Why does everyone hate TYCO so much?

[PASMITH]

I don't hate Tyco. In fact, I actually have fun taking poor quality stuff and making it work better. I may even look for the dreaded Power-Torque 2-8-0 at an upcoming train show and see what I can do with it.

I'm with you. I have purchased two Tyco 4-8-0's on e-bay. I am using them as a base for kit bashing SP's 4-8-0 1890's Mastodon TW-2 so I don't have to scratch build or buy brass. I have already re-motored one of them with a Yard Bird drop in motor and I am now in the process of scratching a whale back tender over an IHC tender frame with all wheel electrical pickup. So far, in tests, it is running like a charm. I will post pictures when I am done. If you read this post Andre, the prototype can be found on page 51 of Signor's SP Shasta division.

Peter Smith, Memphis

[Anonymous]

I don't hate Tyco. In fact, I actually have fun taking poor quality stuff and making it work better. I may even look for the dreaded Power-Torque 2-8-0 at an upcoming train show and see what I can do with it.

Wanna play with some of my stuff? I have a ton of old Tyco stuff you can rebuild......

[CAZEPHYR]

This is kind of a funny thought, but I always disliked even the earliest Tyco diesels because they didn't have a frame. They were just trucks and a weight snapped into a shell, with those ugly locking tabs protruding through sides. The F7's in particular just didn't have much substance, so I always felt like I was running a locomotive skeleton. It seems even funnier when you realize that you could hammer nails with their steamers.

 SteamFreak 

I think your comment , "you could hammer nails with their steamers"  really does hit the nail on the head.  I don't hate TYCO, just ignoring their products and always have.      

[SteamFreak]

This is kind of a funny thought, but I always disliked even the earliest Tyco diesels because they didn't have a frame. They were just trucks and a weight snapped into a shell, with those ugly locking tabs protruding through the sides. The F7's in particular just didn't have much substance, so I always felt like I was running a locomotive skeleton. It seems even funnier when you realize that you could hammer nails with their steamers.

[Don Gibson]

BECAUSE we now have things that are  better.

TRANSLATION: At one time TYCO was 'good' - until you tried something else. - OR

Bought them because they were cheap, and wanted a challenge.

 

 

[Darth Santa Fe]

I don't hate Tyco. In fact, I actually have fun taking poor quality stuff and making it work better. I may even look for the dreaded Power-Torque 2-8-0 at an upcoming train show and see what I can do with it.

[C&O Fan]

Yes Nelson they do run quite well

I have 8 of them and i use them to haul live loads from the mine

to my Walthers coaling tower

I installed one of their operating tracks in the coaling shed and cut a hole

in the bench work so the cars empty into a coffee can below

 

Some think it's too toy like but i have fun with it !

[SteamFreak]

Looks like some one still loves Tyco

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=130188796357

Over 30 bids from 4 different people

Those operating hoppers were nice because they were made in the pre-Consolidated Foods era. They were very free-rolling for the time, and had RP25 flanges. The underframes and hopper doors were diecast. I built up a Renwal coaling station years ago that was designed to operate with these cars. The function was always a little bit dicey, but then operating accessories like that are better left to O scale.

There seems to be quite a demand for the old Ulrich diecast operating hoppers as well. 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

As a kid, I had TYCO trains, along with AHM, Bachman, Rivarossi, and a bunch of others...

As an adult with 15 or more years away from the hobby and coming back now it seems that most everyone has a morbid dislike of TYCO...

Perhaps I'm the exception that proves the rule, but I don't remember having a lot of trouble out of any of their stuff, or atleast no more than anything by any of the other makers...

I am not trying to stir up argument or insults just trying to understand. I was a kid, so maybe I missed something.

From the early/mid 70's to the early 80's Tyco was absolute junk. I didn't miss them after they left the market.

[C&O Fan]

Looks like some one still loves Tyco

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=130188796357

Over 30 bids from 4 different people

 

[dansapo]

One word........JUNK

yup that pretty much sums it up.

 

[d van]

That's two different Tyco's if I remember right.....Tyco of toy train is now owned by Mattel and makes R/C and slot cars...but no trains.

The CEO in jail is a different Tyco........ 

[Anonymous]

-

 

[loathar]

 

Time to lighten up and let this deceased company rest in peace.

-Phil

Ummm...Tyco's not deceased. They just quit making train stuff. Do a Google and see all the toy, medical and industrial stuff they still make. And their old CEO is still sitting in Federal prison...

[shayfan84325]

My first, too.

I sort of super detailed one of those 0-4-0s.  I epoxied brass detail castings to it and added the appropriate plumbing, Kadee couplers, and painted it.  It looked pretty good.  With a transistor throttle, it ran pretty well, too.  I really think the power packs were as much to blame as the locos for the performance issues.

