Old Tank Car as Auxiliary Tender

[CharlesH.]

One of the first rolling stock kits I ever bought was an MDC (aah remember those?) old time tank car. You know, one of those 30 foot jobs with the big cast metal frame and those odd looking Fox trucks. Anyway, with a build date of 1898, this car is waay too old for revenue service on my early 1940's line, but I'd hate to keep it on a shelf. At first I thought of putting it in MOW but I noticed it looks pretty good behind my oil burning 0-4-2 switcher and I thought of making it into an auxiliary tender for those times when the switcher has to venture out of the yard (meaning all the time because I don't have a yard!).
My only question is... did any railroad ever do this? That is, take an ancient tank car and convert it into an auxiliary tender.

 

[FunValleyLine]

I have done it on my layout because it is my world and I can. So I think you can on yours as well.

If they didnt do it for real they probably should have. It is a costly pain to run out of water and block the tracks.

 

[JWhite]

Another use railroads had for those old tank cars was to use them to fuel diesel locomotives during the transition era. Diesel fuel facilities hadn't been built in many yards and they used old tank cars to fuel the newfangled diesels.

I have seen pictures of ATSF F units being fueled from a tank car on the siding next to the train and of IC Geeps being fueled from tanks cars.

I have also seen a tourist railroad using a tank car as an auxiliary tender on an episode of Trains and Locomotives.

 

[BN8002]

doesn't apply much to you, but the BN experimented with fuel tenders during the 80's and early 90's. They used surplus company tank cars and added fuel pumps and piping to fuel locomotives while on the move...This let BN bypass a lto of fuel stops on the routes of their transcons and they used them in helper service to extend on station time for their helper sets..I know UP experimented with fuel tenders as well but I dont know what dates they did it.

 

[kenw]

Kevin beat me to it with the modern fuel tender approach, and Mr FunValleyLine echos my sentiments perfectly.

For another and possibly more prototypical use, remove the trucks and build a framework to hold it up high. Attach a few believable pipes and hoses, and viola! a fuel storage facility is born.