HO "Toy Trains"

[Anonymous]

I remember seeing an HO layout as a kid that by today's terminology would best be described as an HO Toy Train Layout. It was mostly Tyco products from the 70's, and I remember a coal dump, and very "Toy Train esk" accessories. It was set up on a basement pingpong table, and really sparked an interest in Trains for me. Although it was HO, it was completely devoid of any weathering or realistic modeling. I'm wondering, do any of you dabble in HO "Toy Trains"?

Greg

[Dr. John]

Hi Greg,
When I started in HO nearly 40 years ago, it was with Tyco and AHM trains of that era. I had Marx trains at an earlier age and wanted something more realistic.
Oddly enough, those HO trains were similar to the O trains I was leaving behind (for a time). They had truck mounted couplers for sharp curves, operating accesories (I had coal dumping and log dumping cars by Tyco) and ran like scalded dogs! They were fun, but I soon realized they lacked the scale fidelity that I sought so I moved on to other brands (Athearn, Atlas, MDC, etc.).

Those trains are long gone, and I returned to O gauge several years ago. Upon reflection, those Tyco and AHM HO trains were an excellent transition for me. They had good play value and could be set up fairly easily, though not as easily as O three rail. I think some folks are beginning to discover the old Tyco, AHM and even Lionel and American Flyer HO to be attractive collectible and operating pieces. I still prefer O gauge, but I can see why you would be interested in "Toy HO."

[tsgtbob]

The Tyco of the 70s were the first trains that I was allowed to "play" with on a year round basis. They had some really neat operating accessories, such as a culvert un-loader, a coal dump car, and a coal hopper that worked too.
If memory serves me correctly, wern't some of the Tyco accessories of that era designed by Frank Petit (sp)?

[cnw1995]

Those Tyco trains of the 1970s were my first trains. My brothers and I had a ping-pong table layout - an up-and-over figure 8 - we ran a Santa Fe freight pulled by an F unit, and I had the Burlington passenger train pulled by a silver F. We had log-dumping cars, piggy-back trailers, crossing gates, the culvert unloader. It was a blast. We colored out roads on the table-top. Made our own trees. Definitely a toy-trainy layout. It lasted in a spare bedroom until my sister came along - then my dad hung the layout on the wall of the garage where it withered. My son now has some of those same trains - and with a jot of lubricant, they still work!

[tsgtbob]

That's cool Doug, pass the flame on to another generation!!![:)]
If one wanted to get into collecting something unusual, these trains would be the ticket. I have found them at shows and flea markets for very little $$$, they are colorful, and the accessories are a blast.
I may even take up this aspect of the hobby.

[Dr. John]

Back in the 50s, when Lionel first introduced an HO line, they replicated many of their O gauge accesories in HO including the gateman, revolving light, operating log and coal dumping cars and several others. These pieces are pretty rare and would make a nice collection / toy HO layout.

[pbjwilson]

I run my HO trains right along with my O gauge trains. The set in the picture is a Bachmann Alaska set. I bought it for my son for Christmas a few years ago. I liked it so much that I went out and bought another one so that I have two powered engines pulling eight passenger cars. They are very nice models and run great. People say all kinds of bad stuff about the Bachmann E-Z track but for running trains on the floor it's fine. I've had no problems with it and it's taken apart and put back together over and over again. An HO Thomas can also be seen in the picture.

[thor]

I started with O then went to 00/H0 and stuck with it for many years.

I started out with the Trix Twin system, a German 3 rail AC system which was really good for its time but in England, Trix was hard to find and Hornby Dublo was getting better so I switched to 2 rail DC and when Hornby went bellyup, I went over to Tri-ang.

My favourite operating accessory was the Royal Mail set which picked up mail bags on the fly and ejected them into a catcher box, as the real trains used to do that it was pretty neat. I had a lot of Faller models watermill with real water, operating windmill, town square fountain and a couple more I forget.

