Sorry about the tone, Lad,
It is difficult to tall how a post will be taken in the written word. Apparently you havent developed the calloused ass common to most railroaders. Don't worry, son... you'll grow one, and working in the shops, sooner than later.
Since I have a mere 26 years with Union Pacific, I learned that most railroads do nothing unless they have to. In reading earlier posts that:
(a) the front of the (2)50 was "reinforced" with scrap metal.
and that
(b) the running boards were reinforced with scrap rail.
Leads me to belive that aesthetics had nothing to do with it, and that the water tanks were probably bad order as well as being redundant.
We can only hope that the reproductions are better balanced and that the fireboxes are not canted for the Uintah's 6.5% grades.
Bye the way, it is VERY difficult to get an articulated perfectly balanced. The 3985 is more slippery in front than in the rear. However, in talking with the N&W 1218 crew in St. Louis in 1990, their locomotive was the opposite. The crew of the 1218 said that their rear engine had a tendancy to slip first.
Of course, many factors contribute to how slippery a locomotive might be. The (2)50 and (2)51 probably were at their best as designed, with the tanks over the engines, thus having all the weight possible on the drivers. However, a saddle tank will severely limit your stops between watering as would those itty-bitty coal bunkers that they had behind the cab. Even conversion to oil (which gets better mileage) wouldn't have done much good. Tenders, as few realize, contribute to lack of fuel and water economy as they weigh (loaded) as much as a passenger car or two.
On the 3985 we made the conscious compromise to haul two water tanks behind the locomotive, knowing that it decreased the revenue tonnage, in favor of not having to stop every few miles and drain the town water supply.
Rick
