John-NYBW From the things I have heard, the Mantua name is still held in fairly high regard. TYCO not so much. I'm as puzzled as the OP was when he started this thread in 2005 as to why anyone would collect TYCO. It makes no more sense to me today than it did back then. You got me curious as to the history and I found this very informative website: Mantua/Tyco Trains (tcawestern.org) According to this, the Tylers sold Tyco to General Foods in 1970 and two years later, the Mantua name was retired although existing stock continued to be sold with the Mantua name. Some of the Mantua line was rebranded as Tyco. 1972 was also the year John Tyler died. I wonder if he is any relation to our tenth president who amazingly still has a living grandson who is in his nineties now. Until a few years ago, he had a living brother as well. He was featured on 60 Minutes about a year ago. Fact or Fiction: President John Tyler has a living grandson? (10news.com)
From the things I have heard, the Mantua name is still held in fairly high regard. TYCO not so much. I'm as puzzled as the OP was when he started this thread in 2005 as to why anyone would collect TYCO. It makes no more sense to me today than it did back then.
You got me curious as to the history and I found this very informative website:
Mantua/Tyco Trains (tcawestern.org)
According to this, the Tylers sold Tyco to General Foods in 1970 and two years later, the Mantua name was retired although existing stock continued to be sold with the Mantua name. Some of the Mantua line was rebranded as Tyco. 1972 was also the year John Tyler died. I wonder if he is any relation to our tenth president who amazingly still has a living grandson who is in his nineties now. Until a few years ago, he had a living brother as well. He was featured on 60 Minutes about a year ago.
Fact or Fiction: President John Tyler has a living grandson? (10news.com)
Wikipedia has even more details about the corporate dance with this company.
Here is the thing people seem to miss, prior to 1970, a Mantua kit and the TYCO RTR version of any given product were identical. The products were good quality in terms of how they were made, and how they ran,, but not in terms of detail or accuracy.
It took a few years, but General Foods turned it into junk.
When the Tylers regained control and brought it back as Mantua, it was still largely the pre 1970 product with some improvements and new pieces.
The steam locomotives were great starting points for kit bashing and super detailing, as were sone of the other pieces.
But based on what we expect today, the whole line was just good quality toys, not scale models.
Even in their day, not considered as good as Athearn blue/yellow box products.
Sheldon
John-NYBWI'm as puzzled as the OP was when he started this thread in 2005 as to why anyone would collect TYCO. It makes no more sense to me today than it did back then.
Something doesn't have to fit into ones value system to not be in someone else's. I don't need to understand why many people do many things.
Thinking about it. I would love to have a perfect example in a mint condition box of everything TYCO ever made. It would make a great museum exhibit.
I could not allow a 17 year-old thread on Tyco products to pass by without chiming in. I have no idea why some people like to collect certain items. They feel that it has some value to them. But it was a Tyco train set that got me into the hobby. My parents bought me the "Spirit of 76" train set back during Christmas of 1975. I still have a few of the cars from that set and some others that I bought after that time. They admittedly look quite toy like compared to what I prefer now, but I would have trouble letting them go.
It was great to see Mister Beasley as the first reply to the original post and to see him chime in the other day.
Modeling the B&M Railroad during the transition era in Lowell, MA
There are two types of collectors, those that do it as a financial investment and those that do it for sentimental reasons. People collect things like stamps, rare coins, baseball cards etc. both because they have an interest in them but also because they have the potential to grow in value as demand increases. That is risky business if demand drops and the bottom falls out of the market.
Then there is the sentimental collector. They collect things from their past that they have good feelings about. I've done a little of that, buying board games that I enjoyed when I was young but are no longer made. Ebay is a great source for those kind of items. I still have the original Model Power loco from the set I bought when I got back into the hobby as a young adult in 1976. It was just a circle of track with 4 or 5 cars including the caboose. The loco is a blue Rock Island switcher which looks oversized and I would bet does not have a prototype. I also have the caboose. It's one thing to hang on to something for sentimental reasons or get something that replaces it, but I have a hard time understanding collecting it. I would never consider collecting vintage Model Power equipment and I have a hard time why someone would actively collect Tyco unless it is the same models one had from the past. I can't believe these could have any financial potential but maybe I'm wrong.
It was actually Consolidated Foods-whose logo was on the brown/gold Tyco boxes in the 70s. The mid 70s is when Tyco turned into "ToyCo"...away went the steam loco kits, and in came those abominable large tank cars and things like the Chattanooga Choo-Choo.
John-NYBWThere are two types of collectors, those that do it as a financial investment
No, I was speaking of the other type of collector. Those who find something "interesting" for some reason or another. Somehow I got interested in the Polar Express and have collected all the Lionel "Scale" trains for that. Go figure.
I am a casual collector. I buy things that appeal to me.
I have a real fondness for Tyco since I started with that, Atlas track, and Atlas buildings in 1971. MDC "old timers", Central Valley, and LaBelle rolling stock kits soon followed. I buy these at train shows as I find them in good condition, good price, and they appeal to me.
Paul
Definitely a nostaliga thing. But I will say that I'd MUCH rather see TYCO trains sitting in a display box than running on a layout.
Yeah, I guess nostalgia must be strong with some. I never had any affinity for Tyco as I got older. But one mans trash is another mans treasure so they say.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Metro Red Line Definitely a nostaliga thing. But I will say that I'd MUCH rather see TYCO trains sitting in a display box than running on a layout.
I find the whole thrust of the question to be snobbisly offensive. In essense, what it is saying is, "What's wrong with those wierdoes? They LIKE Tyco!" Folks, we're the wierdoes. We are a subset of the people on the planet who like trains, we're a subset of that who are interested in models of the same, and a subset of that who communicate in English, a subset of that who communicate via the Internet and a subset of that who use this site. And if you think the rest of the world doesn't consider us weird, ask someone from Britain about "Anoraks" and "Train Spotting".
BEAUSABRE And if you think the rest of the world doesn't consider us weird, .....