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 Posted - December 05 2012 : 2:35:46 PM
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Poll Question:
Which era of Tyco stuff do you collect and/or admire most?
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rich p
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Posted - December 05 2012 : 3:46:51 PM
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I collect all era of the Tyco! Mine are from the early 60's and up.
" Heck with counting 'em rivets, TRAINS ARE FOR FUN! Not called the Mad Scientist for nothing either!"
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Posted - December 05 2012 : 9:15:44 PM
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I agree with Justin, I collect just about all the eras of Tyco, obviously the earlier ones had less stuff so harder to find, and more expensive. the Busy Little B was my latest early Tyco acquisition. But most of my collection is '70's stuff, so that is where my vote goes. I'll keep looking at other era Tyco when something strikes my fancy.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - December 05 2012 : 9:40:35 PM
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I prefer the old stuff, if found at a reasonable rate, but its rare hard to find, specially.......at a good rate!
BUT, like everyone posting comments, I collect all era's of TYCO......
~John
Many have tried to, and failed, ya just can't repair stupid... 
Do NOT try to Idiot-Proof anything!!!! God, will simply create a better......IDIOT!
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Posted - December 06 2012 : 12:18:00 AM
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I'm interested to see how the voting goes on this question 
I collect Tyco's plastic-bodied streamliners which puts me primarily in the 1960's category. 
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Posted - December 06 2012 : 03:47:43 AM
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I collect most any TYCO, as well, that I can get my hands on.
While I voted 50's, I buy "almost identical" duplicated rolling stock, but of the different years they were made.
There's an article/thread in this forum... of reproduced freight/passenger cars from when they were made by Mantua, Mantua/TYCO transition, TYCO... same essential body, but better or worse detailing, better or worse "craftsmanship," metal to plastic chassis production.
There aught to be another choice in the poll to include Any or All eras.
Plus, perhaps the particular era of railroading: i.e. TYCO 1800's trains such as the 4-4-0's, 1900's and on, depicting the transition from steam to diesel, or all diesel era rolling stock.
My collection covers the entire era range 1800's to 1970's and pre-to MANTUA/TYCO production from their beginnings, mergers, splits, off-shoots with die selling to different manufacturers, to present-day offerings such as "Mantua Classics."
er, should I create this poll, or... nevermind?
John
I don't have a one track mind. It depends on the turn-out.
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Posted - December 06 2012 : 11:37:01 AM
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Oh I collect whatever looks good Especially billboard/ad cars!!
But I've notice that any Tyco stuff is getting expensive
What I'd like to get is the USA Express loco
What is odd is that the set didn't have a matching caboose! It had a regular cheap all red with stripes caboose is all 
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Posted - December 07 2012 : 9:36:26 PM
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I'm glad to see the start of this Tyco poll.
I started collecting the Alco 430 in as many roads as possible. Recently I've been interested in accessories and the GP20.
I'd say I'm into the 60's mostly but keep my eyes open for interesting items from any period.
Alco Fan
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Posted - December 07 2012 : 10:03:42 PM
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Wasn't a spot for "billboard cars." LOL
Start with 70s and usually work my way back.
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - December 08 2012 : 08:22:51 AM
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Looks pretty even so far - interesting. I voted 50's. I am facinated by the enginering that went into the stuff of this era. I am presently starting to collect engines and rolling stock with the TYCO roadname. They were only produced for a few years in the mid 50's So far a Shifter and a Pacific is on my shelf. I also have a caboose. I hope to one day to have the full 7 car TYCO Streamliner passenger train ( t-504 to t-510) displayed behinnd my Pacific.
rich p
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Posted - December 09 2012 : 12:38:49 AM
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I voted '70s, which is when I was getting train sets for Christmas. At the time, the sets I saw in the stores and the department store catalogs were overwhelmingly Tyco, and save for one year, Tyco sets were what I wanted (and got) for Christmas. So the '70s Tycos are what appeal to me. Except for the operating hoppers! Love those hoppers!
Glenn
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"
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Posted - January 07 2013 : 10:05:22 PM
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| I voted 80's. I was born in '77, so I got the tail end of Tyco production. The Silver Streak and GI Joe set were my first 2 sets.
