I have also heard lots of grumbling about what the Berk might turn out to be. Gilbert's die cast steam engines were pretty decent models for their time. That level of accuracy and scale proportion is a minimum standard for many (most?) Flyer fans.
Given the Polar Express set (and very likely the other two Berkshire sets) have a target MSRP of $399.99, I'm not turned off by a plastic tender. Mildly disturbed if it's a downsized clone of the O27 Berk tender, yes. Time will tell to see what it turns out to be. These are intended to be entry level sets, something that's been sorely missing in S. I'm still interested in getting the NKP freight set, regardless.
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So, even ol' A.C. had to compromise. Add in the "Casey Jones" 4-4-0's and oversized Franklin's and we see that old Gilbert trains weren't always "perfect."
Rusty
I believe that most would accept a plastic tender on the PE Berk provided that it is the correct scale length and it has 6-wheel trucks. The cost to do it correctly vs. incorrectly is trivial.
As for A. C. Gilbert, even the Atlantics had a decent approximation of what the real Reading P7's had. The Northern, J3a, K5, and 0-8-0 had the correct tenders for their prototypes. The Casey Jones was introduced after A. C. Sr.'s passing and the Franklin was done on the quick in 1959 while A. C. Jr. was responsible for running the company. Just because compromises began to escalate with Flyer's decline does not provide an excuse to not do an affordable, recognizable Lima Berk to scale proportions.
Your mileage may vary.
Bob
I agree the cost of doing it right is equal to doing it wrong. But we are dealing with Lionel here. It's not like they haven't been victims of wrong guidance, shall we say, before.
However, I can see that these sets are aimed more at the newbie, someone who's less interested in accuracy and more interested in smoke and sound at a lower price. I would also suspect that a genericfied NYC tender may be a harbinger of things to come at the entry level.
At this level, is a generic tender any worse than a zombie boxcar, mint cars or fantasy paint jobs?
I would expect, however, a correct tender on a full-featured top of the line Berk or any other steam locomotive.
There certainly seem to be few complaints about the tender on the "Berkshire Junior" in the traditional Lionel O gauge line. (MTH also has the wrong tender on their Railking Berks, even the "Imperial" versions.) It seems to be self perpetuating in the "toy train" sphere.
Were gonna have to wait and see, that's all. As the boys at the Circle L Ranch seem to be reluctant to comment, all we have is a catalog illustration that uses a photoshopped O27 Berkshire Junior to go on.
I'm not a Lionel apologist, I'm just trying to make rational observations from the outside at how they've been operating.
Rusty
