A Tender Behind

One of the first things I learnt about tender engines - and it was a surprise to me at the time - is that the tender is not full of coal but full of water and has a relatively thin layer of coal on the top.

One can’t overlook the contribution of the humble tender to the overall aesthetics of the tender engine. They generally go together well and are obviously designed with that in mind. Many Great Western locomotive tenders had an added dimension, an upper stepped section along the side, and that aided us greatly. When wandering down the lines through that acidic pall at Birkenhead sheds on a Sunday morning, we could easily spot the outline of the occasional ex-GWR Collett example amongst the straight-sided tenders belonging to the usual ex-LMS and Standard residents. My heart leapt at the prospect of copping another Western namer, although Hawksworth tenders were equally welcome, of course.

How sad and forlorn those former tender locomotives sometimes looked on those 1960’s scrap lines when they had been separated from their other halves and thus finally shorn of any remaining dignity. I thought that they should at least be allowed to bow out in tandem with their partners.

The Princess Royal Class always looked a little incongruous to me, with their long-bodied boilers and short tender legs. It made them appear a little “horizontally challenged” in the trouser department. The knowledge on the platform end was that this enabled them to fit on the turntables, but I don’t know for sure if that explanation ever held much water.

Although the Coronations were slightly heavier than the Prinnies, they never seemed to look out of proportion lengthwise in quite the same way. Perhaps that was down to their cutely angled smoke deflectors.

The North Norfolk Railway’s B12 No.8572, a curvy 4-6-0, certainly looked the part with her tender at Weybourne, North Norfolk Railway, in April 1992. She was all lined out with somewhere to go. “Does my bum look too big in this apple green livery?”

Tender-first photographs of steam locomotives are infrequent, compared to the standard three-quarter front views. Many will probably have been taken just because, as in this case, one couldn’t easily access the front end. In original railway artwork, they appear to be even rarer and where they do exist there is likely to be another compensatory front-on engine somewhere in the frame.

Diesel and electric locomotives don’t have that problem, of course, tending to be predictably and functionally similar at both ends. Multiple units look very deprived when the motor coach is detached from the stock with which it cohabits on a normal day.

Modern traction may not need water in quite the same quantity any more, but we have certainly picked up the water carrying habit in bottle form. This addiction is nowhere more visible than at the gym. Although I can usually wait to get back home before taking on water, half an hour on the rowing machine still leaves me with a tender behind.