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Posted - January 07 2013 : 10:45:35 PM
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| Hey Dan. Is there anything specific you collect or just all things Tyco from the late 70's and 80's? Tyco made some cool stuff in that era, but I'd imagine collecting it would be a little harder as their catologes seem a bit sloppier than they were in the earlier years.
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Posted - January 07 2013 : 10:50:47 PM
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I voted 60s' 'cause thats the first decade which I rec'd a train set for xmas.
I prefer the cast metal steamers and the cars with metal chassis...just made better
caboose 1
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Posted - January 08 2013 : 5:27:16 PM
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| Well, right now, I don't collect anything... lol Hope to start with a Silver Streak sometime this year and go from there. I'd like to get the stuff I had as a kid. No space to run it right now, but it'd be cool to get nonetheless.
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Posted - January 09 2013 : 11:05:58 PM
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In November of 1975, I bought a small, very run down model train shop. The Christmas inventory was all in place already and it mostly consisted of brown box Tyco train sets, about 50 of them. My background was that of a tinplate collector and I really didn't know a thing about the current HO that was available. So, we sold all of the Tyco sets through Christmas and then I watched as set after set was brought back, starting on December 26th. As I listened to customer complaints and refunded money I could not afford, one evening after I closed up, I "tried" to set up one of the defective sets. The horrible power packs, followed by the crummy loco drive units, wobbly wheel sets, broken couplers and the general lack of quality was very upsetting and I swore that I would never stock Tyco trains in my store again, an oath I kept for 32 years.
Fast forward and now it is going on six years since I sold the business. About three years ago, I "discovered" that the pre-brown box Tyco and early Mantua was actually very nice stuff and I started collecting it like there was no tomorrow. I am absolutely crazy for the early red box stuff on back. My favorite models are from the "Little Train" era in the cream & green boxes.
Over the 32 years that I had my store--and especially since we did a tremendous business in used equipment, I can't believe that I never realized how nice the early Tyco stuff was. When I think of the thousands of pieces I sold cheaply then, that I highly prize today, I wonder what I was thinking. Oh well, better late than never.
Thanks to all of you on this forum.
Allen
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Posted - January 10 2013 : 3:59:43 PM
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Allen, thanks for sharing that interesting perspective. But I have to ask - and not to apologize for or defend Tyco outright, as I have long been objective where their more infamous crap is concerned - was the other entry-level HO from that time really any better? I mean, Life-Like and Bachmann shared many of the same design traits (cheap plastic trucks, thin couplers, balky locos, etc), and AHM was only as good as the OEM supplier of a given item. Frankly those four names were all equally garbage, with their own unique exceptions. Even Lionel-HO was no better, especially once they (quickly!) cheapened the line. Balky motors and broken couplers? Show me any HO line that didn't have that problem. For that matter, show me any that didn't slap their own name on that exact same stupid worthless square power pack we all know and lo(ath/v)e...
Nonetheless, that's why I voted 70's: it was perhaps the hobby's most tumultuous time in terms of development. Take the year you bought your store for example: in 1975 Tyco had 4 different loco drive systems and was shaking out a new market philosophy. Bachmann's original locos that showed so much promise were being felled by zinc pest, so they cheapened out with horrible (yet more stable) Kader drives. In Life-Like's case, the coming change to Kader drives was actually a quantum *improvement* - their existing drives were the worst! Lionel made a splash with their own stuff the year before, then after 18 months switched to - you guessed it - Kader. Meahwhile AHM's freight cars were sold by Life-Like, Bachmann, AND Lionel... and their locos were hit-or-miss unless you had a Rivarossi, which was not "entry-level cheap". Cox and Atlas were re-branding Athearn stuff; in 1975 Atlas finally introduced locos from Roco that stood the hobby on end (meanwhile, Roco also developed a loco for Tyco - I got that info straight from the source). Athearn's locos were still the standard for performance - if you could stand the awkward fatbody road-switcher units; the other lines which ran poorly did so because they crammed what they could into scale-width locos. A tradeoff to be sure!
