First I would like to say howdy from Texas! I'm the latest "newbe" and just as I am new to this board I am equally as new to model railroading. Please have patience and try to over look my ignorance . I just purchased a used 4 8 4 New York Central steam engine. The lady I bought it from hasn't a clue as to the function and accessories of this engine. I have discovered some thing I am very curiuos about and would like some help in understanding what I have. After pulling the tender body off the frame I found a bare wire running from one screw to the other that hold the trucks to the frame. Inspecting the (metal) trucks I found that they are equiped to pick up voltage from the track. But there doesn't appear to be any way for the wire that runs from the two screws to become "hot" from the trucks. I have seen the undercarriage of cars that have search lights and what not  and they all have a copper or tin strip of metal that make contact with the axles of the trucks to activate the equipment their supplying voltage to. The pin that connects the tender to the engine is steel but the connector on the engine is plastic. That tells anyone with a little common sense that the engine doesn't have any thing to do as far as supplying any type of power to the tender. SO, can anyone tell me if there is something missing on the tender that would allow it to receive power from the tracks?