The one now with the 261 has a small oil room on one end with a roll up door which is about 5' by 10' and is used to store barrels of valve oil (Both for saturated steam and superheated steam) machinery oil, two barrels of water treatment, fire hose,spare brake shoes, kerosene and diesel fuel, oak blocking, hosefittings and adapters, ladders, and sundry other items.

Where did they store all of that stuff pre-1980 on the Southern program?

They stored everything in the toolboxes under the tender, and what did not fit there was stored on top of the tank. The former L&N tank with coal bunker intact had a storage room for servicing items. Here is a link to a pic of 750's tender.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=683078

Yes, but there is only room for water treatment, steam and lube oil, water hose and fittings and maybe a couple of ladders.
The thing about a tool car is that when you're running on someone elses railroad, you left your shop many miles behind, and whatever might happen, you need to be able to take care of it seemlessly, with no "service interruption."

On short little trips of a few miles, maybe one isn't needed.
If one is planning a long distance excursion series on a class 1, something should be found that can be used as a tool car. Find a clapped out old heritige Amtrak coach, rebuild and convert it. Just have something, or some way, to haul everything Ed mentioned, and much more. Safety gear needs to be added to that list, BTW, along with lighting equipment and cords. Bad stuff likes to happen at night, or needs to be taken care of late at night before tomorrows trip.
Mark D.