Funnily enough after a long train free hiatus, my son bought me a Lionel set this Christmas, so thats why I'm here!

[Anonymous]

I started out with HO as a kid and my first trains were cheap Bachmann and Like-Like. I was born after Tyco's heyday, but I did get a Tyco set from their last year of train production in my young years. While prewar and postwar O and S gauge has certainly become my major interest, I haven't abandoned my HO trains and still love them. Over the years, I've built up a large collection and have a sizable HO layout. While I do have "real" HO trains, I've got loads of Tyco and all the other simmilar RTR brands. I spend my big money on vintage toy trains and so buy almost all of my HO used. I love Tyco and simmilar trains for the many of the same reasons I love Lionel. It really doesn't take much effort to build up a sizeable collection of these trains-they're everywhere (and really cheap)!

Despite all the Tyco I have, I'm not sure if I would consider myself a true collector of it. However, I am very heavy and serious into collecting what I consider to be pure toy HO trains, which differ from my other prewar and postwar tinplate trains in gauge only. Tri-ang exported huge numbers of trains to Canada and I'm a devoted collector of it. I also have Hornby Dublo, but only one set at the moment (but a really rare one, the CP passenger set). I also collect Japanese- and German-made toy HO trains. Many of these sets are lithographed tin and are battery operated or even clockwork. These brands include, TN (Toy Nomura), Bandai, Alps, Distler and Bub. Also better German brands like Marklin and Fleishmann. I'm proud to say that I'm pretty close to having a boxed example of every set made by TN (at least in plastic, I have a ways to go on their tin sets).

[Anonymous]

The operating mail van is still available from Hornby today, though it's a different car - the current model is a not too shabby effort at an LMS design. They've also reintroduced a motorised converyor belt and wagon tipper, along with a couple of models borrowed from the Lifelike range (they use the same factory in China). Try http://www.mremag.demon.co.uk/hpsite/news/051122/Conveyor_and_Tipper_Sets_14.11.jpg to see the tipper and conveyor sets.

[prewardude]

I had a bunch of Tyco sets when I was a kid. I broke all of 'em. Heck, I broke everything when I was a kid. [:(]

[csxt30]

The first thing I used to do, was take em' apart !! I was pretty gentle with my stuff, though. Now my boy, almost 16, always took everything apart, but was rough on stuff !

[prewardude]

QUOTE: Originally posted by csxt30

The first thing I used to do, was take em' apart !! I was pretty gentle with my stuff, though. Now my boy, almost 16, always took everything apart, but was rough on stuff !

John,

I would always run my trains until I got sick of them and then I would take them apart! I can't tell you how many motor brushes got launched into the stratosphere - never to be seen again - when I removed the brush plates from my engines. My parents tried getting me a couple of MPC-era Lionel sets before they figured out it was cheaper to keep me entertained with Tyco HO sets.

Yep, I really enjoyed my trains as a kid!

Regards,
Clint

[Anonymous]

I had a Lionel Santa Fe A-B alco train set in 1959. It had several operating cars. An exploding box car, helicoper car, radioactive waste car, and a rocket lauching pad! I still have the cars on display. My brother and I had a lot of fun with this set.

Tyco was also a big part of my Model trains as a kid. I still have the Santa Fe El Capitain Chrome set altough it's a little worn.

Today, I still collect and run German AC Marklin HO in addition to "0". It operates with a center stud contact. Many of my Marklin trains are lithographed metal and are very much "Classic Toy Trains"

It's nice to hear there are folks who collect and operate HO trains as toys!

Thanks for sharing your memories,
Dave

[otftch]

I had many Tyco HO trains,but they're all gone now.I still have 375 of my Tyco HO racecars and enough track to fill a warehouse.My wife and I set them up for the grandkids now,and my kids will tell you every one that was purchased "for them".
Ed

[Anonymous]

I fondly look at old TYCO trains and have memories of much time in the asles of Kay Bee Toy's and Hobby outlets and the train aisle of Toys R Us debating the merits of the many various accessories. An uncle built me a train table for the basement because my dad was pretty uninterested in such things and I spent hours every weekend down there moving things around and running my trains.

