TYCO

[vsmith]

I was about 8 years old when my parents gave me the Tyco Dixie Bell (Western & Atlantic) train set.  It was by far, the best Christmas of my life.  Now almost 40 years later, that same Dixie Bell engine still runs!  And since I was a kid and I could walk to K-Mart, I bought several Tyco cars.  I love my Hershey's boxcar, the Dairymen's League, and Morton Salt.  I have even converted them to Kadee #5's.  All these cars run with my Athearn, Athearn Genesis, Intermountain, MDC Roundhouse, and others.

I had that same Dixiebell engine, and yes it was an exellent model locomotive that just ran and ran and ran, however the scale for HO was a bit...funny? seamed a tad large next to an F7.

[dti406]

Regarding the GP-20, Mont Switzer did a two part article in Mainline Modeler (around 1990) on doing a NYC GP-20 using the Tyco body with a Proto Power West drive.  The major surgery was on the front steps to the cab (there are none) and the pilots. The results were spectcular.

Also their C630 body was very well done also, but with the Stewart we don't need it any more. 

 

Rick.

[emdgp92]

Ah, the (No)Power-Torque drive. What a piece of well, something I can't say here LOL Seriously though, when new, they weren't too bad. However, at least in my case, they didn't stay that way for long. What had once been a (relatively) smooth-running RF16, soon turned into a poorly-running piece of junk. Needless to say, I retired those units, and bought another Bachmann F unit...and eventually, my first Athearn F7s. Needless to say, the Athearn Fs are nearly 20 years old, but still run like new!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I threw most of my old Tyco stuff out a couple of decades ago. Some of what I kept went into scratchbuild and kitbash projects. A couple of old loco bodies live on with Athearn chassis under them. Both are Tyco/Mantua F units but are from different runs. Both originally had the Mantua MU-2 drive which was far superior to the later Power-Torque junk drive used by Tyco.

[steamage]

I have a lot of Tyco cars on my layout now that have been re-trucked, detailed, painted and lettered. Their great for car detailing projects, you'll never hear a complaint from me.

[ICOrange]

I was about 8 years old when my parents gave me the Tyco Dixie Bell (Western & Atlantic) train set.  It was by far, the best Christmas of my life.  Now almost 40 years later, that same Dixie Bell engine still runs!  And since I was a kid and I could walk to K-Mart, I bought several Tyco cars.  I love my Hershey's boxcar, the Dairymen's League, and Morton Salt.  I have even converted them to Kadee #5's.  All these cars run with my Athearn, Athearn Genesis, Intermountain, MDC Roundhouse, and others.

[aloco]

The Mantua Tyco stuff was good in its time, and the diesels of that period ran just as good as the Athearn locos with geared drives and no flywheels.   Back in 1974 I had a Cox SW1500 (same as Athearn's SW7) and a Tyco GP20, and both ran quite well.   The Tyco single dome tank cars of the early to mid 1970s were quite nice (I had four of them) and their streamlined cupola caboose had metal end handrails. But that was the 'brown box' era Tyco stuff.

From what I understand, the later stuff (late 1970s-early 1980s) was junk.  Production was moved over to Hong Kong and the locos had the new Power Torque drive, which some people say is no better than a pancake motor drive.  A different Alco C-430 body shell was also used during the Power Torque era - the new C-430 had a flatter roof that made the loco more boxy looking.  That ugly-looking C-430 shell later appeared under the Pemco/Aurora and Model Power brand names.

[AntonioFP45]

Ndprr is right on the money on page one as far as Tyco being on the toy train side after the split.

One thought though for any modelers that are into realistic modeling. Many of us that are now adults would not seriously consider using any Tyco locomotives.

One worthy exception though:

The Tyco GP20 locomotive, which came in some trains sets and in some cases could be bought individually, has a body with potential! The hood is the correct scale width and with a repaint and body detailing using "Details West" parts, it could look just as nice as an Atlas unit!

