I can help with the long tender deck. The surviving engine and her 1920 built sister 9687, came from the Cooke works with the high tender sides, as opposed to the out of style flare topped tenders on the other W&W engines. As delivered, the Cooke built tenders rocked, and were unstable. Not sure if it was the W&W or the PRR, but the tender frames were lengthened, and for some reason this stopped the rocking. Thus, the long "porch" on the back of the tender. BTW, W&W#4 or PRR 9684, has the 1920 tender from 9687. Hope this helps.

brian b

Brian -

Thanks for the explanation of the elongated tender!


Les