Tyco Trains

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Mike from Michigan. TYCO collector and railroader

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UP1259
Switcher

Status: offline

Posted - October 16 2013 : 2:49:26 PM

Hello everyone. My name is Michael and I must say that I am amazed by the wealth of knowledge on this board and have enjoyed reading your posts. It's naturally time for me to join. I am a conductor at Amtrak in Michigan-Chicago. I loved trains since I was 2. With the advent of Internet photo archives, web forums, expensive model trains, and an overall sense by many that he who has the most trains wins (pictures or models) along with working on trains and realizing the things that can happen around trains when people are careless really killed the enjoyment of something that had meant so much to me. I built a layout with some proto and atlas equipment and I just felt like I was wasting my money and couldn't find enjoyment. So I was at a train show recently looking for some train cars and I came across a Penn Central TYCO 4301 for $7 with handrails...I marveled at it for a moment as I loved the old TYCO alco growing up and then moved on. I purchased an Atlas car or two and came home and later regretted not buying the Penn Central engine. My friend said dude its a stupid toy, your proto engines are better. The more I thought about it the more I got frustrated with myself..at what point did toy trains get so serious that you had to have sound and woodland scenics...what happened to a felt covered table with plastic accesories and interesting brightly painted cars for Jello, starkist, shell oil, and smiling baldwin sharks and Alcos. Since when did it become so cool to have 5 black painted NS gp60s pulling empty well cars? I'm not against prototype modelers and their work is outsatanding but I do believe that one must find enjoyment in something otherwise they should persu something else. And so, I ripped up my ballast, traded my protos and bought lots of junk. Old broken TYCO junk. Made myself a parts kit with motors and drives and wheels and sold off the shells that were scrathed or damaged. I was very lucky to find online an in the box Penn Central 4301 with mantua drive! And so a return to my 1980s childhood began and it brings me more enjoyment than any expensive loco could bring. I want to collect the older pieces as well and got a 1959 era Mantua shark in the Union Pacific Paint. I hope to enjoy these trains for years and they do bring back great memories. Now you know how I got back into tyco. A little more about me, I am a licensed stationary engineer and have worked on old steam heating boilers, I used to fire coal on a museum steam train and although I'm only 28 I consider myself a retired church organist. I played classical and theater pipe organ and still enjoy the instrument but do not wish to keep
It up. Having worked in music made it real hard to get a railroad job as nobody thought it was the right experience...took me 10 years of straight applying so never give up on your dreams! I also enjoy photographing streetcars and city buses and love Detroit.. More than the tigers, more than the wings, more than the crime...we have a beautiful and sometimes gritty industrial personality and a 300 plus year history that is so rich. I'm proud to live in Michigan and consider myself a Detroiter having lived there. And we have Canada right across the river! I just need to find a Canadiana TyCo engine over there one of these days! So that's it and hello to everyone. Mike

Mike
Huron Locomotive Works

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USA ~ Posts: 11 ~ Member Since: October 15 2013 ~ Last Visit: October 21 2013