Tyco Chattanooga Choo Choo HO scale.

[Anonymous]

Hello,
I'm totally new to this, matter of fact this is my first time on here! My question is this: can someone please tell me (or where to find out) when the Tyco HO scale Chattanooga Choo Choo was introduced? Any related information would be nice also! Thanks in advance very much!!

[Anonymous]

Welcome.

Google Tyco trains. There is a collector site that breaks down production by year.

Most of the people on this board are pretty tightly wound when it comes to their definition of "classic toy trains". Needless to say thier opinion of HO seems pretty low and Tyco even lower. They just need to realize that anyone under 40 (and most under 30) did not nessecarily start the hobby with O 3 rail trains. If this enine was the engine you had a kid then great more power to you I hope you can find what you want,

[prewardude]

I can't give you an exact year, but I had one of those sets as a kid. It was definitely in the mid-to-late 70s. I'd say they were introduced in 1976 or '77. I think I got my set in '77.

That should narrow it down a little bit for ya.

Regards,
Clint

[Anonymous]

Emma...,
Thanks for the info.! I'll do that, and actually already have but evidently haven't found the sight you're speaking of. Do you know the address of that sight? Why are some people wound up so tightly about this, that's crazy! Oh well, thanks again for your help!

[Anonymous]

Prewar...,
Thanks for the info.! That's what I was thinking. Do you know of anyway of verifying that? A website, book, person, etc.? Thanks again for the help!

[Warburton]

I got one in 1978 for my son's first b'day, so I know they were around by that time. Got it at Sears!

[Anonymous]

Warburton,
Thanks for that info.! I believe I got mine around that same time, 1976-1978, I just wish I could narrow it down to when they started making them! Any ideas, or know someone who might? Thanks in advance for your help!

[Anonymous]

My nephew had one back in the 70's. If I remember correctly the motor was in the tender. Not being an HO enthusiast I always thought that was odd.

[bigwally]

Based on this link, it looks as though the Chattanooga Choo Choo set first showed up in the 1975-1976 catalog:

http://tycotrain.tripod.com/tycocatalogs/id9.html

The home page for the above, which is a neat little resource for Tyco info, if you want to dig further is :

http://tycotrain.tripod.com/tycotrains/

Hope this helps!

redrockbill

[Odd-d]

Is there some reason why you are particularly interested in a Tyco Chattanooga Choo Choo? I had one decades ago and it was a hunk of junk. It was cheaply made of plastic and had no motor or drive . The motor and drive was in the tender and the engine was just a dummy that was pushed along by the tender. Good luck. I believe IHC makes an engine using the parts that looks similar. Odd-d

[statistician]

Many of us younger generation (age 20s) serious Lionel collectors got their start from these inexpensive Tyco sets in the 1980s. The 0-8-0 Chattanooga Choo Choo was my very first set, which used the same power truck as Tyco diesel engines concealed within the tender. Without these moderately-priced HO sets and the MPC/Lionel years, I'd never have found my interest in O gauge trains.

I'm thinking back over 20 years, but I seem to remember variations to the engine. Some had silver boiler fronts and red cab roofs (early 1980s), others were all black (1970s). The HO guys in the Model Railroder section might know more...
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Baberuth73,
I didn't know that then, nor did I know that know, until you told me! Thanks! Is that really that odd compared to others? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

bigwally/redrockbill,
Thank you sooooo much! I really appreciate that! Everybody on this site seems to be helpful, at least as much as they can! I will definitely check those sites out - can't wait! Thanks again!!!

[Anonymous]

Odd-d,
Yes, there is a reason that I'm particularly interested in this train. When I was a child, my parents bought me this set, the Tyco Chattanooga Choo Choo! It was my very first train set! We didn't have much money (some things never change! :) ) but they did what they could. I cherished that train set and had lots of fun with it! I later bought some additional buildings, etc. to go with it. But, unfortunately, through the years, somehow it was misplaced, moved or something and I haven't even seen it in, oh, probably 15-20 years or more! I'm hoping it still exists somewhere in the family, that's what I'm working on now. So, it may not be worth much to most people at least in money, but it's very sentimental to me, and valuable! :)!

[Anonymous]

Statisician,
Exactly!! Mine was all black! I never knew there were any variations of it! Interesting! And I never knew they used the same power truck in their diesels. I'll try the Model Railroder guys, I never thought of that! Thanks!

[Dr.Fu-Manchu]

usnomad, The Doctor Is In !!! Are you looking for the above train set??? Reason this humble doctor asks is because mrs. Fu bought me one at the yard sale that the folks across the street were having. They had sold the house to settle the late father's estate. I don't do HO myself, but I figured I might resell it or trade for Lionel. If you are interested, Email me and we can talk price.
Till My Next Missive I Remain The Humble Yet Strangly Evil Doctor!!! [}:)]

[Anonymous]

Dr.,
I'm interested! Let's chat.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if tender driven steamers are an oddity or not. I run post war O gauge and all the steam locos I've owned have the motors in the loco, not the tender. Maybe some of the guys with experience in other scales can shed a little light on this.

