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 Posted - September 30 2008 : 12:12:07 PM
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Straight up I will admit to ignorance as regards the positive & negative points of the various brands of older Model Railroading gear.
I note that this forum is a 'Tyco' forum & am curious as to what Tyco has that attracts railroaders to the brand?.
Reliable locos??.
Tanked
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 12:39:01 PM
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Like Lionel to older generations, Tyco were the trains that introduced many to toy trains.
They were the RTR of the era.
Nostalgia
Ray
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 12:55:08 PM
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Thanks Ray
Nostalgia, yes I can see that.
The reason I asked the question is this quote off another site that seems to dismiss Tyco:
'Mantua started in Mantua, New Jersey. Mantua later changed its name to Tyco (The Tyler Company). Tyco then split into two companies: Mantua and Tyco. The portion that became Mantua again concentrated on model trains. Tyco concentrated on other toys.'
What period was Tyco involved in model trains?
Tanked
quote:Like Lionel to older generations, Tyco were the trains that introduced many to toy trains.
They were the RTR of the era.
Nostalgia
Originally posted by Ray Marinaccio-September 30 2008: 12:39:01 PM
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 1:21:08 PM
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Here's a site that tells a slightly different story.
http://www.railstop.com/History/Mantua/MantuaHistory.asp
Ray
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 2:12:50 PM
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Very interesting article.
I presume the old Mantua loggers such as the Long-Bell are very hard to find?
Do you know who manufactures the Mantua Classic Loggers sold under the Model Power brand these days?
Tanked
quote:
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 2:33:03 PM
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My Tyco story:
I recieved my 1st tran set for Christmass in 1981 , I was 9 years old.
My town only had a small toy store at the mall and I belive Tyco was the only brand they sold along with Atlas track. I would spend alot of time looking at all the new cars and buildings and wishing for my favorite's.
I ended up with a about a 4x8 simple layout with a Night-Glo bridge and a Loading Bulldozer along with a Lighted Freight Station. I could go on and on about the fun playing with it brought me. As we all do I grew older and left toys behind. I then have had a few occations in my life were I have seen someone else's train layout and thought back to my childhood and I loved the memmories but that all I could do was remmember. Then Last year I was watching the History Channel while on E-bay. The show was about Trains and I thought what about checking Ebay for tyco stuff. I had long been using Ebay daily for computer and motorcycle parts so I seached for Tyco. WOW! I was realy stunned at all the items out there! I stayed up into the early hours looking at eveything, buying eveything,recalling my childhood and having more fun than I have had in years. I quickly had a S&F train like when I was a kid and a Night-Glow bridge. Now my collection has grown and grown. I have all but 10 Tyco kits (NIB) and 3 lighted buildings and all but 1 of the action cars. I have most of the popular loco's and cars and I'm just starting to be more into them rather than the buildings. I have collected a lot of things in my life but nothing has provided the pleasure of Tyco!
Why collect tyco? I guess in part it's because of our childhoods. I also enjoy the fact you can't go to the store and buy new. There is a amount of joy that comes from an Ebay win. So for me the ability to still dream of, seach of, and aquire a piece of the past is why Tyco is the brand for me.
P.S. without this web site and the TYCO Trains Resource I might have had my dreams fade away-Many Thanks
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 2:43:35 PM
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Great question Tanked...
This forum was started as an adjacent to Terry Cook's Tyco web site. Over the years both sites have expanded to cover just about anything in HO gauge. The forum is noted for good fellowship and lack of ridicule of those interested in the mass marketed HO.
My Dad wouldnt allow me to run HIS Lionel O gauge when I was young! In the early 1940s an Uncle took pity on me and started giving me Mantua kits which he helped me build. He was a machinist and accelerated my knowledge of mechanical construction As I grew older, I went to other brands, Penn-Line and Athearn being the most notable. Now, nostalgia along with the collector bug have taken over! Like Madam Queen (my better half) sez, "It keeps the old fool out of bars and away from wild women!"
Loopy
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.
Edited by - LoopnHook on September 30 2008 3:07:19 PM
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 3:16:01 PM
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| hi guys someone said to me,toys make money and give enjoyment whilst scale models give headaches,most toy railway items are like fords,all it needs is elastic bands and ladies tights to keep running,scale models are like rolls royces another story,money to buy and money to keep running,ken
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 4:05:09 PM
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One of the things I have noticed in looking at what goes through Ebay is that Tyco's boxcars seem to be more colorful than many other brands - they seemed to like the 'advertising hoarding' approach, which does give color & character to a consist.
Switching topic slightly - I have just realized I have a couple of old 1261 Chattanooga steam locos stashed away in the 'fix up' box.
I haven't had time yet to get a good composite from the parts, but can a decent running 1261 be created, or is the 'driven from tender' set up too much of a drawback?? I have no experience of that set up.
Are there any tricks to getting a 1261 to run well?
Tanked
I could go on and on about the fun playing with it brought me.
