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 Posted - September 04 2019 : 9:39:47 PM
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You know, one of my favorite things about collecting Tyco is the stories these pieces have to tell. Really, they are almost like time capsules sometimes. This particular engine is a good example of that.
Last week I received some rather unfortunate news and had to make a long trip to Kentucky. While I was there, my family and I went to several flea markets and the large flea market they have inside the Kentucky Expo Center.
They had some really nice stuff in there. Lots of cool Lionel prewar trains and there was this one American Flyer Alco PA set (in the original box) that was there. I had to hold myself back from charging it to my credit card. While I'm not an American Flyer guy, the condition, rarity, and price of the set was just right. But this is a TYCO forum so let's talk TYCO.
About halfway through the "antique" section of the Expo's flea market I saw those ever so familiar brown boxes. To my surprise (and delight) I saw that it was a complete Tyco Alco 430 "Spirit of 76" set! While everything was mostly there, it is fairly incomplete. A major bummer of the set is that none of the boxes for any of the engine and rolling stock have cardboard inserts. I'm not sure what I will do with them (the boxes). The set in total had a purchase price of $60. After some shrewd negotiation the set was purchased for $32.
Since the rest of the set items are somewhat trivial I will only be talking about the engine going forward.
The engine:
While inspecting the set prior to purchase in I immediately noticed it was an early Spirit of 76 430! What was very disappointing was the condition of the lettered seal on the locomotive. As most of you know the presidential lettered 430 is the most "collectible" version of the Tyco Spirit of 76 430. And as I looked closer at the engine I noticed several things. The paint was in excellent condition. Normally, as these things are used over the years the paint will become yellowed, damaged, worn, etc. The paint on this model is actually quite nice. As someone who has been hoarding new in the box Spirit of 76's this model definitely looks like it could be a new engine. The only exception to this is the rather large paint chip by the handrail post. I'm not sure what could have caused that. But the engine just has that new in the box shine that used engines don't have.
The next thing I noticed was the engine had both couplers still installed. Normally these MU-2 locomotives are almost always missing the rear or front coupler. So that tells me whoever had it cared for it in some capacity.
The final major thing that stood out to me was the condition of the MU-2. It appears that it still has the factory grease installed. Normally on a well used MU-2 the grease around the bracket that the truck swivels on is always missing. It is present on this model. This model also has a rather low amount of carpet fibers surrounding the trucks.
Taking of this data that I have I can develop a theory on this locomotive's life. My theory is that someone bought this either for their kid or their-self and totally forgot about it after one or two uses. Maybe it was only ran around a Christmas tree one time and then shelved never to see the light of day for many years. Maybe it was bought as a birthday present or Christmas present for a child who got bored with it. The condition of the seal makes me think that a child owned this train previously. But it definitely could have been an adult picking the engine up by the fragile seal, wrecking it. What do you think? How could an Alco be in such good, yet bad condition at the same time.
My plans for this locomotive is to remove what is left of the seal, install handrails (maybe), and find it a nice TYCO brown box to live in.
The paint chip in an otherwise flawless paintjob.
And of course, a proper Spirit of 76 430. Untouched lettered seal, handrails installed.
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Posted - September 04 2019 : 9:44:30 PM
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Amazing find! And I agree - Tyco stuff is just so awesome. 
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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Posted - September 04 2019 : 9:55:42 PM
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quote:Amazing find! And I agree - Tyco stuff is just so awesome.
Originally posted by RP model railroads - September 04 2019 : 9:44:30 PM
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It's just so neat and fun to document this stuff.
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Posted - September 06 2019 : 12:17:18 PM
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Yes, the back story makes it. Nice way to turn a long trip to
Kentucky into something with a bit of lemonade.
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