DRfan I really wonder if the people paying high prices for the TYCO trains are model railroaders or people that are toy collectors. Their are many people that think if something "old" it is valuable. I remember when I collected stamps as young boy back in the early 1970s, my dad warned me to collect cancelled stamps from the 1940s aand not mint ones from dealers. He told me that the stamps will change value based on fads and not becasue they are truely valuable. I have kept this belief when buying model train equipment as well. TYCO maybe popular now but in ten years it may drop in valve quickly.
I really wonder if the people paying high prices for the TYCO trains are model railroaders or people that are toy collectors. Their are many people that think if something "old" it is valuable. I remember when I collected stamps as young boy back in the early 1970s, my dad warned me to collect cancelled stamps from the 1940s aand not mint ones from dealers. He told me that the stamps will change value based on fads and not becasue they are truely valuable. I have kept this belief when buying model train equipment as well. TYCO maybe popular now but in ten years it may drop in valve quickly.
The instrinsic value of Tyco is minimal. They become valuable solely because there is a demand and limited supply of it. When the demand drops so will the value. Stamps are a good example. If there were no collectors they would be worthless. But because people want them they become valuable.
Personally, I agree when it comes to the Train Set TYCO. But the beeter quality stuff from the 50's and 60's still run on my Cawdor Southern and Cherokee Valley Railroads. Less expensive, plus then I dont have to be so finiky about some parts.
I still pick up a number of old Tyco cars at the quarterly aswap meet I attend regularly, and- as per my recent Soo Line caboose and GN flat car I posted in the Photo Gallery, they are nice foundations upon which to build a better quality car with minimal investment. But didn't Tyco, along with Athearn and Lionel, help introduce many to the model railroading hobby? Let those who value them as they are enjoy them, just as others enjoy Athearn BBs and Rivarossi steam...
Cedarwoodron
Or Fleischmann steamers?
tinplatacis Or Fleischmann steamers?
That was the train of my childhood. I still have it with a string of cars. All German prototype except the bobber caboose which is Santa Fe. Still runs just fine after 60 years.
Enjoy
Paul
Tyco trains existed because they filled a niche in the market place. They were made to sell in bargain basement stores to people who felt that they really couldn't justify spending good money on what was basically a kid's toy. Tyco is no different than Louis Marx or Hummer trains are to the three-rail crowd, and both of those brands are considered extremely collectible today. Even the major manufacturers like Lionel and Flyer had their stripped-down sets that were designed to be sold to the lower end of the market. I am told that there is a nostalgia there in their toy-like simplicity that appeals to some but not everyone.
I have figured out what is wrong with my brain! On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!
Stranger things have happened. About 20 years ago, with the advent of eBay the flyer NP Lowey NCL set was selling regularly for $2000, train only. The demand was so high, Lionel, who owned the rights to flyer stuff at the time put out a new version of the old set. The irony is that NP never had the PA engines in the set.
Flyer stuff from the fifties is actually comparable to TYCO stuff of the seventies, not necessarily in quality, but in nostalgia collectable value.
I have dealt with several TYCO brown box collectors. They have a specific list of things they need. Some run their trains and some don't. They want to have the total collection. A typical
trait for collectors of most anything.
Larry
www.llxlocomotives.com
So many trains, so little time,
They form the basis of most of my active steamers at the moment, actually. As long as the flanges aren't arguing with the trackwork, they're virtually indestructible mechanically.
IRONROOSTER tinplatacis Or Fleischmann steamers? That was the train of my childhood. I still have it with a string of cars. All German prototype except the bobber caboose which is Santa Fe. Still runs just fine after 60 years. Enjoy Paul
I can understand buying some Tyco cars for fun, display, or bashing fodder, nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't pay more than like four bucks a piece for cars though. I started into the hobby with the Tyco of today, Life-Like. It's a decent way of getting used to the overalll feel of model trains. I have a question though, what's the consensus on quality for Athearn BB? I have one GP9 that I added the details to and it's a decent engine. My complaint would be the handrails needed some trimming and bending, plus some I didn't have the expertise to do as someone who is newer to loco kits in this day of rtr. Are there any other little things I should look for to maybe fix or super detail on this engine later and other BBs?