So, aside from Athearn (Cox), and maybe Atlas (who was not as yet a significant player then)... was there any single HO Trainset Brand in 1975 that you could have consistently recommended as not producing crap? I would argue "no". But then if all those other vendors sold their share of crap, they all (Tyco included) had some very nice stuff with its own merits too, if you knew what it was. Again, I absolutely don't want to seem argumentative here... I'm genuinely interested in the view "from the trenches" as it were.
That said, I'm interested in the older stuff as well, and the engineering that went into them. That's not to say it's all "better"... it is what it is for its era... but it is a lot of fun to find older items and appreciate them in the context of when and how they were made.
Edited by - spiderj76 on January 10 2013 4:15:47 PM
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Posted - January 10 2013 : 6:24:29 PM
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Tony,
What a great follow up question. As a model train shop, as opposed to a toy store, department store or even a full line hobby store, I had the option of putting sets together for my customers. Using Athearn F units and Athearn freight cars that I had my one employee assemble, I made up sets with Atlas track and an MRC power pack. i had to charge a bit more than a ready to run Tyco set, but when my customers would come back into the store after purchasing one of these sets, it was to buy more equipment, not to complain.
In the 1970's and earlier, one of the big hobby suppliers was Western Model Distributors. I can clearly remember a visit by their sales manager, asking me why I wasn't buying any Tyco from them. When I told him that I was never going to stock Tyco again because I thought it was junk, he told me that If I didn't stock Tyco, I would go broke. It wasn't too many more years before Western Model went broke.
In addition to my Athearn sets, I took on the Marklin line and did very well with it, although with their 3-rail system, it really isn't fair to compare the line to Tyco or any other 2-rail brand. In the mid 1980's, I started importing Fleischmann and I sold thousands of their starter sets.
It is my personal feeling that Tyco, in the hands of Consolidated Foods, did more to ruin the hobby of model railroading in this country than any company, before or after. Think: Some kid gets a brown box Tyco set, has problem after problem with it and eventually just never plays with it again. Fast forward 20 or so years and the kid, now a dad is walking down the street with his son and they see a train set in a shop window. The son asks his dad about it and the dad says "those things are junk and they don't work." The dad buys his kid a model airplane instead. The kid never gets a train set, nor does his kid, and so on. I truly believe that this happened on many, many occasions and that it hurt the hobby to a great extent. I'm quite sure that Bachmann, Life-Like, Model Power and others had a hand in this as well, but I would venture a guess that Tyco sold more train sets in their brown box era, than all of the others combined. A great name and slick packaging, but the lack of quality doomed them in the long run.
Now, I don't mean to put down anyone for collecting what they like. That said, for me, if the trucks are not screw mounted, I'm not interested. Little Trains rock!
Allen
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Posted - January 10 2013 : 8:27:50 PM
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quote:| Tyco, in the hands of Consolidated Foods, did more to ruin the hobby of model railroading in this country than any company, before or after. Originally posted by Streamliner - January 10 2013 : 6:24:29 PM
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Heh... somewhere else in this forum, in the past, I have said the same thing almost word for word, probably more than once. So I know *exactly* what you mean. I was basically one of those kids. Though I spread the blame around to Bachmann & Life-Like as well, you might be right that Tyco gets the lion's share for arguably squandering a legacy and force-feeding it more than the others. But I think there was a greater market dynamic at work, too. It's an interesting and complex scenario.
I *do* give Tyco credit for one thing though: I've no doubt that having to troubleshoot (and hopefully fix) their POS locomotives - because my parents refused to buy or indulge my nascent hobby interest after "I broke" them - is a big reason why I'm so mechanically inclined and a tinkerer to this day. Their crappy trains forged another, more valuable skillset, even if that wan't their intent, ha ha. But yes, had I not finally discovered a *real* hobby/train shop that sold Athearn locomotives in my early teen years, I would have been out of the hobby for good.
So you'll get no argument from me on the crux of your argument. Thing is, though, all RTR sets in the 70's (and 80's) was more or less the same junk, regardless of whose name was on the box. I was mainly curious why you as an owner singled out Tyco, but I can understand your position.
BTW, Mantua (Tyco) did a run of custom boxcars for Western Model in the late 70's... that might explain that sales rep's enthusiasm a bit...