[Anonymous]

just to let you know I have a tyco chattanooga choo choo train and all the people are right it tender driven, all black, excellent shape and was given to me by my best friend years ago and will never get rid of it!! not much worth, but value to me, is more. mine is the #638 engine and it a 0-8-2. and this season gave it to my daughter (5) to start her own train collection and to work towards putting a set together, together with me!

Cade

[Warburton]

I had quite a bit of Tyco HO stuff and to tell you the truth, it ran better than the HO line Lionel was producing in the 70s IMO! My problem with HO was the derailments -- it is much less forgiving on the track then Lionel O, so I switched back over to Lionel and I'm glad I did.

[mackb4]

I can remember the commercial for that Tyco set,it was great for the promotion of model trains.Wonder if anyone has a download of the commercial ?Seems like they would show a little boy acting like a steam engine as it was going around the track or something to that effect.

[prewardude]

QUOTE: I can remember the commercial for that Tyco set,it was great for the promotion of model trains.Wonder if anyone has a download of the commercial ?Seems like they would show a little boy acting like a steam engine as it was going around the track or something to that effect.

I remember the commercial, but I don't remember the little boy. The only thing I do remember from it was the fact that the engine smoked! Oh - and the whistling billboard! I think I was 7 or 8 at the time.

[jim22]

I've got one too, but mine is mostly hopeless! I just located some traction tires that fit it, but now I've discovered it's got split wheels and gears :-(

I'd really like to get it running again. I'm not real fussy on how authentic it ends up looking. I've got my eyes open for a reasonably inexpensive engine that I might be able to steal the drive train and frame from to stick in the Tyco tender. If anyone has any suggestions on what might fit.... The only thing I've really seen so far is a model-power switcher which is pretty small. It's innards might fit under the tender. I'm just woried that it might be almost as crummy as the Tyco innards.

I've also got the Durango GP-20. I've decided I could probably fit an Athearn GP-35 frame under the tyco shell, with some modifications of the frame. Boy, that one's got a lot of happy miles behind it!

Jim

[palallin]

Grandpa bought me a Chattanooga Choo-Choo for Christmas at pennys in 1976, unfortunately luring me away from my 027 trains for about 12 years. We had to return the engine twice till we got one that ran out of the box, but I still have most of the set's pieces, all heavily modified (as serious HO model railroaders are expected to do). I bought another of those 2-8-0s, this one a later, plainer version, and detailed them both with lots of brass castings and piping. I have gotten rid of most of my HO stuff, though I have kept the kit-built Mantua Prarie and a few other nostalgia pieces.

[Anonymous]

I'm into HO as well myself and have a lot of Tyco. I have one of the later Chattanooga 0-8-0's with silver and red as well as an identical tender-driven 2-8-0 painted for "The Royal Blue" (not B&O's Royal Blue, a ficticious train of the same name). Both ran when I first got them a few years ago and I had them pulling a train double headed together for a time. However, the traction tires on both crumbled off due to age and they have remained shelf pieces ever since. I've often thought that I should get traction tires for them (and a few other HO engines I have) "sometime" but haven't gotten around to it.

I'd have loved to have seen that commercial! It's too bad the train manufacturers don't advertise like that now. Mentioning that it was a great promotion for model trains made me think of an old Tyco magazine ad that I absolutely love. It reads, "There are plastic toys; and metal toys; and cardboard toys; and war toys; and noisy toys; and toys that self-destruct; and toys that need some help before they'll destruct; and dull toys; and interesting toys for a weekend; and toys that don't even last the weekend.
And then there are electric trains." While it's a Tyco ad, it really is a good promotion for trains in general. Innovative advertising like this for toy trains is something that we really need. I think a commercial with that same text as narration showing the various described toys would be a fantastic promotion for Lionel or someone else.

[prewardude]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Sask_Tinplater


...and toys that don't even last the weekend....

Gotta give Tyco credit for obeying truth-in-advertising laws on that one! [;)]

[Anonymous]

I found this link giving some history of the HO Chattanooga Choo Choo.

http://tycotrain.tripod.com/tycotrains/id88.html

 

[guilfordrr]

Actually I have a Video Rails VHS of old (60's-early '90s) train-related TV ads, and one of them is the Chattanooga Choo-Choo spot someone mentioned. I have tomorrow off from school, so I'll see if I can get it online for you.

[Kooljock1]

I have the spot you mentioned on that tape, but it's a pirated copy of a copy of a copy!

You know, my friend Gary had this set when he was a kid, and I don't remember the tender drive-system! I DO remember the whistling billboard(Maxwell House Coffee?) and how it sounded much like the tender for my #2046.

For a kid growing up in the 1970's it wasn't a bad set. Remember that while I was struggling with PRR Baby Madisons with fixed couplers that would part at every low and high spot on my handed down fifty year old train table, and roller pick-up s that would drop into the gap on my scmattering of pre-war switches, this Tyco set didn't seem too bad.

After I finally invested in a 26 year old #2046 for my bicentennial Christmas, I started to feel the bug bite, and haven't looked at HO again!

Jon

[guilfordrr]

Well, I ended up having more free time tonight than I thought, so here's the spot in all its low quality, VHS glory. I hate having to use YouTube, but it's all that worked with this forum. Anyway, here's the address:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKHHnNT7h8I