I believe they are sound now, but some of the ones from the late 80's, at least that I had, were a tad questionable operationally. It was the wheelsets material, I think, but there are no longer any in my roster.
I actually sold Tyco sets when I opened a hobby shop in 1974. Then the returns started with locomotives and power packs that quit. After that, if you wanted a set, you made your own and I would give a 20% discount. All sets after that usually had an Athearn or Atlas locomotive, Athearn cars, Atlas 22 inch radius nickel silver rail and a MRC or Troller power pack. None of those ever came back.
I used to run a long train full speed backwards on the store layout with a sign in a gondola that said, "Try this with your Tyco".
I did buy a Tyco set from the Four Seasons store on base when I was stationed in Turkey only because there was nothing else. The switcher was wired the opposite of NMRA standards. Some cars have been kept and the couplers were cut off and Kadee's installed.
Ken Vandevoort
I use Tyco for practicing weathering and aging before attempting it on a more expensive piece of rolling stock. I kept about a dozen of the better Tyco boxcars to fill some yard tracks, they will either be sold once I switch them to more expensive units, or used for some spare parts and or kitbashing. Maybe make a few accidented cars to be placed on a repair track. I use them until I get better ones, at least they bring me joy for the time being.
By Tyco of course.
Jim
Have fun with your trains
Just something else to collect, like stamps or bottle caps. I went and found near mint examples of the Tyco I had as a young child. Not to run(although they do run) but to put in my display case for the good memories they bring back. To bad the originals didnt last long as did most other Tyco. That being said, my father's Lionel set from 1948, which I also ran to death as a child, still runs under our Christmas tree to this very day! Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Not gonna believe this, but I just found out that the mystery SD-40 that serves as my main motive power is train set TYCO from the early 80's! Runs great too, is the funny thing.
tinplatacisNot gonna believe this, but I just found out that the mystery SD-40 that serves as my main motive power is train set TYCO from the early 80's!
Your right, we won't believe you.
Tyco did make a SD 24 but never made a SD 40. AHM / IHC had one and it was a step up from Tyco.
But then again almost every brand was a step up from Tyco.
http://www.ho-scaletrains.net/ahmhoscalelocomotives/id15.html
My bad... Guess I misidentified the model. Still can't believe it's TYCO, though.
ICRR1964Does anyone remember the Chattanooga Choo- Choo set? I got one of these for Christmas when they first came out when I was young. It ran for about 2 days and died from a burned up motor. I had it repaired 2 times, the motor! Gave up on the third repair and put it back in the box! These seem to bring top dollar on ebay now.
really? I got a "chattanooga Choo-Choo" 2-8-0 loco a little while ago from a very respectable, (though now out of business :() train store. I've had this connie for about a year now, and although I dont use it much, it is a great little consol and lots of fun to run!
__________________________________________________________________
M+R Railroad, since 2008 "Through heat and cold, we beat the bold"
I went and found mint examples of my childhood Tyco engines, the Royal Blue 2-8-0 tender drive and the Silver Streak diesel. Both run but spend thier time in my display case now. I did pick up a second Royal Blue that I will remove the smoke unit and install a NWSL gear box on the driver axle that has the smoke cam now. Then a nice little can motor and weight in the boiler where the smoker used to be. Then I can have a nice RB 2-8-0 that runs as good as it looks! Its not that a truck mounted disc style motor is junk by nature. Marklin has done this well for decades. My digitaly controled DB V160 diesel w/sound will just crawl or scoot along at passenger speeds. Tyco just went way to cheap with paper thin gears, a micro cast metal pinion gear on a super tiny motor shaft. I have seen zinc pest infecting some of the truck castings now. Both of my 2 mint engines were locked up when I got them. Between dried grease and some corrosion on the gear stub shaft had locked them up. But a good cleaning, polishing the stub shafts with a wire wheel in my dremel motor tool had them both running like new in short order. I get them out of the case and lay a piece of track next to the my Marklin C track layout to run them. Just like mint in the box Lionel, Tyco can command some silly prices when its mint and unrun. Certian pieces that are easily damaged with handling really fetch some serious money when in mint shape. Any of the chrome engines/cars are this way. Mike
I had a Tyco train on Bachamann track under a plexiglass cover on display in my office for about 5 years. Customers loved it. Everyone had memories of Tyco trains. Most of the comments were silly, like "wow, wonder what that is worth now ($0.00)", or "wow, you took really good care of your toys (nope, bought it at a train show for next to nothing).
