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 Posted - March 19 2015 : 2:25:37 PM
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I came across this article a short while ago. It seems to provide an accurate and credible history of Mantua trains. Made me wish I could actually go to www.mantua.com, but I tried it and it was some search engine grabber.
The article does not seem too long.
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/07/nyregion/new-jersey-co-maintaining-the-model-train-tradition-in-a-digital-world.html
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Posted - March 19 2015 : 5:24:52 PM
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Nice article ... very sad that it's gone now.
~ Dave
They're ALL toys
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Posted - March 19 2015 : 7:12:22 PM
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'They had just better bring in a Mantua, not a Tyco,'' said Eric Tyler, a company vice president. ''Tyco's a four-letter word around here.''
Yikes!!
Evan
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Posted - March 19 2015 : 9:25:31 PM
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Wow. Sad that Mantua's long gone, now. But yeah, they definitely seem to despise their own "spinoff", Tyco. 
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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Posted - March 25 2015 : 11:54:37 AM
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I remember reading this article years ago. It is a shame that Tyler did not defend the Tyco brand from the 50's and 60's. After all those Tyco's were basically RTR Mantuas. Without all the great info from this forum I would have not known this - Tyler should have.
rich p
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Posted - March 25 2015 : 12:31:37 PM
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quote:I remember reading this article years ago. It is a shame that Tyler did not defend the Tyco brand from the 50's and 60's. After all those Tyco's were basically RTR Mantuas. Without all the great info from this forum I would have not known this - Tyler should have.
Originally posted by richard p - March 25 2015 : 11:54:37 AM
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Interesting article, and a shame it's gone. I would think Sara Lee deserves the most of the blame. Tyco (the brand) was put into a no-win situation.
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - March 25 2015 : 1:09:23 PM
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quote:It is a shame that Tyler did not defend the Tyco brand from the 50's and 60's. After all those Tyco's were basically RTR Mantuas...
Originally posted by richard p - March 25 2015 : 11:54:37 AM
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As much confusion as the public has over the Tyco / Mantua name, I'm not surprised there was consternation within the business itself. I'm sure there were some "Tyco" products they happily supported. But they were also dealing with the fallout of all that name came to represent - which was little good.
Even if it were, you have to remember that following the 70's Mantua split, in the early 80's Tyco diversified into a full-line toy company. The NYT article was written soon after "Tyco" sold out to Mattel. One of the former Tyco brands that Mattel wanted was Matchbox, and Mantua had been making railroad items for the Matchbox Collectibles brand. That contract literally dried up overnight, and only a few years after Tyco sold its train assets to IHC. I'm sure the bitter stings were still fresh in 1997. The hints of struggle are laced throughout that article, and Mantua closed up just 4 years later.
The entire "Tyco" story might be one of the most convoluted and tragic watershed stories in all of American Business History... it prefaces and parallels so many other incidents of famous brands and family legacies cratering... pick a reason (innovation / leadership / growth / outsourcing / greed / market shifts / competition / corporate espionage / backroom dealings / infighting / remorse / rebirth / collapse / the remnant ghost of a brand name now coming from China), and it's there. Decades before this all became routine pulp in the business section...
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Posted - March 25 2015 : 2:14:50 PM
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See WHY I want to buy the Tyco name from Mattel?
They ain't using it now
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Posted - March 25 2015 : 5:14:24 PM
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I was working at Northlandz around that time, and Tyler was supplying us with all of the rolling stock and parts we needed to keep it running. These were the new gen F7's and GP20's with the heavy frame and Mehano drive, and they even touted in their ads how their new locos were the only ones sturdy enough to survive the Northlandz torture test. (While this was technically true, the reasons the initial Athearn supply didn't hold up was due to nonexistent maintenance, construction dust, overweighted cars, and wiring incapable of handling the slightly higher current draw of the Athearn motors. The Mehano drives were simpler, but their Mabuchi motors were the real heroes.)
I'm not surprised Tyler tried to distance himself from the Tyco name, since it had become inextricably associated with the Powertorque debacle, and was basically shorthand for poor quality department store HO trains. Remember, I was there; I grew up in the 70's, and my friends & I avoided Tyco like the plague -- even the slot cars -- but couldn't get enough of AHM, Athearn, and Aurora.
The Tyco Depot
Edited by - NickelPlate759 on March 25 2015 7:01:18 PM
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Posted - March 25 2015 : 6:11:16 PM
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quote:
I'm not surprised Tyler tried to distance himself from the Tyco name, since it had become inextricably associated with the Powertorque debacle, and was basically shorthand for poor quality department store HO trains. Remember, I was there; I grew up in the 70's, and my friends & I avoided Tyco like the plague -- even the slot cars -- but couldn't get enough of AHM, Athearn, and Aurora.
Originally posted by NickelPlate759Â -Â March 25 2015Â :Â 5:14:24 PM
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I remember that very well. The Tyco name had become almost a joke.
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - March 25 2015 : 7:30:06 PM
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quote:]
I remember that very well. The Tyco name had become almost a joke.
Originally posted by JNXT 7707Â -Â March 25 2015Â :Â 6:11:16 PM
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See WHY I think Tyco Locos are crap?
But here we are 17 years after they went bankrupt & we is FIXING these locos 
Why?
Cause its our memories & Nostalgic now 
The race cars by Tyco were better than the Powertorque motors 
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Posted - March 25 2015 : 9:16:00 PM
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Their slot cars got better in the mid-70's, I think, around the time they were competing with Aurora's new G-Plus cars, but back around 72-73 they were really brittle and the pickup shoe wires eventually broke off from flexing.
Now that I think about it, what's really wacky about 70's Tyco is that they put slot car armatures in their locos and open can motors in their slot cars.
The Tyco Depot
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