# Eight feet tall stokers?



## Caldermologist (Jul 6, 2013)

I have bought two American steam engines. One Mogul and one Big Boy. Different makes.

They both have a huge gap between engine and tender: about three scale feet.

There is absolutely no need for this given the minimum curve either locomotive can manage.
This connection is nowhere near the limiting part in any of them.

Does anyone know why they are made this way?

The Big Boy is even missing the coal feeding screw.

I'm expecting my first British tender locomotive any day now. That, as most European model steam engines, has the motor in the tender, but drives the main driver wheels in the locomotive as well. I look forward to examining this issue on that.

Some of my old HO steam engines have a small "steel" plate covering the cap between locomotive and tender, making life for the stoker a lot safer.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Many Rivarossi steam models come with dual pin holes in the drawbar, so that you can mount the tender closer to the locomotive. I haven't seen this feature on too many other brands though.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

You can frequently either drill new holes in the drawbar or simply make a new shorter one. We see this all the time in O-gauge locomotives. 

The reasoning is to allow them to navigate tighter curves, so if you don't need that capability, you can tighten them up.


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## Caldermologist (Jul 6, 2013)

There are cables running from tender to locomotive that almost rests on the sleepers now. I will have to see how I can make those shorter if I'm to address the problem with the drawbars. 

Thanks for helping me with the terminology by the way.


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## Carl (Feb 19, 2012)

I have heard and have made one new draw bar to shorten the distance between tender and engine. The material used was old/out-of-date credit card. It is cut to the width of the current bar and then cut to correct length. Holes were drilled for the attaching devices.

The hardest part was shortening the wires. 

Good luck and welcome to the site.


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