Hello everybody i just joined this forum yesterday and this is my third post already what i am looking for is a scale tender for the 783. I know that the tender that it came with is a nice tender but it looks like it is only about 75 or 80% the size it should be for the locomotive. Is there a true scale tender available for this loco anywhere i have looked on ebay many times but have yet to find anything out there. Any ideas
Boy, given today’s prices, I think you would be better off shopping around for a modern era reproduction of the 700E.
You could sell the 783, and buy the full scale engine. I don’t think doing this would cost you anymore than just buying a tender.
The 783 is re-run of the 1950 production 773 with upgrades (downgrades) The locomotive is “Scale size”, the tender is the smaller “Lionel size”. The die-cast tender is correct and was also used on the Berkshire prior to 1950, the pre-war 226E and 763E. To improve the looks, add a full scale lead (pilot ) truck (which will limit you to O-72 track) and a 700T tender. A real one will cost more than the 783. Reproductions are available in both cast and plastic but you will have to do a lot of serching.