Back in the 80s when the original Bachmann N&W J came out I picked up one of the Excursion Auxiliary Tenders. It sat really high on the trucks and had truck mounted couplers and a gloppy paint job. I had planned to lower it and repaint it along with body mount couplers but I then got married and so on ... ;D (I never got around to it)
Last weekend I decided to look at one from the new run (I previously bought the excellent new model of the 1950s style N&W auxillary tender) and based on what I saw I bought it.
As you can see the old version put M-T to shame in the high rider department!
On the new version they use the same tooling for the shell (which is good but not excellent), but they tooled up a new "floor" chassis with body mounted Bmann knuckles. They also tooled up new trucks which are acceptable.
As you can see the new version has much better ride height, improved end ladders, and much better paint/lettering.
Unlike the 1950s Auxillary Tender, this tender is not lighted and does not have electrical pickup.
Mark
