I started with a bachman set but i have soem tyco locos and cars.
My first HO trains were also a TYCO
in 1976 my first set was a Tyco set from a dept store. It had a SF F7 which quickly fell apart, they replaced it with a Chessie GE something, which quickly fell apart. It had 4 freight cars I think, and a power pack that , well, quickly fell apart.
I bought some other junk engines, then was turned onto Athearn…
I’m one of those 30-somethings who started with Tyco as a child. Every year for Christmas I asked for and received another Tyco train set. I had boxes of their stuff all over my room! Needless to say, the engine, usually an Alco Century, never lasted two weeks [xx(]. I learned early how to strip gears out and make dummies.
During my adolescence I stumbled onto a real train hobby shop. The old gentleman who owned it patiently answered my many questions and let this rambunctious kid with no money handle everything in his shop week after week.
God rest his soul, [angel]*** Berkendorf [angel], the hobby shop owner, kindly set me on the straight and narrow path to understanding: Athearn! [:D]
I thought it was
Trains
You’ll
Cry
Over
especially when they never work![:(]
I started with a Tyco Prairie and a Tyco Ten Wheeler back in 71 along with some cars. Still have them, but haven’t tried running them in years since I’m in S now. At the time they ran reasonably well.
Enjoy
Paul
Ndprr is right on the money on page one as far as Tyco being on the toy train side after the split.
One thought though for any modelers that are into realistic modeling. Many of us that are now adults would not seriously consider using any Tyco locomotives.
One worthy exception though:
The Tyco GP20 locomotive, which came in some trains sets and in some cases could be bought individually, has a body with potential! The hood is the correct scale width and with a repaint and body detailing using “Details West” parts, it could look just as nice as an Atlas unit!
Model Railroader printed a very good article (I think in the late 80s) on reworking and detailing a Tyco GP20 body shell in the Union Pacific scheme. I remember that the job by the author was stunning! Two years ago, my wife’s cousin did a beautiful job to his GP20 which originally he was going to junk, until he compared the body to his Athearns. It did take quite a bit of work to adapt to an Athearn GP9 chassis, but it was a success. If there’s a will, there’s a way! He’s now going to install a DCC decoder in it. [:D][:)][;)][8D][8)]
Ironically, at trains shows like GATS, some vendors do sell stuff that most of us consider “JUNK”. I have seen old Tycos and Bachmanns for sale for $3 to $5, or like I saw in Tampa: free! It’s not a bad idea to look over the equipment carefully. A GP20 or an old ALCO Century could be in some vendor’s pile that with patience, Acrylic paint, Microscale decals, and Details West parts, could be turned into a work of art that would make even Rivet counters nod in approval! [swg][tup]
The Mantua Tyco stuff was good in its time, and the diesels of that period ran just as good as the Athearn locos with geared drives and no flywheels. Back in 1974 I had a Cox SW1500 (same as Athearn’s SW7) and a Tyco GP20, and both ran quite well. The Tyco single dome tank cars of the early to mid 1970s were quite nice (I had four of them) and their streamlined cupola caboose had metal end handrails. But that was the ‘brown box’ era Tyco stuff.
From what I understand, the later stuff (late 1970s-early 1980s) was junk. Production was moved over to Hong Kong and the locos had the new Power Torque drive, which some people say is no better than a pancake motor drive. A different Alco C-430 body shell was also used during the Power Torque era - the new C-430 had a flatter roof that made the loco more boxy looking. That ugly-looking C-430 shell later appeared under the Pemco/Aurora and Model Power brand names.
I was about 8 years old when my parents gave me the Tyco Dixie Bell (Western & Atlantic) train set. It was by far, the best Christmas of my life. Now almost 40 years later, that same Dixie Bell engine still runs! And since I was a kid and I could walk to K-Mart, I bought several Tyco cars. I love my Hershey’s boxcar, the Dairymen’s League, and Morton Salt. I have even converted them to Kadee #5’s. All these cars run with my Athearn, Athearn Genesis, Intermountain, MDC Roundhouse, and others.
I have a lot of Tyco cars on my layout now that have been re-trucked, detailed, painted and lettered. Their great for car detailing projects, you’ll never hear a complaint from me.
I threw most of my old Tyco stuff out a couple of decades ago. Some of what I kept went into scratchbuild and kitbash projects. A couple of old loco bodies live on with Athearn chassis under them. Both are Tyco/Mantua F units but are from different runs. Both originally had the Mantua MU-2 drive which was far superior to the later Power-Torque junk drive used by Tyco.
Ah, the (No)Power-Torque drive. What a piece of well, something I can’t say here LOL Seriously though, when new, they weren’t too bad. However, at least in my case, they didn’t stay that way for long. What had once been a (relatively) smooth-running RF16, soon turned into a poorly-running piece of junk. Needless to say, I retired those units, and bought another Bachmann F unit…and eventually, my first Athearn F7s. Needless to say, the Athearn Fs are nearly 20 years old, but still run like new!
Regarding the GP-20, Mont Switzer did a two part article in Mainline Modeler (around 1990) on doing a NYC GP-20 using the Tyco body with a Proto Power West drive. The major surgery was on the front steps to the cab (there are none) and the pilots. The results were spectcular.
Also their C630 body was very well done also, but with the Stewart we don’t need it any more.
Rick.
I had that same Dixiebell engine, and yes it was an exellent model locomotive that just ran and ran and ran, however the scale for HO was a bit…funny? seamed a tad large next to an F7.