diff --git a/nodes/core/storage/28-tail.js b/nodes/core/storage/28-tail.js
index a4bd2dfaf..58c2bd06b 100644
--- a/nodes/core/storage/28-tail.js
+++ b/nodes/core/storage/28-tail.js
@@ -27,20 +27,27 @@ module.exports = function(RED) {
         var node = this;
 
         var err = "";
+        // TODO: rewrite to use node-tail
         var tail = spawn("tail", ["-F", this.filename]);
         tail.stdout.on("data", function (data) {
-            var msg = {topic:node.filename};
             if (node.split) {
+                // TODO: allow customisation of the line break - as we do elsewhere
                 var strings = data.toString().split("\n");
                 for (var s in strings) {
+                    //TODO: should we really filter blanks? Is that expected?
                     if (strings[s] !== "") {
-                        msg.payload = strings[s];
-                        node.send(msg);
+                        node.send({
+                            topic: node.filename,
+                            payload: strings[s]
+                        });
                     }
                 }
             }
             else {
-                msg.payload = data.toString();
+                var msg = {
+                    topic:node.filename,
+                    payload: data.toString()
+                };
                 node.send(msg);
             }
         });
diff --git a/test/nodes/core/storage/28-tail_spec.js b/test/nodes/core/storage/28-tail_spec.js
index 19cd802b7..2586f66cf 100644
--- a/test/nodes/core/storage/28-tail_spec.js
+++ b/test/nodes/core/storage/28-tail_spec.js
@@ -24,41 +24,16 @@ var helper = require("../../helper.js");
 
 describe('TailNode', function() {
     
-    var tempDir = path.join(__dirname, ".tmp");
-    var fileToTail = path.join(tempDir, "tailMe.txt");
-
-    // function which writes to the file creating all missing directories
-    function writeFile(path, contents) {
-        mkdirp(tempDir, function(err) {
-            if(err) {
-                return err;
-            }
-            try {
-                fs.writeFileSync(path, contents, 'utf8');                
-            } catch (error) {
-                console.log("Unexpected error writing file: " +error.message);
-                return error;
-            }
-        });
-    }
+    var resourcesDir = path.join(__dirname,"..","..","..","resources");
+    var fileToTail = path.join(resourcesDir,"28-tail-test-file.txt");
     
     beforeEach(function(done) {
-        writeFile(fileToTail,  "Tail message line1\nTail message line2\n");
         helper.startServer(done);
     });
     
     afterEach(function(done) {
         helper.unload();
-        fs.remove(tempDir, function(err) {
-            if (err) {
-                console.log("error occurred removing " + tempDir + ": " +err);
-                return err;
-            }
-            fs.exists(tempDir, function(exists) {
-                exists.should.be.false;
-                helper.stopServer(done);
-            });
-        });
+        helper.stopServer(done);
     });
 
     it('should be loaded', function(done) {
@@ -78,6 +53,7 @@ describe('TailNode', function() {
             var helperNode1 = helper.getNode("helperNode1");
             var inputCounter = 0;
             helperNode1.on("input", function(msg) {
+                console.log(msg);
                 msg.should.have.property('topic', fileToTail);
                 msg.payload.should.equal("Tail message line" + (++inputCounter));
                 if(inputCounter === 2) {
diff --git a/test/resources/28-tail-test-file.txt b/test/resources/28-tail-test-file.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..59239b931
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/resources/28-tail-test-file.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Tail message line1
+Tail message line2