WHAT TO DO WHEN THE TENDER IS FOUND EMPTY BETWEEN STATIONS.
The most natural cause for pumps or injectors ceasing to work, is absence of water from the tender. This condition comes round on the road occasionally, where engineers neglect to fill up at water-stations, or where there are long runs between points of water-supply. When an engineer finds himself short of water, and the means of replenishing his tank too distant to reach, even with the empty engine, he should bank or smother the fire, and retain sufficient water in the boiler to raise steam on when he has been assisted to the nearest water-tank. This will save tedious delay, especially where an engine has no pumps. Occasionally, from miscalculations or through accidents, the fire has to be quenched, and insufficient water is left in the boiler to start a fire on safely. In this event, buckets can be resorted to, and the boiler filled at the safety-valves, should there be no assistance, or means of pumping up. Every possible means should be exhausted to get the engine in steam, before a runner requests to have his engine towed in cold.