Tenders and Other Equipment

The other rolling stock consists of two auxiliary tenders, a flat car, and an orphaned pilot truck that apparently came from a long-scrapped, unidentified 4-8-0. The flat car was apparently used as a boom tender for a wrecking crane. It has a square water tank mounted at one end of it, and a compartment that contains a steam-driven water pump. The large tenders are in reasonably good shape, but will need some work to either fully convert them into water cars by removing the old coal bunkers, or to rebuild them as coal tenders again. Until recently, there were also four hopper cars in the yard that have since been rescued. Three of them can now be seen at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Photos by Richard Jenkins - March 11, 2008
The two tenders sit outside the scrapyard fence behind Chesapeake Western diesel no. 662.		The only modifications to this tender appear to be the cut-down "hungry boards", the installation of the brake wheel, new stirrups and grab irons at this end, and the coupler installed in the drawbar pocket.		Looking down inside the water hatch
One tender viewed from the other, clearly showing the intact coal bunker		A closer look at the brake wheel that was installed as part of the canteen conversion		Six-wheel trucks under these large tenders
Close-up of the faded and flaking Norfolk & Western lettering on the tender side		The rear end of one of the tenders showing the inspection hatch. All trace of lettering is gone on this one.		The rear of the other tender, showing the inspection hatch welded up. Some lettering is still visible here.
A broader view of the two tenders from the rear.		The flatcar sits between Chesapeake Western 663 and N&W 1118.		A closer look at the water tank mounted on one end of the flatcar.
This compartment on the rear of the water tank contains a "steam lizard", a small, steam-driven water pump.		A closer look at the steam pump in the rear compartment on the flatcar.		This orphaned pilot truck sits on the siding behind no. 917. The engine it belonged to was scrapped decades ago.
The view from the other side. Note the derailed wheels and cracked tire.		The truck appears to have come from a 4-8-0, either an M2 or one of the earlier M or M1 classes. It bears no identifying marks that I could find.		This pilot beam is lying next to the truck, and may have come from the same engine. If so, the builder's number would be a clue to its identity.
Photos by John Higginson - January 7, 2005
Norfolk & Western lettering still faintly visible on the side of this tender		The bunker sides appear to have been cut down as part of this tender's unfinished canteen conversion.
Photo by Richard Jenkins - March 20, 1999
There are four hopper cars and a coal dock also in the scrapyard. The hoppers look like they're in reasonably good shape.
Photos by Jerry Murphy - October 25, 1997
The tenders were built as coal tenders, and their conversion to water "canteens" was never fully completed.		A close up of one of the large tenders, its coal bunker still intact.
Photo by Richard Jenkins - August 10, 1997
These two large tenders look more like giant plant pots in the summer, as the creepers spill over the top of them.