G.O.S. On Tender

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

On the back end of the Bachmann 2-8-0 tender is the following:

3262 G.O.S. 832
8000 G.W.

I figure the 8000 G.W. is 8,000 gallons of water and the G.O.S. I infer relates to the amount of coal the tender could hold, but what exact does it mean?

Thanks for any clues.

2

Which railroad is it lettered for?? Different railroads put different data on their tenders.

3

It is on an AT&SF tender. It is loaded with coal, not oil, if that helps.

4

Which means Bachmann marked the tender wrong. Does the model have an oil tank to fit into the bunker?

The G.O. is gallons (of) oil. The S is the Serial number of the oil tank in the tender. A coal tender should be marked with a number and “T” for tons of coal.

Phil

5

The “coal” load in the Bachmann tender is removeable (easiest working from inside the tender shell), and it shouldn’t be too difficult to fabricate a replacement oil bunker to fit in its place. Sheet styrene, .030" or thicker, should work well and Precision Scale offers oil filler caps and a dipstick casting. Vents and handrails can be done with wire.

Wayne

6

Thanks for the explanation, G.O. being oil makes sense. No problem, I plan on converting this 2-8-0 into a Milwaukee Road and I will indicate that it is holding coal. I just wonder how many tons of coal this type of tender would hold? I will have to do a little research. The Champ steam locomotive decals I plan to use for this conversion include several decals to indicate the coal load of the tender.

7

There’s some info here on USRA Locomotives which gives the capacity of the standard USRA tender at 10,000 Gals. (U.S.) and 16 tons of coal. The Bachmann tender is very similar in size. If you add coal boards, add a ton or two to the coal capacity, or, better yet, research your prototype more fully.

Wayne

8

16tons an’what’ya get…another day older an’deeper in debt[yeah]