1954 Lionel 736 and its tender(s)

Cost.

The 2426 was die cast, and if I remember it had separate metal steps, hand rails, stanchions etc.  The 2426 came with 6 wheel trucks, seldom did the 2046 type tender come with 6 wheel trucks

Even the 773s made in the 1964 time frame didn't get the 2426 tender.

Last year for the 2426w was on the anniversary 1950 773.  By 1964, they were going broke, so no chance of the 2426 being resurrected. But, in 1954 they were in the golden years, and they chose not to make use of the tender in their sets. I wonder if dealers had extra 2426s around for people to upgrade back then? I sure did that now.

I agree the 2426w looks much better with the 736. That's what the 726 came with.I think the 2046w looks better with the 671,2020,and 681 turbines. I read a story about how Lionel factory workers would just box up whatever tenders were available when they ran out of the original matching tender. They were too worried about getting the trains out for Christmas. They also never imagined these great little machines to be anything but children's toys. I sure do still love them!

To me the Lionel streamlined tenders shout PENNSYLVANIA.  They belong with a turbine or a torpedo, but not with a freight workhorse such as the Berkshire.

The six wheel scale detail style tender was appropriate with the larger locomotives -thus frour wheel with the 224 and 225, six wheel with the 226.  The 726/736 boiler was a slightly revised 226 boiler.

To those of us who were young railfans in the 50's, streamlining was in, and Lionel was responding to that.  Being in 3rd to 7th grades during Lionel's Berkshire and 675 era, I hadn't yet learned enough about real railroads to understand the concept of a wrong tender for a locomotive.  The 675 had the opposite problem, a very non-PRR style tender.  The S-1 was just right.

For Lionel, the aesthetics of the market was what appeals to a 10-12 year old boy.

The new tender looks terrific.  The postwar berks are one of the best looking and best running Lionel locomotives.  Good luck with it!