Nothing sleek or elegant about it, just a neat looking stubby little work horse. The inward sloping tender extension boards are interesting, what was their purpose?
Now that you mention those, I also wonder. It would seem as though not being straight should reduce the added amount of coal carried?
Better rearward visibility and easier for crew members to access the back of the tender without climbing over the coal pile, especially while in motion.
It also enlarges capacity without risking all the extra coal up high winding up over on one side, making it tippy. The narrow fill slot has also been used to minimize the dust blowing off at speed, but that particular hog doesn't look fast enough to make that a big issue...
Your information was missing from the Keystone Modeler article on that loco. You should send it in so that any of the readers who might not see it here can benefit from it.
