On May 7, 8:52*am, danmitch wrote:

Both PRR and AT&SF (and maybe a few others) had tenders that exceeded
24,000 gallon water capacity. Even at 1000 gpm (unlikely in the field),
it would still take 24 minutes to fill such a tender. A more typical
sized tender, say 15,000 gallons capacity, would take at least a
quarter-hour to fill at best. It would seem a half-hour would be more
typical under real-world conditions, which is about what I have observed.

NYC and the PRR (and others)had water filled trenches between the
rails on the important Mainlines,with a remote control scoop on the
Tender, allowing refills on the go back in the heyday of Steam.

http://books.google.com/books?id=mELYxgFA8AYC&pg=PA54

**
mike
**