A 3f Tank Engine. (0-6-0T)
A Tank Engine is a type of steam locomotive that has a small tender known as a bunker. It is named so, because of it having water tanks on the locomotive instead of being on a tender.
History[]
The history of the Tank Engines dates back to 1800s Britain when the first Tank Engine Novelty was built. The more common form of Tank engines the Side tanks came to fashion after some were built for the early railways of the time. These early tank engines would evolve into different styles over the year giving use odd and new designs and some being short some being long. But still to this day they are still popular with Preservation Railways and locomotive fans. Sadly, during the mid 1900s steam locomotives were phased out for electric and diesel locomotives.
Bunker[]
On a tank engine, or locomotive, the fuel (most often coal) is carried in a bunker the (location
LSWR Class M7 tank loco No. 245. A side tank locomotive. (0-4-4T)
of which can vary). On a locomotive with a trailing carrying axle or a trailing bogie, the bunker is generally situated to the rear of the cab, but in cases where the firebox overhangs the rear driving axle, it has been common practice to situate the bunker on top of and to one side of the firebox; this concentrates the weight and stabilizes the locomotive.
Water Tanks[]
There are several different types, styles, or forms of the water tanks used on a tank engine:
- Side: The tanks which are mounted on the sides of the boiler and extend down to the footplates. These are referred to as "T" when using the Whyte Notation.
- Saddle: The tank is mounted over the boiler like a saddle. These are referred to as "ST" when using the Whyte notation.
- Pannier: The tanks are mounted on the sides of the boiler, but don't continue down to the footplates. These are referred to as "PT" when using the Whyte notation.
- Well: The tanks are mounted underneath the locomotive; these are mostly used only on very small engines such as 0-4-0WT locomotives. These are referred to as "WT" when using the Whyte notation.
- Fireless: Which is a large, circular tank used for housing boiled and pressurized water heated to have a tank engine travel at slow speeds around industrial areas without creating smoke and sparks from coal-powered fireboxes.
Preservation[]
Tank locomotives are popular with heritage railways for a number of reasons. heritage railways tend to be short and usually don't have turntables at both ends of the line, they are also cheaper to purchase than a tender locomotive due to their smaller size. This and many other things combined have made preservation railways choose Tank engines.
Trivia[]
A tank "engine" is often referred to by the actual engine powering the locomotive rather than the locomotive itself.
Wheel Arrangements are often referred to by an added "T" for tenderless to avoid confusion of a steam locomotive with a tender. (Such as: 0-6-0T and 0-6-0.)
"F" and "S" are also used in wheel arrangements to distinguish "saddletank" and "fireless" tank engines.