Time to lighten up and let this deceased company rest in peace.

-Phil

[Great Western Rwy fan]

One word........JUNK

[Anonymous]

-

[Flashwave]

I have a Tyco Amtrak set of 3 coaches and F7 from a disowned friend. The cars still work, they have a paper people windows with a backlight. But I recall the engine making an attempt at 2 inches before giving up, partially because the only thing attaching the truck to the body were wires to the headlight. for not having a chassis, it wasn't bad. And the shell may live on.

Ironically, I had to take them out of the boxes beacuse the boxes were deteriorating around them.

[sfrailfan]

well i read the first few responses or so and most say the quality was bad. while that is true.... I look back on my childhood trains (most of which I still have) with fond memories. It's that now I understand why my tyco gp 20 (the late durango version) or gp 38 (sante fe) usually stalled through a switch.

 keep in mind i didn't know there was anything else beyond tyco LL bachmann until i stopped into a LHS and discovered Athearn. I asked if they were good runners and the owner replied they were the best. I bought my first Athearn loco (gp 40 BN) right then and when I got it home I was in awe!

  so I can't say I hate the old tyco stuff I'm just dissappointed I can't run it with the quaility stuff.

 EDIT: hey steamage!

I just took a look at your site about converting tyco cars... NICE JOB. I've been working on about 10 of those hoppers to make em stone cars for our club's railroad... but I have 3 of those same flat cars you show! 

[d van]

I have a Tyco branded 2-8-2 thats die cast and while detail is simple it runs like a top and pulls like crazy. Tyco went through many hands (owners) and many cheapened the line and made big box store junk. The also started painting the loco's and rolling stock in wild unrealistic schemes. That turned off many 'model railroaders'. The deal is that did not have to make it so cheap....the owners at the time, many big non-hobby corps, just wanted the highest price for the cheapest stuff.  We are lucky today as there is not much junk out there....even a $29 Bachamnn set I bought to put under the tree one Christmas (we were in process of moving and everything was packed) was a great little set with knuckle couplers and a nice running F-7 thats still in use on my current layout.

[Virginian]

AND, Virginian never had silver and black hoppers, OR blue and yellow engines.

[jkeaton]

I too had Tyco's in my youth - the Lionel I started out with in 1970s was too expensive for a teenager's budget 10 years later, so I bought HO.  Had two of the GP20s.  They didn't run all that well at first - off or lightspeed - but the problem was the powerpacks, not the locos.  A good powerpack made them run well - no smoking engines or cab-melting headlamps.

 You did have to keep the carpet fibres out of them.

It is curious that so many people responding have criticised the track - I still have a fair bit of late 70s Tyco brass track and I use it regularly, setting up a loop of track to entertain my four-year-old.  Occasionally a spot of black crud appears (easily wiped off) but overall it is of better quality than the Atlas brass track of the same era that I also have a loop of.  Perhaps the fact that the Tyco track is all marked 'made in Austria' makes a difference?  I no longer have the Tyco GP20s, but the 'four wheel pick-up, four wheel drive' 1970s Model Power F9 works just fine on the Tyco brass track, as do more modern locomotives.  Oh, and that Model Power F9 pulls a number of unmodified Tyco freight cars without derailments.  Now I know why I kept them - the four year old enjoys 'running trains' and my more expensive models are kept out of his little fingers (he managed to mangle the door on an Athearn blue box once when my back was turned....)

[Pruitt]

My first scale trains were a Tyco set in 1969 or 70. It had a GP-20 loco with a power truck that looked a lot like the later PFM "Spud" (if anyone remembers those). Probably didn't run nearly as well as the Spud, but it did OK for a 15 YO new to the hobby. In fact, I still have that power truck! It sits in my junk box. Maybe I'll try to fire it up and see what happens!! The rest of the loco is long gone, though.

(I traded my old early 60s-era Lionel plastic set, and my dad's WWII vintage Lionel set, for the Tyco set. The guy I traded it to knew he was ripping me off big time in terms of relative dollar value, I think, but I didn't know that at the time, and in terms of what that scale beginning has done for me throughout my life, it was an OK deal. Still, he could have been decent about it and made a fair trade... but I digress).

I think the loco was a Santa Fe, but I might be wrong about that. I remember I wanted to have my own freelanced paint scheme, so I spray painted the shell this godawful mint green color, from a hardware store-purchased can (i.e., not hobby paint)! Barely any detail left to be seen (and there few enough to start with!). But it was mine, and I had a LOT of fun with it.

When I got my first Athearn a couple of years later, the Tyco became a relic that almost never ran again. Whatever happened to the shell I don't remember - probably threw it out when I left the hobby (and sold nearly everything) for a time in college.

I forgot how much I enjoyed that old clunky-running Tyco. Maybe I don't really dislike them as much as I've come to think I do!

