load but do have some of the shorter ones. The real railroads did a lot of switching tenders around too. Have one slope back, several with scoops, and  a few with 6 wheel trucks. No oil tenders and I would like a Vanderbilt someday.

I remember reading somewhere that Lionel/Fundimensions/MPC modified the short streamlined tender in order to use colors other than black. The engineered a plug in the mold to replace to coal load. In the early 70s, they produced a very successful train set with a colorful two-tone green painted green steam engine, as well as two-toned "Blue Streak" engine. There were other colorful engine tender combinations. When Lionel went back to black engines and tenders, they just left the plug in. I doubt many young railroaders noticed.

tcox009 posted:

The GTEL turbines of the Union Pacific used auxiliary tenders with bunker c fuel oil

Totally different application as they are not steam locomotives and the original single unit turbines had a limited fuel supply onboard. 

The "Big Blow" turbines carried no bunker C supply in the A (cab) or B (turbine) units.   The A units carried diesel fuel for the hostling diesel and for starting the turbine in the B unit. 

Also, in all turbine applications, except for double ended #50, the UP used ONE tender for fuel, not multiples.

Rusty

Dave, below is my post on how I made two Vanderbilt coal tenders posted in other topics also.

Homemade Longer Vanderbilt Tender

Got around to making a second longer Vanderbilt Coal Tender, marked up as a Rock Island.  It is identical to the shorter Vanderbilt Coal Tender except it is 1 inch longer.  IMG_0941

 

I cut up an old coal tender with the band saw.IMG_0867

 

Added 1 inch to the side bottom rails from the plastic from the not needed part of the CT and added pieces of tin to strengthen with J B Weld.

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A bottom was made from a piece of sheet metal roofing bending the folds in a wood working 4 x 10 inch Columbia vise.

IMG_0874

 

The water tank section was made from part of a 2 inch dia. mailing tube and decking and reinforcing was make from popsicle sticks.  Dark red sealing was from 60 year old model airplane dope.

IMG_0882

 

The crack between the coal pile and water tank was filled in with balsa wood.  A pair of six wheel Williams trucks, one with a coupling, were purchased years ago at a train show just for a large Vanderbilt coal tender.  The tank domed back is from a hair spay can bottom, ground off with a grinder.  See the back up light and hand grab ready for the ladder to come.

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A back up light and ladder (made from N gauge track with every other tie cut out) and hand hold were added to give more detail.  The first shorter Vanderbilt CT also got new ladder and hand hold.  The CT was painted with Krylon semi gloss black spray can paint.

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Decals were applied and sealed with clear spray paint.  The 50 year old decals had to be sprayed with clear before applying as they disintegrated in the  water.

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The new longer  Vanderbilt Coal tender is only one inch longer than the first one and the same length of the large Lionel 6 wheel CT sold with longer engines.  The big boy CT sure makes the shorter one look stubbier.  The longer CT and the longer Lionel 2065 will not quit fit on my turntable so the get to stay on the layout cruising.

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Charlie

Last edited by Choo Choo Charlie

Rich

Thanks for the kind comments.  I had forgotten about the coal tender review in the front of this topic.  I surly remember the enjoyment making those Vanderbilt tenders.

It is funny how my purchase of a locomotive with a homemade closed cabin at a train show got me to thinking about forward cab locomotives.  This lead to the need for an fuel oil tender of which I had two cheap ones laying around so I made a coupling for the front of the loco for the fuel oil tenders.  This got me off my back end and deciding to make a long wanted homemade Vanderbilt tender, and then a longer one too.

I especially like tender and cabooses of the highly interesting steam age and do not think I would ever build a modern themed model railroad.  And that is not even mentioning the coaling stations, watering tanks and round houses.  This old steam age gear lets me research and learn more about that interesting part of railroad history.  Scratch building and making cars is one my favorite part of the hobby of model trains.

Charlie

Last edited by Choo Choo Charlie

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