I was reading A Walk Through Borate, a short booklet published by the San Bernardino County Museum Association. Borate is a ghost town in the Mojave Desert near Daggett, California. It was established around 1892 by the Pacific Coast Borax Co. In 1903 the company decided to end operations at Borate, and buildings and equipment were moved to Death Valley.
Overall, the book is quite good, with more than half the 31 pages taken up with period photographs. There is, however, one rather bizarre caption on page 23. The photo shows a small saddle tank locomotive, type 0-4-0T. According to the caption, “The ‘T’ indicates that it was supported by a swivel mount on the tender.”
This is, of course, ridiculous. The letter “T” as part of a steam locomotive classification indicates that it is a tank locomotive, meaning that it carries water and fuel in tanks attached to the locomotive itself instead of pulling a tender. And that is exactly what the photo shows; an inverted U-shaped tank attached above the boiler, and no tender. In addition, a locomotive of any type will be supported by the wheels, which are attached to the frame. It would be completely impossible for a tender to support a locomotive the way this caption indicates.
As I said, this is overall a very good booklet, and I have no idea how one utter absurdity got past the editors. But however it happened, the book makes for a good object lesson in double checking information, even when it seems to come from an expert source.
