A friend was cleaning out her house and decided to send me something she found:
I will have to check out the loco, lube it up and try it out. Doesnt look like it has much wear on it. Aurora imported Trix locomotives beginning in 1967.
Let us know how it turns out! :)
I had the version of this set with the F unit as a child - it was like the Crown Jewels then, and correspondingly priced (at what I recall was the equivalent of nearly two ounces of gold).
If I remember correctly, the gears on these may not age well, so you may have to engage in more detailed 'restoration'. To me they are a cool piece of history.
I remember my dad having the Aurora and AFX HO slot cars from the 1970s. He still has his collection and we run them alongside Lionel trains because they're not true HO (1:87) scale. Still a lot of fun. I believe Tyco made slot cars as well.
-Matt
BillwizA friend was cleaning out her house and decided to send me something she found:
That is a nifty find! It looks to all be in good condition.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
My first real set of trains.
She needs to be broken in a bit, and my track needs some cleaning (and a little work over the turnout), but she runs!
mthobbies I remember my dad having the Aurora and AFX HO slot cars from the 1970s. He still has his collection and we run them alongside Lionel trains because they're not true HO (1:87) scale. Still a lot of fun. I believe Tyco made slot cars as well. -Matt
My younger brother was in to "HO" slot cars. I was into trains. Tyco made what I recall as better slot car track, not as fragile as A/FX, but the A/FX bars blew the doors off the Tycos.
He moved on. I stayed with trains.
Nice little jog of the memory, this thread. Cool gift indeed. Dan
BillwizTyco absolutely made slot cars - if I recall, that became bigger than the train business.
What can you give model railroading a shot in the arm with? How about slot-car speed and loop-the-loop fun with futuristic HO trains!
I never measured how fast in "scale" mph these things would go, but they're definitely in the HSR category... puts your basic Hy-Drive rubber-band RDC to shame. And the 'throttle' was a slot-car plunger controller!
Alas, I was no longer a kid when these were marketed, but I still like them.
Incidentally, my 'real' first layout (as opposed to track around the tree) had a slot-car track in the center... and I distinctly remember it had a grade-crossing piece that let you run trains across the road. I don't now remember who made it; most of the cars I remember were Aurora.
That train set is pretty cool and looks like it is in decent shape. That was a great find.
I remember that Aurora had some cool N scale trains and some very cool HO scale slot cars back in the early 70's. Those slot cars (I liked to race their Ford GT the most) ran about as fast as the Athearn HO scale Hustler Diesel that I also used to have. Now THAT beast was fast!
Prepare to qualify....
Jeff B.
groundeffects I remember that Aurora had some cool N scale trains Now THAT beast was fast!
I remember that Aurora had some cool N scale trains
Now THAT beast was fast!
Oh yes they did and I got wise to that one Jeff! I've been a great big fan of depressed center flat cars for quite a while
Aurora postage stamp has one of the coolest depressed center flat cars ever built from the 70s.
I was getting quite the fleet of them until I started advertising I suppose five is enough before I get carried away. I have two in the box and three that are'nt.
One of the five has MTL knuckle couplers and I can't figure out how the guy that sold it to me did it. I tried to figure it out on one of the four the other day and I'm still baffled
Postage Stamp had one over on the other companies at one time as far as I'm concerned.
Now that Beast was fast!
You busted my gut Jeff
P.S. To the OP. You sure were gifted a great hidden treasure Bill. Like a time capsule. I like it!
TF
Track fiddlerP.S. To the OP. You sure were gifted a great hidden treasure Bill. Like a time capsule. I like it!
Wow, so many of you connected to this post with great memories (and yes I did forget about Tyco Turbo Trains). Glad it brought up these thoughts for all of you.
It is a really great train, I'm happy my friend thought so much of me and my hobby, and that it brought all of you some joy (especially in these days).
Bill
BillwizTyco absolutely made slot cars - if I recall, that became bigger than the train business. I had a small set, not sure if Tyco but probably was, especially since it ran so poorly! Late 1970's Tyco was not that great.
I remember getting a Tyco slot car set at Toys R Us well after those brown toy train boxes had disappeared from shelves. Maybe not "bigger," but certainly lasted later.
One of my childhood dreams had been an integrated train/slot car layout, which never came to be. It was based on achieving one of my toy holy grails: the US-1 Trucks.
NittanyLionOne of my childhood dreams had been an integrated train/slot car layout
I had a crossing track for my HO slot cars that an HO scale train could run through. We ran a short train on a small loop.
Adding the feature of "dodge the train" made the race a bit more entertaining.
Edit: I found a picture of it. It was Tyco track. I was not imagining this!
My Grandmother worked at J.C. Penneys, and would use her employee discount to purchase birthday and Christmas gifts for her grandchildren. My first train set was a Marx 027 set from Penney's.
But my second train set was a Marx HO train and slot car set. There was a grade crossing that my brother liked to crash the cars into my train......
In the late '60's, we bought Aurora HO slot cars to replace the original Marx cars. The Aurora cars ran much better....
Paul
Billwiz:
Is that set HO or N scale?
ATSFGuy Billwiz: Is that set HO or N scale?
It is N scale.