A friend offered me some 30 year old Tyco stuff and Atlas track. Doesn't look like it's worth much to me so may not buy any of it.
There's one Alco C430 DC Tyco loco. Runs very rough on my DCC track. Could this be made to run smooth and converted to DCC?
There's lots of old Atlas code 100 track and many turnouts. Looks like brass rail. Is this hard to keep clean? How is its conductivity for DCC?
There are also several Tyco flat cars that look good. They're fairly heavy and I could convert them to metal wheels and Kadee couplers. I may buy these as heavy flats are kind of hard to find.
Jerry
Rio Grande vs. Santa Fe.....the battle is over but the glory remains!
The brass track is a collectors item. In our neighborhood, they collect on Wednesdays. Put it out by the curb and they'll take it, no questions asked.
Yeah, you might be able to convert the engine to DCC, but you'll be disappointed. I did that to an old GP-9. It ran, but poorly. I looked into remotering and re-wheeling the engine, and then I found a brand new one, with much better detail. It was cheaper than the re-motor job, too.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Don't bother with it.
TYCO was low end stuff even when it was new in the 1970's. Made in Hong Kong.Buy it only if you desperately want a C430 or have a collector's interest in TYCO. Modifying it to today's standards and electronics is not worth it.You could buy the flatcars if the price is right, but you'll spend more money on new trucks, wheels and couplers than they're worth.
Brass track is notorious for oxidizing, you keep cleaning it forever. That's why the stuff is floating around on the second-hand market. Brass conducts well but almost impossible to keep clean. Stay away from it.
Frank
Most of those old Tyco locomotives had only one truck powered by a vertical pancake motor, and had traction tires on that truck. The other truck was just along for the ride, and they did not run very good at all -- certainly not worth the cost of a decoder.
Atlas brass snap track is okay for a seldom-used out-of-sight industrial siding, but I would never use it on a main line because it quickly corrodes and needs continual cleaning.
Evidently we had a club in my area where one of the members swore by Tyco and converted many to DCC for the club layout. The sold all the LL P2K stuff in favor of the Tyco engines!
Rick
Unfortunately, the "30 years old" puts it right at a transition point in Tyco's history. Tyco was produced up until the 70's in Woodbury Heights, NJ by Mantua Metal Products. Sometime in the 70's they were bought by Consolidated Foods and production moved overseas. This is when the quality went downhill fast. The easiest way to tell which side of the change your model sits, look at the bottom. If the plate between the wheels on the power truck is metal, you have one of the older US produced locos. These were and are good runners, they just need the pickup wheels cleaned regularly. If it has a plastic plate, this one of the ones referenced above that are, or soon will be, junk.
The flat cars I think you're talking about are examples of the older Tyco. The underframe is cast zamac giving them good weight and keeping the center of gravity low. If they have the plastic frame trucks with steel axles, these trucks roll very well as Tyco experimented for a time with slippery engineering plastic that soon became common. They used Delrin and Selcon in making the sideframes and got much better rolling qualities out of them compared to the older metal trucks, sort of like the real railroads going to roller bearings.
If he offers it to you for free, take it. You can always toss anything that's not up to par.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
jeffrey-wimberly wrote:30 year old Tyco and brass track? JUNK!
I enhirted some old Tyco/ AHM and Brass track from my Grandfarther, Its were I started but It was almost were I left because of the crappyness of it.... I have a Tyco loco that says made in hong kong so as you can guess it its a junker. A day after I took it out of storage (sitting for at least 15 years) it broke, well not really but one of the gears slipped loose so it wasnt connecting it was basically in undesired neutral. Its now 2 years later and I cant pull 3 cars with it.. It slips that bad. Talk about low pulling power!!!!! I only run it on about a 30 year old layout I got at a yard sale for $50. The brass track on that was corroded beyond belive. I still havent finished restoring that. I cant really be to hard on it as I know It sat outside in the snow for at least 1 winter. But even track thats indoors and is brass sucks. If its cheap and you want something to mess around with buy em but scrap the brass rails (maybe us them as a detail piece?
I started with Tyco and Atlas brass track in 1971. I had a lot of fun with it on my 4x8 layout. With a bright boy to keep things clean, it worked pretty well. It doesn't have much value today with better stuff now available, but it was fine starting out. I would pass on it unless the price is really good (like free) and you enjoy tinkering with old stuff that probably needs a lot of work to get running properly.
Enjoy
Paul
MisterBeasley wrote: The brass track is a collectors item. In our neighborhood, they collect on Wednesdays. Put it out by the curb and they'll take it, no questions asked.Yeah, you might be able to convert the engine to DCC, but you'll be disappointed. I did that to an old GP-9. It ran, but poorly. I looked into remotering and re-wheeling the engine, and then I found a brand new one, with much better detail. It was cheaper than the re-motor job, too.
I like your description of the Brass track being a " Collectors Item."
The rest of the Tyco products can be used as dust collection units on the layout behind the shop or in a diesel shed, providing the wheels are in gauge and they will sit level and not fall of the track.
How do you place a value on this type of old trains??
IMHO, buy the flat cars for two bucks a piece especially if they are heavy, then convert one and see how you like it. I've gotten a few good ones this way.
Otherwise the above posts covered it all.
Karl
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
Those Tyco Powertorque engines with the pancake motor in one truck were beyond atrocious. The pinion on the motor shaft eventually slipped, and couldn't be cemented back on for love nor money. The large spur gear was wafer thin and always stripped, and even if the gears were okay, the motor bearings were so meager that they held no oil at all. Does anyone remember how they screamed when they ran dry, which was routinely? Then no matter how sparingly you applied oil, it ran into the brushes and turned to tar on the commutator. As you can tell, I still have flashbacks about trying to keep my old Chattanooga running as a kid.
As mentioned before, the earlier diesel trucks had the same five pole armature used in the Mantua/Tyco open frame motors, so they were better, but performance was still kind of spongy on the low end, and the high end was mach III. I was reading a tutorial on one guy's site about how he replaced the weak magnets in these motors with a stronger one, resulting in lower current draw and slower speed. But you still end up with only half of your wheels powered, unless you install an extra power truck. Not worth it, in my opinion, unless it has sentimental value.
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted