Do steam locomotives have gears?
Geared steam locomotive
A geared steam locomotive is a type of steam locomotive which uses gearing, usually reduction gearing, in the drivetrain, as opposed to the common directly driven design.
Tender (rail)
Certain early British steam locomotives were fitted with powered tenders. As well as holding coal and water, these had wheels powered from the locomotive to provide greater tractive effort. These were abandoned for economic reasons; railwaymen working on locomotives so equipped demanded extra pay as they were effectively running two locomotives. However, the concept was tried again on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway's "River Mite", and the Garratt locomotive may be seen as an extension of this principle. Powered tenders were also seen on the 2-8-8-8-2 and 2-8-8-8-4 locomotives in the United States, but these experiments were not considered successful. Powered tenders were used extensively on geared logging steam locomotives like the Shay locomotive, Climax locomotive, and Heisler locomotive where the steep grades and heavy trains necessitated the extra tractive effort.