Originally posted by tycoboy-September 30 2008: 2:33:03 PM
[/quote]
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 4:14:21 PM
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| the whole beauty of toy trains is that you do not have to stick to prototype,cd motors,string for close couplings etc,i agree more colour to toys,sometimes a bit ott,silver streak for one,but it does look good,regards tender drive,only thing i will say is that its easier to maintan motors,downside is that drive rods must be kept clean and lubed otherwise bent rods or at best derailnent (my opinion only) ken
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 6:35:08 PM
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They're cheap around these parts, that's why...
Nostalgia. I remember what a hoot those GG1s were when they first showed up. I couldn't believe Tyco did that and MR magazine put them in their ads. 25+ years later I ran into these coo coos who had a website like Tyco was a legitimate model or something, before I knew it, I was one of those coo coos.
Now I own one of those sorry looking beauties I laughed at so many years ago...
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 9:28:04 PM
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I think Tycoboy sums it up for me.
I first started out in cheap HO trains.(it's all my family could afford)
My first set was a Lionel HO set in 1976.
As a kid I poured over all the Tyco,AHM,and other catalogs dreaming of owning all the colorful trains on those pages.
Then in the mid 80's I bought my first Lionel O gauge trains,and sold all the HO I managed to collect over the years.
I mostly shunned HO stuff in favor of O gauge,until about 10 years ago.
I started to miss all the HO trains I used to have,so I started to buy all the stuff I used to have in addition to the trains I dreamed of owning.
I havent looked back since,now I own a large collection of O,and HO trains.
And a good amount of N scale,and American Flyer S gauge.
Carl T.
President of the Cape James Terminal RR.
Edited by - choochin3 on September 30 2008 9:28:49 PM
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Posted - September 30 2008 : 9:43:31 PM
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| Why Tyco for me? Memories i can recall by looking at the Tyco pieces i have and now the fun i have. Many christmas's of getting Tyco trains or bldgs from Santa mom dad and other relatives. I guess like most on here--a link to the past that was filled with fun. I recently went to Toys R Us to get my daughter a Sponge Bob Square Pants basket ball set. While there--really sad as the toys being offered today is nothing in comparison as to what was offered in the 70's and 80's. Train offerings are slim to none.
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Posted - October 01 2008 : 08:54:24 AM
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Shaygetz
They have a certain retro 'Art Deco' look about them - does your's run like a Singer sewing machine or a coffee grinder??.
Tanked
quote:
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Posted - February 19 2009 : 11:30:02 PM
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For me, Tyco was what I had as a kid and grew up with. I don't want anything other than Tyco. I have heard them called "junk trains" but I still love them!
It's like eating at McDonalds...Everyone knows it's not the best food there is, but EVERYONE eats there at some point, and some eat there daily!!
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Posted - February 20 2009 : 02:24:22 AM
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quote:
It's like eating at McDonalds...Everyone knows it's not the best food there is, but EVERYONE eats there at some point, and some eat there daily!!
Originally posted by walt-February 19 2009: 11:30:02 PM
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Walt,
have you seen the movie "Supersize me"?
Actually I dont have any Tyco at all (not yet). But, whats Tyco in the US it's Lima in Europe. The reasons to get stuck on these brands are probably similar...
Martin
http://mmiwakoh.de/Eigene%20Webs/lima-modellbahn/index.htm
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Posted - February 20 2009 : 2:42:28 PM
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I guess I got into Tyco (and Lima & Life-like) for the same reasons as most people, I had them running around as a kid. What was funny was our HO's back then ran side by side with our Lionel 0 gauge trains that were passed down to my parents. But I'm lucky enough to have all of my orginal engines from those days. Even though I've started buying newer stuff, there is a certian character to my older engines. They don't need special sound chips, I can tell exactly which one of my engines is running with my back turned. Some of them have road names that were never offered in real life on certian engines. They don't cost a arm and a leg so you never feel guilty if one derails. And if you want to modify them you feel even less guilty (I should know over half of my old locos have seen paint haha). I think these are the same reasons I keep looking at Model Powers stuff that they offer today. Looks decent, well priced, more refined than the older stuff...but not compeltely  All that said, I do love my Athern twins. Quiet, run like swiss watches, will pull tree stumps out of the ground (well maybe HO scale trees).
Whats really great about this forum is alot of people seem to be happy having a layout being shared by both old & new locos running side by side. And nobody gets bent out of shape because their Tyco's sound like a bag of nickels being dragged along the rails lol. Or because the newer engines have every rivet molded exactly as real life and it takes away from the fun part of model railroading.