Edited by - spiderj76 on January 10 2013 8:29:30 PM
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Posted - January 10 2013 : 9:05:15 PM
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Allen,
I have to say I've been singing the same tune for some time now, and I agree that Consolidated Foods irreparably damaged the Tyco brand name, much like General Mills did to Lionel when they owned them during the same period. I think most General Mills/MPC era Lionel is pretty much avoided by collectors, but fortunately Lionel was able to regroup and re-establish the brand name with more quality offerings.
Not so for Tyco. It became a four-letter word in my home and amongst my friends as well; I started with HO around 1970, so by the time we sampled any Tyco quality was on the decline and the experiences weren't good. My friends across the street were two brothers who got a TycoPro slot car set circa Christmas 1973, and the cars were so poorly made next to their Aurora counterparts that they quickly made their way to their junk box, and ultimately the round file. Same with the controllers. The only thing they kept was the track.
Because of this I had no idea how well made the Red Box stuff was, and have only discovered that relatively recently. It was basic, but solid, especially the steamers. I remember being in the toy department in Two Guys in the early 70's looking over a Tyco GP20 on the clearance table. It seemed more sturdily built than the other Tyco I'd seen, in fact it had RP25 flanges and full handrails, but I ultimately passed on it because of bad experiences. Now I know it was from the Red Box era. Mantua made some welcome improvements in the 90's, but the tooling was old and not up to par with current offerings, and that Tyco stigma clung like flypaper.
As Tony points out the other cheap brands of the time did their damage as well, though none had the name recognition that Tyco did; in fact I think Tyco became a catch-all term for any cheap HO product to the general public. 70's AHM Mehano usually ran (albeit noisily), and Rivarossi was generally good to excellent, although even they had their clunkers, like the Heavy Pacific with its magic melting motor mount. (I've concluded that was a cost-cutting measure at AHM's behest, since none of RR's European steamers had a plastic mount.)
The 70's were hardly a golden age for HO trains, with only Athearn and Atlas/Roco foreshadowing what was to come, so for Tyco/Mantua I chose the 50's. You just can't beat that diecast and the earlier cast & brass.
The Tyco Depot
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Posted - January 11 2013 : 4:21:56 PM
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My trouble with the redbox era, is it was not as consistently superior as many would have you believe. I agree the "screw-in truck" stipulation is generally sound, but even those lasted into brown-box era (while other cars went snap-in long before).
For example, the original delrin trucks with needlepoint metal axles that debuted in the very late 60's and lasted a few years into the 70's were far superior, operations wise, than the older metal trucks. And how many times has the "how do I change a coupler" question been asked on this forum in reference to those earlier trucks? One could argue the plastic trucks were better from a service standpoint (since clearly, broken couplers were not exclusive to the later ones).
Were paint jobs better? Not consistently. Some boxcar schemes were uniformly awful (or at least not "better") in the redbox era. Tankers were cheapened early on, not toward the end. In some cases no changes were made while in others, the 70's (especially the late 70's) versions were actually superior. Similarly, diesel paint jobs in the 60's were not always better - it was always hit-or-miss when it came to Tyco. I do agree the metal chassis will ALWAYS be better. To me the ideal Tyco car has late 70's paint work, a 50's-mid60's metal chassis and details, and late60's-early70's trucks.
I won't argue the steam engines suffered in the 70's. And the switch to PT drives from MU-2 will long be one of the worst decisions made, but I have info on this that is surprising. I think the low point for Tyco was probably from 1973-1976... but coupled with the fad of the time, that was more than enough to crater the name. Shame too, as there was a very real, tangible push to improve the line from 77-onward. And many of the accessories released in that time ('76+) were amazing, reasonably durable, and almost Lionel-like.
I think if they had invested their new Tampo process and freight car tooling into producing real roadnames instead of all that silly billboard stuff, they might have even survived. Say what you will about those bollboard schemes, but the paint jobs were generally some of the best being done by anyone at the time (especially compared to Athearn, Roundhouse, & Kader).
Oh well. Tyco was not the first company to lose their way, and they won't be the last.
Edited by - spiderj76 on January 11 2013 4:25:16 PM
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