Tender peculiarities

[LE Greys]

I've sometimes been a bit curious about steam loco tenders and what ran with what, especially the oddities. I don't just mean how engines such as Mallard switched from non-corridor to corridor and back, I mean such things as the Royal Scots. They started out with little Fowler tenders, not sure which type, then went on to Stanier tenders, which they ran with for the rest of their service lives. All except for The King's Dragoon Guardsman. She had an extra-big Fowler-type but Stanier-designed tender for her US trip, for which she also became Royal Scot (and never changed back again). On return, this was swapped for a Stanier tender, and the big Fowler one ran behind Princess Elizabeth for a while. Does anyone know what happened to it or whether any more were made?

Also, since GCR 8Ks (LNER O4s) and LMS 8Fs were made by other companies in the two World Wars, did they end up with different tenders? I know that some of the 8Ks did, because the GWR bought and 'Westernised' them (safety valve bonnets and top-feeds added), but did we ever see an 8F (or rather O6) with a Gresley tender?

Finally, certain Merchant Navies had to have different tenders with water pick-up apparatus for the 1948 locomotive exchanges. What were they?

 

[E&W Lucas]

I can't help you with the historical side, and you mikght be better posting that on either NAt Pres or the LNER forum, but from the practical point of view, you can find that two tenders that you would think would be interchangeable aren't. Differences in cab floor and coupling height, even between "standard" designs!

 

[LE Greys]

I can't help you with the historical side, and you mikght be better posting that on either NAt Pres or the LNER forum, but from the practical point of view, you can find that two tenders that you would think would be interchangeable aren't. Differences in cab floor and coupling height, even between "standard" designs!

That's something I hadn't thought of. Thanks. Presumably, since there was no real need to standardise between companies, nobody bothered and they produced the best possible design for each class.

 

[Tiny Tim]

I'm not sure that the assignment of tenders is always accurately recorded. They may well have been switched on a fairly ad hoc basis, especially when the loco went for a heavy overhaul or reboilering. Although tenders weren't universal fitting, they were interchangeable enough to be swapped about fairly casually.