I love the Spirit of 76 line. I have been trying to get all variants of the Alco 430. I'm sure you all know Brian'sTyco or "watchnu2" on Youtube. His videos are where most of my interest of Tyco collecting come from! A looooooong time ago he made a video on the Alco 430 Spirit of 76 variants. Some of these variants look like possible home mods from over the years but non-the-less its great content. Anyways there are about "5" possible main variants of the Tyco Alco 430 Spirit of 76. Most of these have to do with the seals on the side of the locomotive. The first and possibly the "rarest" variant is the version of the locomotive with a blue stripe and the Presidential Seal with the words "THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SEAL". The next version loses those words and the seal is replaced with the most common, what I call "brown" seal. The next version and I believe it is slightly "rarer" than the brown seal version has a gold crown in lieu of a brown crown on the eagle. I call this one the "gold crown seal." The seal isn't the only thing that gets changed. The blue stripe on the nose of the locomotive is replaced by a "Spirit of 76 logo." The next version is the same but the gold crown seal is replaced by the common brown seal. While I have seen documented and own several examples of those models I have yet to see a Spirit of 76 430 that is brand new in the box that does not have either a blue stripe or Spirit of 76 logo on it. I believe that this version is either the rarest version of the Alco 430 Spirit of 76 or, more likely, the locomotive were originally shipped with the Spirit of 76 logo on the nose and they just fell off after a while. Anyways if you have this version brand new in the box please post it. Would love to know if it is real or not.
Country: USA ~
Posts: 412 ~
Member Since: October 23 2015 ~
Last Visit: June 12 2022
Backstory: I ordered another Spirit of 76 off of eBay. The seller said it was sealed in the box but it obviously was not but for 25 dollars I figured it would be okay. Anyways, what I got was a mint (but not sealed) Alco 430 whitenose. Its obvious that this engine is new as the paint is crisp and bright white, the gears on the Mantua truck still have the factory clumps of grease on them, and the seal is undamaged. An interesting side note is that from the pictures on the auction I could see the little pieces that hold the handrails "floating" all around the engine. What turns out is that the railings are there but about half (maybe more) of the hand rail pieces (the black L shaped things that attach to the engine) are gone. I found some in the box itself and some inside the locomotive attached to the magnetic core of the MU-2 drive. Another interesting side note is that this engine does not have a windshield. 2 theories: 1. Someone opened this engine up back in the day and took the windshield and half of those handrail pieces as parts ( but the bag the handrails come in was still behind the engine and the bag was split open.) 2. The bag somehow got itself open and overtime the pieces just fell out. The box to this engine is in good shape but the plastic that covers the engine has a large hole in it so they could have fallen out. And for the windshield it could have been a production error and this engine may have never had a windshield.
None the less this variation does exist. Is it rare? Maybe. I believe it is a transitional piece to the final rendition of the Spirit of 76 Alco 430. I believe it was made in 1974 before Tyco came out with the PowerTorque version with the blue roof. It has the revised seal without the lettering. So this is after the 1973-early 1974 recall. But this unit has number boards and a MU-2 powertruck and the white roof. Its a neat piece of the Spirit of 76 collection but I don't believe its as rare or as "valuable"(whatever that means) as I thought it was. However, the whitenose combo'd with a Presidential lettered Seal would probably be the rarest (if it even exists). I am not going to take Brian's non-star'd Spirit of 76 as I am convinced that was a one off factory mistake.
Anyways if you think I got anything wrong let me know and I will fix it. Also if you have any rare or just any Spirit of 76 stuff lets see it!
Have some pictures:
Whitenose with 4301 numberboards
Brown recalled seal
4301 rear nonfilled in numberboards
Presidential Version: Blue stripe on front
Presidential Seal:
<I forgot to take a picture of the rear numberboards but they are the same as the "whitenose">
PowerTorque 1975+ Version with the uncommon gold seal: Spirit of 76 Logo on the front
The gold crown seal. Mine is worn as I used to run and play with this locomotive all the time. It was my first Tyco and I love it dearly. I've went through 2 MU-2s on this locomotive. However when it was new it was shipped with a PowerTorque drive with the silver/grey trucks.
Rear filled in numberboards. Sign of the 1975+ later production.
Anyways hope you enjoyed this. Might pick up another mint 1776 next week if it's still up. Looks like it has a PowerTorque drive and the gold seal. I might get lucky and find it to be a whitenose.
Country: USA ~
Posts: 412 ~
Member Since: October 23 2015 ~
Last Visit: June 12 2022
I got my Prez Seal for $10 On the box it sez "doesn't run" but it do! not great but meh
Originally posted by microbusss - September 08 2016 : 3:39:18 PM
Sounds like a great deal to me. I paid $50~ for mine. Of course it is brand new but $10 for any working good condition Tyco 430 is fine. If you run into anything you think is neat take some pictures and post it!
Country: USA ~
Posts: 412 ~
Member Since: October 23 2015 ~
Last Visit: June 12 2022
Sounds like a great deal to me. I paid $50~ for mine. Of course it is brand new but $10 for any working good condition Tyco 430 is fine. If you run into anything you think is neat take some pictures and post it!
Originally posted by kristofer4301Â -Â September 08 2016Â :Â 6:24:03 PM
oh it WAS & in the box too! seal not great but what do ya want for $10?
Country: USA ~
Posts: 14999 ~
Member Since: February 23 2009 ~
Last Visit: February 27 2026
Sounds like a great deal to me. I paid $50~ for mine. Of course it is brand new but $10 for any working good condition Tyco 430 is fine. If you run into anything you think is neat take some pictures and post it!
Originally posted by kristofer4301Â -Â September 08 2016Â :Â 6:24:03 PM
oh it WAS & in the box too! seal not great but what do ya want for $10?
Originally posted by microbusss - September 08 2016 : 6:36:09 PM
Even better! Most of the time when I run across Tyco at flea markets or antique stores people think they have gold and ask for crazy prices. Its rare to find a deal like that these days....
Country: USA ~
Posts: 412 ~
Member Since: October 23 2015 ~
Last Visit: June 12 2022
Home
Forums
Events Calendar
Forum Admins & Mods
FAQ
Register
Posted - September 04 2016 : 11:53:22 PM
USA ~
Posts: 
