Roger has posted so many historical photos, it's about time I added a few. Here is a Hudson for the Big Four. Do you know what number it became at the 1936 re-numbering? These Hudsons were just beautiful. This one is from the collection of Harold K. Vollrath.
The 6611 became the 5386.Blt. 2/30 RT 3/56. Pg.557 NYC Lines 6626-5401 blt. 6/31 RT 2/56. B4 Hudson with centipede tender. Look at the difference between it and all other cent. tenders on the NYC. Notice the short coal bunker and the long water tender. This is because the B4 did not scoop water .
Speaking of different tenders, here's a Hudson built for the Michigan Central. Supposedly the turntables weren't long enough to accommodate a Hudson with the six wheel truck tenders, so MC got these. What number did the 8200 engine get in 1936? Another from the collection of Harold K. Vollrath.
MC #8204 is a J-1b built by Alco 12/27, renumbered to NYC #5349 in '36, S.S. 12/54. there is also photographic evidence that this group of MC Hudsons also came with 6-wheel tenders similar to the one shown on B4 #6611/5386 above.
Here is 5401 which LEW referred to in the message above. I had never seen a PT tender like this one, as he described with a short coal bunker. It must have carried a LOT of water. The history of this photo: From a NYCS publication that I don't own, and LEW spelled out above. LEW had his grandson scan this and email it to me. Here it is.
Jim, I agree with you, fascinating tender design. I didn't see these tenders down at the Harmon Engine Terminal or along the Hudson Division in the few years of steam after WW II. Like LEW said, they must have been used only by those western divisions where there were no troughs, and the B4. Sure looks like one heckuva lot of water. The Central's normal centipede tenders held about 25,000 Gallons, wonder how many Gallons this guy held????
