Diesel brake tenders.
 

It came up on another thread (now closed) about brake tenders used with diesels hauling unfitted freight trains.

As I had never heard of such things it took my interest. I see several are available for railway modelers but did any survive on the railways proper ?

Can anyone say when they were last used ?

I have this photo on my website....

http://western-champions-pics-online...p45549670.html

I guess it dates from the late 60's.

and this one dated 1966.....

http://western-champions-pics-online...p45549724.html

Thanks for the photos.

I did read that it was not uncommon for them to be in front of the loco.

I said before on the other thread we used to use them on ballast trains 2 or 3 behind the loco.

ccmmick.

Pre65.
Most of the tenders were made with old Gresley coach bogies with tanks filled with concrete.
I have heard of a group trying to recreate one of these and I would like to see this.
I do not know if any different bogies were used but this probaly made them the last big four stock (in part) in service on the network.

For them to be infront of the loco this was most likely for balance but could imporve safety in a crash.

There have been rumours of problems with the tenders.
The most common being the concrete inside will crack and move about which would split the tank and put them off balance.
Cold weather or a strong jolt could cause this.
if this was ever solved I don't know.
Hope that helps you.

Brake Tenders were still in use in the '70s. In London they were mostly found in Acton Yard. I remember taking one from Stratford MPD to Temple Mills after it had received fitters attention.

I think you will find its just rumours SFE the concrete was encased in the tender so it had nowhere to go, you have brakevans with concrete at both ends, lots of diesel locos that had there boilers removed had a concrete counterbalance in place.
So i dont know where that came from.

ccmmick.

I do it was in a pub so I see what you mean.

I have resurrected this though as I have found something you may find of interest.
It does not matter if you don't have a model railway but this is good for display.

If you buy a cheap Hornby railroad gresely coach and unclip the body from the frame- then you can get a kitchen roll tube and gently sqaush it into an elipse shape.

Cut lengthways down the tube to produce two halves.
Note: don't cut the squashed part.

Paint one half with a silver paint and glue onto the coach frames.

The ends can be made with card of some sort also painted grey.


A further note- the ends of the tube may have to be trimmed to fit properly.

Now you should have a good budget model of one of these tenders.
The gresley coaches in the railroad range are priced at £15.25

Just something to do on those snowy days we are having.

Or this perhaps ?

http://www.justliketherealthing.co.u...e%20tender.pdf

Looks good that.
I might have a go.

ccmmick I thought they were in front of the locos.
I have only ever seen pics of them there.
But I suppose if there was more than one then it would be compulsary to have them behind the loco for visability purposes.
We need some drivers here. Anyone who has driven a class 40 (the main reason they were invented) will have the most experience.