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Posted - February 20 2009 : 2:53:00 PM
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| wgat really matters is are you having fun or is it a chore like washing the dishes,ken
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ABE
Switcher
Status:
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Posted - February 21 2009 : 9:50:19 PM
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Hello Guys,
Why Tyco ?...... I am nearly 70 yrs old & grew up with Lionel O -Gauge trains, when came home from the Army in 1960 & married in 1961 & now had a small apartment wit no room for a Lionel layout & git a cheap Marx HO set that just did not run right, a few other off brands of HO that didnt run right or stay on track ot me to start to research HO brands & found that Penn Line, Revell, Hobbytown, Varney ,Athearn ( after rubber band drives) Mantua & Tyco were among the leaders, if I am correct in late 50's Mantua were in Kit form & the TYco line was now RTR items along with some kits also & compared to Penn Line, Revell & especially hobbytown were somewhat cheaper & after buying a Tyco Santa Fe F-7 passenger set along with a Tyco RDG GP-20, 2 Penn Line diesels & Passenger cars & now can see the difference in performance I have to say that Tyco out performed the Penn Line deisels, the Tyco's both ran smooth & tye tyco passenger cars ran flawsley compared to the Penn Lines, later on added a Revell NW-2 that was noisy & jerky, a Tyco Mikado also proved to be a top of the line engine, as yrs went on & my son got to be older & now movijg in our own home we got serious about trains & slot cars as our hobby & now with some Athearn engines , penn Line steamers I found out that Tyco engines & cars were thje best performers, the tyco ftr cars tracked very well, had nice detail & when compared to some other brands Tyco came out on top alonmg with Athearn Frt cars, my son grew up to be a F-16 Piolt in the USAF & I started to seriuosly collect Early Mantua & Red box tyco becuse of the performance it gave us & the memories of my son & I collecting tyco trains together, to each his own but that is why I collect tyco, is it the best ? no, but for me it just gave good service good memories, I have a nice Tyco/Mantua collection today simply because I started to collect it when it was sold at Meets for 50 cents to a dollar for frt cars, higest price for passenger cars were than $3.00, engines were around $5.00 for diesels & small shifters & $10.00 to $12.00 for the Mikados & Pacifics, boxed sets were never over $25.00 for a prime Passenger set, this was in the late 80's & early 90's, ebay naturally changed the price of trains, ......... I know most of you guys collect the brown box era Tyco & it all depends as to your age & what one grows up with, I have a small Lionel Layout made up like it was a 50's layout & a shelf HO layout with a small loop to run passenger trains which is DCC & sound, I do tun a old Tyco Mikado now & than & some old hobbytowns which to me are the creme of the crop from the 50's ,
Abe
Abe Schwartz
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Posted - February 21 2009 : 10:36:52 PM
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quote:Shaygetz
They have a certain retro 'Art Deco' look about them - does your's run like a Singer sewing machine or a coffee grinder??.
Tanked
Originally posted by TankedEngine-October 01 2008: 08:54:24 AM
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By golly I've never run it...put it on the shelf and there she sits---that which I greatly feared has come upon me...I'm a ...a..."collector". I'll run her tomorrow and find out...
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Posted - February 21 2009 : 11:00:37 PM
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Well written Abe, I agree totally. Mantua and Tyco always were and still are great performers for me...
Mike
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Posted - February 21 2009 : 11:52:45 PM
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| Great writing ,i agree i just won a tyco u.p. f unit & dummy for 12.00 bucks i know what im getting and if it dont run just think of the fun il have fixing it up mint again.chances are it will end up with a little extra weight in it and go to work pulling and putting a smile on my 12.00 face! the real expensive stuff is nice but il be the first to tell ya its nothing like we grew up with .
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Posted - February 27 2009 : 1:02:50 PM
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shaygetz- a collector? Nooo... 
Actually, I do not own that much Tyco, but with maybe a few exceptions, every tyco engine I have, even if beat up on the outside, still seems to run as well as an engine out of the box. Tyco never meant much to me until a couple years ago, when my Great-Uncle George moved to assisted living, and my Nana (grandma) helped clean out his old house. While there, she found a mint in the box Tyco Silver Streak set  ! Before any of my other relatives walked off with it, she picked it up and put it in her trunk, and is now one of my favorite HO pieces, with the acception of maybe my HV Yankke set from my Grandpa, or my RMC Ramsey car from I believe the 60's? Nonetheless, it even had the Tyco catalog still in it! Anyways, I've since lost the Nite-Glow, and "misplaced" the catalog, but hey, it's a toy. More to the point, when it comes to color and fun, it would be Tyco or the old Lionel HO (which I still nedd to buy!). But, what it really comes down to is, if you want a runner that won't break the bank and is still cool, Tyco has to be your only choice!
(P.S.- I'm still only 13, if you hadn't guessed )
D.J. (Yeah, I'm "that kid"... Deal.)
http://railroadrandomness.blogspot.com/
Look; a new blog...
Yippee!
Edited by - DJdeTrainman on February 27 2009 1:04:32 PM
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Posted - February 27 2009 : 1:06:46 PM
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I agree with ALL of you cheap trains yes but fun to collect especially the BILLBOARD CARS!!!
Edited by - microbusss on February 27 2009 2:18:40 PM
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