throughout the film, they are driving steam engines which presumably require coal or wood to produce the steam.... but never once in the movie do we see anyone shovel coal or wood into the box... are these magic trains, or am i missing something?
shareSouthern Pacific Railroad's steam locomotives ran on fuel oil. Coal was plentiful in the East, but out West it made more sense to use oil.
Notice that in several parts in the movie you can see the tender car (the car right behind the locomotive) appearing as a cylindrical tank car, filled with fuel oil. These tender cars were called Vanderbilt Tenders, named after the guy who invented them, Cornelius Vanderbilt III.
"I've always tried to teach you two things. First: never let them see you bleed. Second: Always have an escape plan." - Q
Eric-1226 is correct: The tender with the cylindrical tank is the tipoff that the locomotive is powered by fuel oil, not coal or wood.
Actually the tender's cylindrical portion is for the water. Vanderbilt designed it that way to prevent sloshing which in turn created foaming. The fuel oil was carried in the oblong portion on the front of the tender.
In the film Jack can occasionally be seen in his fireman's seat turning a metal handle which was, or was supposed to be, the fuel oil feed valve.
Btw, Vanderbilt tenders could and did carry coal as well.
Fwiw, Vanderbilt was disowned by his fabulously wealthy and powerful family for marrying a 'commoner' (Grace Kelly, daughter of a southern banker) and the family's railroad -- the New York Central -- never used the tenders that were named after the black sheep of the family.
[Edited for typo]
I stand corrected. I had thought that all of the cylindrical tank was used for holding oil; the water (or so I thought) would be stored in tanks in the locomotive itself, occasionally getting replenished at trackside watering stations. But I see now how the Vanderbilt tender was a dual-purpose rig, containing both fluids. Thanks for clarifying.
"I've always tried to teach you two things. First: Never let them see you bleed. Second: Always have an escape plan." - Q
Thank you for the historical detail of the oil-fired locomotives. Never knew that! So, see: I learned something new today!
shareThe posters that mentioned that the engine ran on fuel oil and not coal/wood make a good argument, but I remember that after the fight in the operators cabin and the subsequent crash with the caboose, they made the excuse that one of the men was tending the fire while the other was sleeping, wouldn't tending just be opening/closing a valve, and not much work at all?
(how's that for a run-on sentence)
"Tending the fire" could have meant anything from watching the steam and air pressure gauges, monitoring water level in boiler (very important) or tender, and adjusting fuel oil flow. The fireman was also supposed to monitor trackside signals and confirm their indication with the engineer. With one man sleeping the awake man obviously missed a stop signal and that's how they plowed into the freight's caboose that was fouling the main track.
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