.
Nobody cared when I had nicely weathered scale models in the same case. People like nostalgia, and I suppose that is what fuels Tyco collectors. They are trying to get back something from the past.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190Nobody cared when I had nicely weathered scale models
Or as my grandson said "Grandad, these cars are dirty. You need to clean them"
IRONROOSTERYou need to clean them
My wife still gets perturbed when I ruin a "perfect" model with weathering.
I collect and run old Varney, Mantua, and (gasp), Lionel trains, and think it's kind of pathetic to see others bashing someone's choice of what makes them happy. Not everyone in this hobby enjoys it the same way, and there is no right or wrong way to participate. TYCO trains were the first experience with model railroading many had, and if they want to re-live that long ago experience, who are any of us to knock them for it? In the final analysis, they are all just toy choo choos, and we are all just playing pretend when we run them, whether you want to accept it or not.
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
I agree, they filled a void in the market back then. Were they the best on the market, no, but they had some decent models thru the years. The engines that have the Mantua style drive like the wild west engines, the earlier diesels and such can be made to run very well. Nickle silver wheels, extra wheel wipers or rail wipers fix power pickup issues. The freight cars look great once weathered and Kaydee #5's body mounted are installed. Some metal wheel sets finish them off. And you will still be cheaper than a new RTR freight car and a lot less fragile. Good for taking to the club or running on a portable show layout where cars must be handled constantly. The new RTR stuff is so fragile, its almost a "hands off" model once out of the package. Tyco has always gotten bashed, but I have seen some really nice layouts built around the whole Tyco line of trains. To each his/her own! Mike
emdmike Good for taking to the club or running on a portable show layout where cars must be handled constantly.
Good for taking to the club or running on a portable show layout where cars must be handled constantly.
I take my fragile stuff to our Free-mo setups. The cars aren't handled constantly. There's no reason. Almost all the time, I'm the one handling them. Officially, no one is supposed to touch your equipment but you. So, if you DO have a need to touch someone else's rolling stock, you know you really better be careful. Because not only did you damage your buddies stuff, but you broke the rules doing it.
I do not recall any rolling stock being damaged by "other" hands in all the setups I've been to.
I suppose other clubs and organizations could do the same, if they wished. It ain't "rocket science".
Anyway, back to collectors. Some people collect brass locomotives. Some collect Tyco. Some collect American Flyer HO (I've got their 0-6-0 switcher which has a smoke unit that puffs, and their C&O DL600B, with the dinging bell that won't stop. Ever.).
You might think collecting Tyco is strange. Ya know, there are people who think grownups playing with trains at all is strange.
Ed
Botton line. It's none of our business. Lets get back to our layouts. That is our business.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
I buy a lot of TYCO and Bachmann cars,notably Covered hoppers.I don't collect them because of who made them I buy them because they make great grain hoppers with a low starting price.You can replace the trucks or use a truck tuner on them and replace the wheels with metal ones,if you don't like metal wheels the truck tunner will make the cars roll a lot better.
I always body mount the couplers on any talgo trucked car that I rework.
They collect it because they like it.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
I recall getting an HO Tyco set for Christmas back in 1975 and I literally ran the poor cheap thing to death in a couple of months. That was my only experience with an Tyco product. And no, I wouldn't care to own any Tyco products today...