Meanings
- adverbialalsonot comparablerail transportOf a steam locomotive with a tender (a tender locomotive), when it is operating in reverse, with the tender leading.
In spite of their small size and low weight, many technical developments which have proved themselves in main-line service have been incorporated, and a novelty in the 2-6-0-type is a tender cab to improve the conditions of tender-first running.
1947 March and April, “L.M.S.R. Locomotive Developments”, in Railway Magazine, page 661 more example
For the first time known in over 10 years, a Stanier Pacific travelled the Windermere branch on June 23, when 46255 (12A) was seen at Aikrigg on an early afternoon local; it had to return tender-first as the Windermere turntable could not accommodate it.
1962 August, “Motive Power Miscellany: London Midland Region: Central Lines”, in Modern Railways, page 136
Cite this entry
tender-first. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tender-first
“tender-first.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tender-first. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tender-first,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tender-first.
Source: tender-first on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.