#3713’s tender was moved off display this week and placed in the Steamtown shop where restoration work on this essential item will begin. A tender is essentially a water tank on a flat underframe. For restoration, the tank will be removed and sent down to our tender restoration contractor to have alongside the new tender he will be building. This will make taking measurements and comparing the actual tank to the drawings easy without having to run back and forth to the park.
Once the tank is off the frame, an evaluation of the frame can be done and repairs made if necessary. It will also give us full access to the stoker system, trucks, and brake system. The plain tender bearings to be changed out for roller bearing axles which have already been purchased and are on-site at Steamtown.