Water Tanks from old Tenders

[Sunshine Express]

Did the Railroads use old Coal Tenders for emergency water filling for steam locos on branch lines or remote stations ?.
If so were they elevated to allow the water to flow down into the steam engine alongside? Electric pumps etc.may not be available in such places.
Some have been used for many purposes in Australia,but I am modelling in HO US prototype. Not a rivet counter,but like to get models as realistic as modest skills permit

[Elmore Yard]

The Virginian Railway used an old tender mounted on wood pilings as a water tank at Oak Hill, WV on the White Oak Branch.

[RAM]

Tenders were used on short lines and branch lines.  I think the tanks cars were used more than tenders.  Tender were also used on work trains to supply drinking water, and water for cooking.  They could also carry coal for the stoves.

[r.cprmier]

By the time most of the old tenders were put out of service, they were pretty well shot, mostly because of deteriorating conditions of the wood parts.  Besides holding water for their steam charges, they took a beating, sloshing around, general stress on the frame, and the ravages of time. 

A few tanks made it to the water supply stage, and a lot of them were used as diesel oil tanks after the steam/diesel conversion.  Two come to mind:  the old tender from a mike in the New Bedford, Mass, yard; and the other, an ex-PRR decapod tender, somewhere in PA.

I have seen a good number of tanks used as water spply tanks on narrow gauge layouts, which might be a logical place, considering most narrow-gauge lines were non too flush with cash, and they would squeeze blood out of the buffalo on the nickel (my age?) if they could.

Rich

[Paul M.]

Here's an old hopper being used at a  plant...


http://i.pbase.com/g6/60/660360/2/80371338.EebPK4ef.jpg

[Jim Banner]

Back in the days of steam, pumps for water towers were often driven by steam.  In hilly or mountainous country, a pipe line could be run to a stream or lake at higher elevation and no pump at all was needed.

The wood used in construction of steel tenders served basically as a pad between the tank and the tender frame and at the same time supported the bottom sheet of the tender.  Replacing it was a relatively easy job - lift the tank a few inches, slide the old boards out, slide the new ones in, and drop the tank.  If the bolts that held the wood in place were badly rusted, they were just cut off and replaced.  If the tank itself leaked, it could be welded or have patches welded on.  Or in a pinch, the leak could have a wooden wedge driven in and/or it could be tarred on the inside.  These temporary fixes probably wouldn't hold up in a tender bouncing down the track, but could last for years if the tank was sitting stationary.

[JDLX]

I would say it would not be common to find tenders used in the way you describe in the U.S.  Tank cars would be more likely used for this task, and there have been at least a few main line scenarios where a lack of locally available supplies forced the railroad to import water from other places in tank cars.  In many cases if tank cars were used they would be pumped with steam driven pumps, sometimes mounted on the tank car, that would be powered by steam provided by the locomotive.   

That being said, you could expect to see some actual water tanks made from old tenders, although once again tank car bodies were far more likely to be used.  The Condon Kinzua & Southern railroad in eastern Oregon did exactly this with the water and fuel bunker off of an old Shay of theirs, as seen on the second photo down at the following link:

http://www.trainweb.org/highdesertrails/cks/JerryLamper.html

If a crew ran into serious water trouble the easiest solution involved drafting water from a creek or pond or any other natural water source near the tracks.  Many locomotives carried lengths of hose specifically for this purpose. 

The primary use for old tenders has already been alluded to.  Many were converted into m-o-w use, mostly as water or fuel cars.  Quite a few had all of the tanks removed, with the frames converted into snowplows or transfer cabooses or other similar equipment.  And quite a few were converted to fire cars, especially on western logging railroads.  A few of the companies- with Simpson and Rayonier, both on Washington's Olympic Penninsula, and the Medford Corporation in southern Orego being three prime examples- partially or completely scrapped the original tender bodies, with smaller fabricated tanks mounted on the frames and the rest of the deck space used for toolboxes, tool storage, rerealing frogs, fire tools, cables, and anything else that the logging railroaders felt they might need in the woods.  Over on the eastern side of Puget Sound lumber giant Weyerhaeuser operated extensive logging railroads tributary to their operations south of Tacoma, and when they purchased diesels and scrapped their steam locomotives in the late 1940's they kept two tenders for use as fire cars, with those cars still in on hand and basically un-modified from their original form when the last vestiges of these operations- the Chehalis Western- finally closed in 1990.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV