I’ve hered many things and I was wondering, how bad is tyco?
Its not very well made. My first HO set was made by AHM and I also had some tyco cars. The AHM and Tyco stuff of the 70’s was better detailed than the stuff they made later. The main problem with them are cheap wheel sets and they are not very detailed. ( and truck mounted couplers) Tyco also had cars that were not in prototype paint schemes, like a doritos box car. As a kid I always wanted a doritos box car and my brotehr would not let me buy anything that was not prototypical. Now I am clollecting these "billboard " cars for the heck of it. If you want something that small children can play with and you don’t care if it gets destroyed tyco is the way to go.
If you have an operating layout and need more cars to operate, then slip some Kadee couplers on those old train set cars and use them until you can afford some decent rolling stock.
You could probably buy them cheap at yard sales and swap meets, or buy cheap sets.
They look cheesy and won’t operate as well, but if you check and adjust them to NMRA standards they’ll fill the gap for as long as you need them.
Trick question…The Tyco/Mantua steam locomotives wasn’t to bad .The Tyco/Mantua GP20 and Plymouth center cab industrial switcher was ok but,nothing to write home about.
Tyco is no longer in the model train business.
Model Power has the old Mantua line.
Best to pass the Tyco cars…
Tyco, a brand name of Mantua Metal Products, went through two distinct phases. The US produced phase, and the foreigh produced phase (after they were bought out by Consolidated Foods in the 70’s). The US produced items were good quality for their time. The diesel locomotives were gear driven, back when Athearn was rubber band drive (identified by metal plates on the bottom of the trucks). The steam were the same ones that were marketed under the Mantua name. The freight cars had a cast metal underframe, giving them better weight and low center of gravity, which made them track well. The talgo trucks were a sign of the times. Layouts with tight radius curves were the norm. There were very few “whimsical” paint schemes, but there were some special sets lettered for department stores. I have quite a few of the Tyco locomotives and cars from this era, and even for their age, they run and track well.
When Consolidated Foods took over and moved the production overseas, the quality of the items took a severe nose dive. The were also geared more to the toy train market. Unfortunately, this is the Tyco most people remember, and also the ones that show up on Ebay the most.
Some Tycos take a little longer to fix than others.
Peter Smith, Memphis
Tyco wasnt a really good piece of equipment. If it was a Mantua/Tyco it was a little step up on the food chain. I would rather stick with Athearn Bluebox if ya want a decent rollingstock.
KB
Nice work, Peter. I have a Tyco Mike (in parts) that was given to me by a friend: it’ll be rebuilt, as these were decent locos.
Here’s one that I built for my son quite a few years ago:
and another that I built about 30 years ago:
I also have one of those tender-drive 0-8-0s [:O] which I plan on re-building into a model of a specific 2-8-0 prototype, although the frame and drivers are all that I’m going to use from the Tyco.
Wayne
I really like Tyco freight cars. Here are several webpage’s of how I detailed them to look more prototype for my SP equipment roster running on the layout.
Flat Cars by the Dozen
Operating HO Gravel Dump Cars, with Movie!
It just takes a little work to bring them up to todays standards and cheep fun too!
Tyco box cars had good paint and lettering, much better than some of our big model railroading companies were cranking out in the 70s-90s with washed out lettering.
The only part of Tyco that was really that bad were the “Power-Torque” drive trucks. They used a tiny 3-pole motor that drove paper thin gears. Their later freight cars weren’t great either, but the rest of their stuff was pretty good. Unfortunately, a lot of people only remember the bad, and forget that most of their steam engines had reliable 5-pole motors, metal construction, and very robust mechanisms with thick gears. Their early diesels were pretty good too.
I believe the Tyco line (RC cars and that type of stuff) was bought by Mattel a few years ago, and the name has disappeared since then.
The old Tyco’s with the Mantua drive were OK but not great. Anything with power torque drive, toss it. The body might be able to be mounted on another manufaturer’s chassis.
I have fond memories of Tyco. I started with it in the early 70’s and it ran pretty good on my brass snap track. May not be the best stuff, but it worked for me.
Enjoy
Paul
Seems like a good point to (once again) link to this site about TYCO Resources (from the dark era of the 1970s to the 1990s)
Mantua was pretty much the kit line and Tyco the RTR so named.
As mentioned earlier on these forums the manufacturers admitted to the toyish models with built in imperfections so they wear down and fail to run after about 40 hours of play time, as asssumed the playful tike will be tired of it and it gets junked as a broken down toy from christmas.
For the Tyco metal engines they were fine, the equipment was rather freelanced but represented a reasonable design for an engine.
I repowered an 0-6-0 with NWSL gears and motor (mantua), crawls with power.
TYCO RULES!!!
Carl T.
Many of us got our start with TYCO products, but once their lack of quality was realised it became evident that you had to go with better equipment. I started with the Silver Streak set and was thrilled with it, still have memories but it didn’t last long. The “Power-torque” drive fell apart in no time, that big gear that drove the wheels would wear through in a matter of weeks, it was a disaster. I wish I still had some more of my original Tyco stuff as it is collectible, and I’ve just been nostalgic lately. A good source for info is the Tyco Resources page accessed through Lycos-Tripod. It is a fun place ot visit and you can learn some history too.
I know Tyco is gone from the model railroad scene, once they relied on rediculous TV and toy related tie-ins it was time to go.
The power torques are good for target practice…
Their freight cars are fairly decent if you’re willing to invest a little effort into upgrading them and since you can find them at almost any fleamarket in the country they make a good cheap starting point for kitbashing projects.
I also liked their buildings especially the Burger King and Pizza Hut both of which fit perfectly in my 1990-1999 timeframe on my layout.
As for their locos I agree with the majority of the board here they are junk.
I started out with Tyco in the early 1970’s , The only car I have left from those days is 50 ft santa fe boxcar . it was my favorite car back then . Today it has been upgraded with Kadee couplers . It now has the honor of being the 1st car to travel down any new track I lay or new layout I build , no particular reason just a tradition I started years ago .
Tyco was my start in model trains, yeah there stuff was a little cheesey, but it got me into modelrailroading