Model Railroader printed a very good article (I think in the late 80s) on reworking and detailing a Tyco GP20 body shell in the Union Pacific scheme. I remember that the job by the author was stunning! Two years ago, my wife's cousin did a beautiful job to his GP20 which originally he was going to junk, until he compared the body to his Athearns. It did take quite a bit of work to adapt to an Athearn GP9 chassis, but it was a success. If there's a will, there's a way! He's now going to install a DCC decoder in it. [:D][:)][;)][8D][8)]

Ironically, at trains shows like GATS, some vendors do sell stuff that most of us consider "JUNK". I have seen old Tycos and Bachmanns for sale for $3 to $5, or like I saw in Tampa: free! It's not a bad idea to look over the equipment carefully. A GP20 or an old ALCO Century could be in some vendor's pile that with patience, Acrylic paint, Microscale decals, and Details West parts, could be turned into a work of art that would make even Rivet counters nod in approval! [swg][tup]

[IRONROOSTER]

I started with a Tyco Prairie and a Tyco Ten Wheeler back in 71 along with some cars. Still have them, but haven't tried running them in years since I'm in S now. At the time they ran reasonably well.
Enjoy
Paul

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mainecentral229

QUOTE: Originally posted by 4884bigboy

QUOTE: TYCO, Trains You Can't Operate. (can't remember who posted that, but it was clever).

That is so true, it gives me goose bumps!!

I thought it was

Trains
You'll
Cry
Over

especially when they never work![:(]

[dragenrider]

I'm one of those 30-somethings who started with Tyco as a child. Every year for Christmas I asked for and received another Tyco train set. I had boxes of their stuff all over my room! Needless to say, the engine, usually an Alco Century, never lasted two weeks [xx(]. I learned early how to strip gears out and make dummies.

During my adolescence I stumbled onto a real train hobby shop. The old gentleman who owned it patiently answered my many questions and let this rambunctious kid with no money handle everything in his shop week after week.

God rest his soul, [angel]*** Berkendorf [angel], the hobby shop owner, kindly set me on the straight and narrow path to understanding: Athearn! [:D]

[sparkingbolt]

in 1976 my first set was a Tyco set from a dept store. It had a SF F7 which quickly fell apart, they replaced it with a Chessie GE something, which quickly fell apart. It had 4 freight cars I think, and a power pack that , well, quickly fell apart.

I bought some other junk engines, then was turned onto Athearn....

[Budliner]

My first HO trains were also a TYCO

[Anonymous]

I started with a bachman set but i have soem tyco locos and cars.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 4884bigboy

QUOTE: TYCO, Trains You Can't Operate. (can't remember who posted that, but it was clever).

That is so true, it gives me goose bumps!!

[ndbprr]

All of your recollections about TYCO are on the mark to a point but you need to know the rest of the story. Way back in the late 40's through the 50's TYCo was one of the best running products made. They and Varney were in essence what Atheran became before P2K. The market split in the early 60's into the serious hobby side and the toy train side. TYCO opted to stay with basically the toy train side which was very lucrative since so many of you bought their products. Alas the long term effect of that decision was TYCO became in essence a cash cow that was milked for all the revenue it could provide with little or no capital outlay. Further business decisions took TYCO even deeper into rediculous offerings like the Silver Streak and Chatanooga Choo choo that no serious modeler would ever own or even think of owning. Yet there was a market for those things with the unknowing price concious Toys-r-us type shopper. The net effect is that poor business decisions lead to the loss of one of the hobby's premier early producers of rolling stock and engines. RIP TYCO.

[vsmith]

Got a Tyco set when I was 10 or so, had a Burlington GP9, some cars, even an operating pipe car that unloaded, of course it never worked. The Geep ran for a very long time on my plywood 4x8, eventually I traded it for something. Sold off everything HO when I was in my teens.

[areibel]

Hey Sgt. Clark,
Been there, done that with the locomotive! But if it's one of the C430's, they're pretty comon. I still have the shell of my original one (I liked to take stuff apart, not paint) but I found a replacement loco on Ebay for $10. I've seen them at shows, looking brand new in the box for $25, so they're out there!

[Anonymous]

My first trainset was the TYCO Chattanooga steam engine with the motor in the tender. It ran well, but the best part was the smoke. I just looked online and ebay has one for $45. I gave mine away to a kid that could not afford a trainset but really liked them. He actually got my old TYCO transformer and I made him a circle track 4X4. I built the track with nickle and not brass, I figure I needed to give him something that would run and not need to be cleaned every few hours. Knowing that this kid continues to play and enjoy this engine is worth more than $45.

Greg

[Anonymous]

I still have many of the cars and accessories from my Tyco sets when i was a kid. I like to use some of them intermixed on my current layout . It's funny how some of the cars are so close to other manufactures cars that they are almost exact. Some of the structures are now sold by IHC and the cars look like IHC's or Bachman's.

RMax

[Anonymous]

hey Sgt J T Clark- if it wan't for TYCO/Mantua, as well as Varney, Hobby-Line, and especially the Athearn ' blue-box' engine and rolling stock kits, we late '50i***ypes would be still trying to find room for O scale! Lets not forget that early HO structure releases from Atlas, such as their interlocking tower, water tank, pass. stration,and school kits were state of the art then, and hold their own today. Even Revell got into the act with their infamous HO structure line- engine house, "Superior Bakery", "Weekly Herald ", pass. & frt stations, farm house, barn, and so on These are still available today, having been re-released by many different firms. The tooling is still first rate. I'll never forget how excited I was when Athearn introduced an F& A&B plus streamline cars decorated for the ESPEE in 'Daylight' paint scheme. I looked all over the EastCoast for them, and had to buy one or two pieces at a time-they were always sold out. It was simpler back then and a lot of fun! .

[GerFust]

My first train set was TYCO, an F-7 A&B C&O Chessie System, I received in the early 1970s, I think. I still have all the rolling stock. The engine still runs, but slips very easily. I suspect the rubber tires have lost their bite, because its weight sure didn't change. And it really grinds when it runs - but that's the charm of it.

-Jer

[Anonymous]

My first set was the Tyco "Spirit of '76" which, (for some stupid reason), in the early 80' s I decided to repaint the loco. Now I have all the original cars, including caboose, and a multicolored engine, that I can't refurbish without destroying it. Live and learn, I guess. I think if it hadn't been for Tyco, many of us aged 35ish wouldn't be involved in such a fun hobby.

[Anonymous]

I have a TYCO green (?) ATSF stock car, and a Spreckles sugar hopper, but nothing else. QUOTE: TYCO, Trains You Can't Operate. (can't remember who posted that, but it was clever).

[Anonymous]

It sounds like I had the same Tyco HO set that a few of you other folks had. Mine had the 0-4-0 saddle tank engine that I thought was called a "Booster". I got mine in 1960 and it came in Pennsy livery and had a box car and gondola and the little bobber caboose. My loco ran very well and the neighbor kid had the same set and from what I can recall, his ran well, also. I thought the loco and caboose were very well made, the cars less so. I have no Tyco stuff now. I have one Mantua bobber caboose which was the same as the Tyco I had as a kid.

[Anonymous]

Re: Cox - at least some of Cox was made by Athearn. Remember they had a "Hustler" but I don't think it was rubber- band drive like all Athearn Hustlers were. Also, wasn't some Lionel HO (in the '60s?) also Athearn sourced? Perhaps only Athearn body shells were used by both Cox and Lionel. And just to be obtuse, wasn't the Bachmann HO Espee Daylght 4-8-4 originally tooled by Lionel? I had one once that came in a Lionel box.

[AntonioFP45]

My first experience into the HO world was when my dad bought me an HO Santa Fe Tyco freight train set in the early 70s. The locomotive, with it's 3 pole truck motor, ran like a Trans Am with water in the gas tank, but I will always be greatful my late dad's love.

Today, I only have the SF flatcar from that set, which surprisingly looks decent and I'm planning on giving her a "make over".

[brothaslide]

I recived my first Tyco train set for Christmas in 1969. I was 4 years old (good memories). I have been a model railroader ever since.

[Anonymous]

My first HO trains were also a TYCO 'Shifter' , a couple of freight cars and a 4 wheel bobber. That was in very early fifties and I immediately parked my American Flyer S gauge tinplate. I remember that the TYCO didn't run too well-no where as good as Amer. Flyer. The loco had a nylon gear that never seemed to mesh correctly and kept chewing itself up. Years later a TYCO mikado did same thing. But that first TYCO looked so realistic to my seven year old eyes compared to the goofy tinplate stuff (my opinion back then) that I never looked back and have been in HO ever since. I still have a TYCO "Shifter" and a TYCO bobber caboose just for the heck of it.