Bachmann made this with the 4-8-4 Northerns....does anyone know what type fuel this locos used? It doesn't appear to be a coal tender.
If the tender is completely enclosed, like the coal bunker has been plated over, then it used fuel oil for the fire.
Len
I am pretty certain that the prototype of this tender is an ATSF tender for oil burning 4-8-4's, and the prototype for the engine you have is most likely a Santa Fe engine, not a CB&Q engine.
The oil used was only a small notch above tar, called "bunker C"' that had to be heated to move to the firebox at all. There were steam pipes from the engine to do this. I learned about them the hard way 50 years ago when I climbed into the cab of an oil burner and grabbed bare handed what I thought was a handrail on the tender. There's a reason why railroaders always wore heavy gloves and still do.
What kind of locomotive was that. I thought all the heating lines below the deck.
It was a very light 2-8-2 from the Santa Maria Valley in CA. I seem to recall it being no. 101, maybe it was 100.
It had a Vanderbilt tender at the time but that might not have been original, could have been an ex-SP tender. No matter, that pipe was hot to the max with live steam in it. It took weeks for the blisters to go away.
I also learned to wear appropriate clothes in a steam engine cab. White Levi's were popular at the time. That particular pair went in the trash at the end of the the day.