My favorite acessory would have to be considered a toy. It was a sawmill from Lifelike. It had a tower with a platform and when you moved a lever a log would fall and slide down a chute. It then fell throught the mill and still uncut roll into a waiting dump car. Then the train did a lap and stopped in the same place and you pulled a lever and the log car tipped the log into a plastic pond with a three log capacity on the other side of the track from the mill. There was really no need for a lap really. But it was fun to play with You had to imagine the mill sawing the wood and make up some way for the log to get to the top of the tower.

On one of the lower shelves at Kay Bee was always a free LifeLike booklet printed on newsprint that had all kinds of hints for cheap ways to improve your layout. They changed them maybe twice a year. These were really nice and I must have flipped throught them til they fell apart. I realize now that these were closer to the tone of the really old magazines of the 50's like Model Builder and such. They were really for the modeler with imagination but no budget.

I had at least one engine from each of the cheap toy lines like Tyco, Bachmann,and Life Like and none of them had the same RR's paint scheme. Eventually I went to a real hobby store and people there started telling me my trains were junk and I started getting blue box Athearn engines and cars. Eventually the toy train companies changed. I remember when Bachmann brought out the spectrum line and I got a 70 tonner and then Lifelike started Proto 2000. I saved up for and got a BL2 which was the first release. And all of the sudden they where no longer toys and they could break really easily. I kept going with it until I got to college but looking back the toys where way more fun.

I found a good website on TYCO trains that has links to memory sites dedicated to some other HO toy train companies like Cox. There are a few HO Toy Train enthusiasts out there. Here is the link http://tycotrain.tripod.com/tycotrains/

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by emmaandy



My favorite acessory would have to be considered a toy. It was a sawmill from Lifelike. It had a tower with a platform and when you moved a lever a log would fall and slide down a chute. It then fell throught the mill and still uncut roll into a waiting dump car. Then the train did a lap and stopped in the same place and you pulled a lever and the log car tipped the log into a plastic pond with a three log capacity on the other side of the track from the mill. There was really no need for a lap really. But it was fun to play with You had to imagine the mill sawing the wood and make up some way for the log to get to the top of the tower.

You can still buy it - Hornby are now offering the model in their OO scale range http://www.ehattons.com/StockDetail.aspx?SID=11387

[Nick12DMC]

Hi,
I had Hornby/Triang 00 gauge trains as a kid. In the UK Hornby were and
are toy trains. The operating mail coach is a Hornby classic much as the
Lionel milk car is. I have a coal dump hopper set, must build a layout to
use it on.

My son (age 7)has a small Hornby Layout I built that fits under his bed. However
Hornby have been heading towards more and more detailed locos. In this
read more and more fragile. Great models but not toys.

We are now Lionel 0 gauge converts having spent Xmas in the States and
"Santa" bringing Charlie a Lionel Set.
Hopefully I can come up with a combined 0 and 00 gauge layout so we can run
both.
Just got to wait for a new control unit for the Lionel set as the CW-80 does not
work here in the UK. (wish Lionel would make the set control unit 50 Hz compatible)

Regards
Nick H

[tcripe]

As an early teen in the early 60's, I packed up my Lionels and bought a more "realistic" Tyco/Mantua Rio Grande freight set for all of $19.95. The F-9 had a smooth, quiet motor complete with the first traction tire I'd ever seen. Boy, could that engine haul cars! My next was an Athearn F-7, which, although geared in all wheels, was extremely noisy, slow, and a poor puller. It seemed to have a more accurate paint scheme, until I became acquainted with the various paints that the Grande had used.
- Terry

[ED WHITFORD]

Yes, We play with HO as well, but nothing is set up as of yet.