The wheel arrangement was widely used on passenger tank locomotives during the last three decades of the nineteenth and the first decade of the
twentieth centuries. The vast majority of 2-4-2 locomotives were tank engines, designated 2-4-2T. The symmetrical wheel arrangement was well
suited for a tank locomotive that is used to work in either direction. The Baldwin Locomotive Works built a demonstrator tender type engine which was
displayed at the Columbian Exposition of 1893. This led to the type's name: 'Columbian'. This locomotive featured ambitious seven-foot-tall driving
wheels, and was one of the first tender-equipped locomotives with a trailing truck. This freed the firebox from having to sit narrowly between, or above,
the drive wheels, and was a very influential design.
This inspired three major U.S. railroads namely Atlantic Coast Line, Burlington and Reading; to purchase a few of the type. But the two-wheeled lead
truck was never well-suited to high speed service on far-flung North American rails because of it's uneasy riding qualities. Some were converted to
4-4-2 Atlantic types and others were converted to 4-6-0 Ten Wheelers. The display locomotive was donated to Columbia University in 1898 where it
was placed on display in the vault between Havemeyer Hall and the Engineering building. In one respect, however the Columbian was a success.
A great many Atlantic types would follow, most based on that design.
A tender or coal-car is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so their tenders are necessary to keep them running over long distances. A locomotive that pulls a tender is called a tender locomotive. Locomotives that do not have tenders and carry all their fuel and water on board the locomotive itself are called tank locomotives. In the early days of railroading, tenders were rectangular boxes, with a bunker for coal or wood surrounded by a U-shaped water jacket. This form was retained up to the end of steam on many coal-burning engines. Oil-burning engines substituted a fuel tank for the bunker. Variations on this plan were made for operational reasons, in attempts to economize on structure.
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