Very good pictures, Ed. On the first picture, do I see a work order or something on the bottom of the tanker? See something hanging there, figure it is a work order or something.
I think it might be a switch stand indicator board. [2c]
Any hint as to the significance of these cars and the reporting marks? Otherwise this just a photo cluttering the forum.
Cars are BNSF Fuel Tenders - used within a locomotive consist to extend the time between refueling. CSX used such a system several (like 20) years ago on their their Florida Power coal train move between Chattahoochee, FL and a power plant near Palatka, FL. In native form, power had to be fueled every other day…with the Tender (when it worked), fueling was reduced to weekly.
I thought it was “Burlington Northern Feed Trough”. Notice all of those eager birds in the first shot.
(Balt is absolutely correct)
I’m not sure they’re being used as tenders any more, though. I’ve seen these in the company of other fuel-oil tanks at Rochelle a few times.
Yep, I recognized them as the very uncommon - even unique ? - former BNSF Fuel Tenders right away - the black-on-top color scheme, the BNFT reporting marks, and the low 1-or-2 digit numbers gave them away.
What I was wondering is what they’re now doing down in Ed’s territory - back in general service ? Or for loading ? But I think Carl’s got the answer.
Thanks for sharing, Ed !
- Paul North.
Was this practice of using fuel tenders used by other roads besides BN? What was the reason for the practice, and what were the pros and cons? I can see how they would save time en-route, but add a little weight and make the locomotive consist longer. They would also pose the potential of adding a lot of fuel to the fire in head end wrecks. And as a building block of the locomotive consist, they, unlike the rest of the units, would be relatively lightweight when running near empty. This empty/loaded weight disparity posed a fundamental challenge to finding the ideal suspension for steam locomotive tenders.
And regarding that suspension and weight variation, these diesel tenders made from conventional tank cars never looked quite right to me. As I understand it, though, they were somewhat experimental, and I suppose conventional tanks would be the logical place to start. But, as a refined concept, I could see diesel tenders being square in cross-section with a fish belly drop, all to get the center of gravity as low as possible and reduce the len
any possibility the FRA got into this and said they were haz mat cars and not separated properly from the locos?
Thanks, Ed. I was wondering just how it is that a railroad’s reporting mark would be on a tank car, though, and Balt cleared the matter up for me. Carl, of course, (with a little humor) provided more information. I did not think that the pictures were cluttering the forum.
a real railroader cluttering up a Trains forum with railroad pictures. The end is near!!!
[:X] keep on “cluttering”, Ed!
BN stopped using them in Fuel tender service when Craking was noticed from the Buff Forces on the Frames of the Tankers. No the BN Liked them as tenders with the GP50’s and the B-39-8 which had Smallish tanks on them also in Helper Service in the Powder River Basin. Just the Tank cars were not designed to handle the service they were thrown into. They are doing great as Company fuel service tankers.
As I said, without text they are clutter. I knew they were tenders but they appear to be in Ed’s yard. Why? Are they in service (what kind), storage, scrap line, what?
TD: You’ve been on this forum long enough to know Ed teaches. He lets you look, enjoy, guess, ponder and identify - then he always answers after a short time.
Yup,
The old BN fuel tenders, back in “normal” diesel loading general service.
As Mr. Benton pointed out, the buff and draft forces from having a SD 40-2 on each end began to stress the center sills.
By the way, some of these started out as GN tank cars.
We also have the BN 933514, BN 933515 and the BN 933513 ex tenders running around here.
I think BN 999315 was former GN 10001, I will have to look again, it is stenciled on the center sill.
They come in and leave on the BN fuel train, a normal 60 to 70 car train made up of solid tank cars full of diesel, BN hauls it out into the desert and uses the fuel at its crew change and engine service facilities in those remote areas.
Cherokee Woman, if you mean the yellow square thing that looks like a tag hanging almost dead center, it is a switch stand target just on the other side of the car.
I had to take a second look myself, it does look like some type of tag hooked to teh center valve!
If you guys will look close, you can see the MU cable jumper, the three additional air hoses used by locomotives and the hook up for the locomotive to “plug in” and get the fuel.
The MU jumper and the hoses run the length of the car, cross over and have the same set up on the other end, you MU them up just as if you were MUing a pair of locomotives.
These cars were sandwiched between SD 40-2s with the locomotives facing away from each other.
We had one of the CNG tenders in here a few years ago, it shows up every once in a while, looks just like these guys, and I have a sneaky suspicion that these may have first been converted to CNG, then diesel when the CNG experiment didn’t produce the desired results.
Thanks, Ed! I knew I would be learning something today, and I did, thanks to you guys.
Thanks. I’ve wondered why BN discontinued the practice, and now i know. I love it when I can turn on my computer and learn something new.
AMEN! Keep posting Ed, some of us actually find what you post to be interesting.
Is the CNG tender still hauling CNG or has it been converted to diesel?
TD,
When I saw it, it was still hauling CNG, but was not in tender service.
It was marked “Not for interchange” just like these, painted the same, black and green, and had “Compressed Natural Gas” stenciled where these have “diesel fuel only.” stenciled.
The “Fuel Tender Service Only” lettering was there, but had a black stripe painted through it.
The MU plugs were there, as where the MU hoses, but the piping for the hoses had been cut, about six inched behind the hose mounting there is a foot or two of pipe cut out.
The hook up for the CNG was there, looked like a larger version of the type of connection you find on air compressor hoses, it was a female connection, so I assume the other part leading to the locomotive was a male connection, and like the hoses, the pipe leading to it was cut and this one was capped.
My guess, and only a guess, is that BN was hauling CNG somewhere for their own use.
Next time the diesel ones are here, I will pull the consolidated stencil information and send it to Car Wizard Carl and see when their usable life ends…if they are in private service, I think they have a longer time frame.
For what it’s worth, they are not as beat up as a lot of other newer cars are…they look cruddy with the old paint, but still look quite solid and serviceable.