[shayfan84325]

By the way, a scale model locomotive is a TOY, maybe a rich man's toy, but still a toy ( unless you get paid to run it ).

Babe,

I've got to differ with you on that last statement.  Here's the Mirriam-Webster Definition of toy:

Pronunciation: \'to?i\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle English toye Date: 15th century

1 obsolete a: flirtatious or seductive behavior b: pastime; also : a sportive or amusing act : antic  2 a: something (as a preoccupation) that is paltry or trifling b: a literary or musical trifle or diversion c: trinket bauble  3: something for a child to play with  4: something diminutive; especially : a diminutive animal (as of a small breed or variety)  5: something that can be toyed with  6 Scottish : a headdress of linen or woolen hanging down over the shoulders and formerly worn by old women of the lower classes

I'm not insulted when someone refers to our hobby with such references (sticks and stones...), but for us to refer to our fairly sophisticated models as toys is really inappropriate and inaccurate.  Since TYCO products fit #3 fairly well, I'd say the definition is correct for TYCO; it does not fit my brass locos or hand built wooden structures.

Back to the topic.  TYCO products were what they were.  They are no longer manufactured, I presume that's because they lost their place in the market - most likely because the quality of their products was insufficient, or something else caused customers to shop the competition.  The same thing happened to Nash/Rambler/American Motors, BSA motorcycles, Norton motorcycles and other noteworthy (but now gone) companies.

It seems like wasted energy to hate TYCO now that they are no longer in business.  They paid the ultimate price for their misjudgment.  What more can be said?

-Phil

[CPRail modeler]

so I guess if another manufacturer messed up, they would have "pulled a tyco"?

[baberuth73]

I remember in days of youth laying two lengths of parallel track about 30 feet in length and drag racing my Athearn rubber band engines with the shells off, of course. Man those things would haul a--! But I have fond memories of 60's era Tyco. On rare occasions I briefly run my Tyco F9 that I received Christmas morning of 1962. By the way, a scale model locomotive is a TOY, maybe a rich man's toy, but still a toy ( unless you get paid to run it ).

[LD357]

 TYCOs offerings were just another phase of model railroading, the locos didn't run particularly well, but that was the ''phase'' the hobby was in, can anybody say that the Athearn rubber band drive locos were superb runners? nope. So although Athearn might have been superior to TYCO, it wasn't always so wonderful.

   I have a couple TYCO locos that run ok,  but I did a lot of tweaking and cleaning, they don't run as well as a Spectrum or a new Athearn for sure, but for their time theres nothing wrong with them.

 The TYCO buildings and rolling stock are still very good, even by todays standards. The building kit molds and freight car molds are still in use and are great sellers, and if you want to go with super detail, they provide a good starting point.

  The people who ''hate'' TYCO generally hate anything thats considered ''low priced'', to them spending a small fortune on something is a badge of honor and provides what they consider ''bragging rights'',  thats fine, if you have the money to spend on high priced stuff, by all means go for it!

 I don't particularly care for TYCO locos, too much time needed for maintenance and tweaking. I do, however, like the building kits and some of the rolling stock. I have heard a lot of talk about ''old'' equipment, TYCO, Bachmann,Athearn,Mantua and Life-Like, they all had problems, but so do a goodly amount of these new models out, bad decoders,motors that seize up after a few hours, bad wiring, what will people say 20 or 30 yrs from now about that ''junk'' they had in 2008?

   Nostalgia aside, most of the older stuff will run ok, if you want to invest time into making it run like you want it to. But with the market flooded with moderately priced Bachmann,Athearn and Life-Like equipment, you might be better off relegating that old stuff to the siding. Unless you really like working on it, then by all means, run it! and have fun doing it!!

[chugchug]

A cheap, small Tyco train set that I bought for my son 30 years ago started me off in the Hobby. After the hook was set, I moved on to more expensive stuff. 

 I still have the engine and it still brings a smile to my face.

[DavidBriel]

   I feel that TYCO had some very nice HO toy train freight cars in the 1960's and 1970's such as the silver Virginian (NS) quad hopper and the green Western Maryland (CSX) skid flatcar with pipes or tractors, but their HO Chattanooga 2-8-0 steam locomotive does not match or come close to any prototype paint schemes. I also feel that the TYCO locomotives are not as good of quality to operate such as those made by Athearn or Walthers.

[loathar]

I'd like to see Atlas or Athearn or BLI make a glow in the dark Turbo Train that can run up and down a verticle wall!!
Beyond the scale speed of sound!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U63hHDbw_E8
And it even came with a Dare Devil jump!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YngIuQoBRIs
And just who DIDN'T want a Choo Choo!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKHHnNT7h8I
Come on! THOSE were COOL!!!