One of the things I really like about Lionel is that steam locos and tenders are independent of one another in an operating sense: the loco handles the movement of the train and the tender handles the sound and neither requires the other to do its job: you can run a loco (silent) without its tender at all, or test a tender for sound without the loco on the track, etc.
This means that you can mix and match Legacy locos and tenders. The USRA tender that comes with the Mallet is tiny (I think it may be the smallest Legacy tender I have, period) and I prefer to run that loco with a tender suited to its size - photo below shows it paired with an extra Legacy ATSF Northern tender I have. I run this combo and some others about as often as I run the correct combinations (the small USRA tender looks particularly good with the small Legacy Pacific of the recent Berkshire). Now, I end up with mismatched roadnames and numbers but doesn't bother me and I repaint most stuff ATSF or UP on my layout anyway . . .
Just wondered if anyone else does this often?
BTW - maybe the Mallet should sound different with the Northern's tender (different number of cylinders, etc.), but it doesn't sound much different to me - I get a very satisfyingly deep, rich, and dynamic chuffing with either tender on the Mallet.
