Yes, tenders are too far apart when set on the furthest hole of the drawbar. But many locos will not work at all on tight turns without unrealistic play room.
If you have tight turns like me even your switchers will need "room" My P2K Heritage 0-8-0s all hooked their sanding lines on the tender in the tight turns.
Tenders in reality are very close, as mentioned above---a fireman's stride.
Just set everything "close" and move it back on a loco-by loco basis as you notice tenders knocking locos sideways in some spots of the layout, if at all.
tenders *are* too far apart from the mfg, mostly to negotiate the crazy tight turns that we have on our layouts...
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site