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 Posted - November 20 2009 : 10:28:25 AM
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I received a new GP-20 Western Pacific. The funny thing is it came in a Muanta Box with with blank ends. The unit came with handrails mounted in a plastic bag with little pieces of sytrofoam between the handrails and the shell. the insert is foam. The unit has a PT motor and Tyco made in hong kong on the fuel tank.
The question is, is this a Tyco that ended up in a Muanta box or a leftover piece after Tyco went belly up that was sold in a Muanta box?
Neil
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Posted - November 20 2009 : 3:38:28 PM
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What is the paint scheme? If silver and orange, it's Tyco. If painted in the style of a backwards "ex-UP patchout" (I say backwards because it was UP who patched out WP locos), it would be New Mantua.
NMantua and Tyco both sold F-units at the same time, but Mantua went back to the cast metal weight with their name, while Tyco continued using the plastic-encased one. I would surmise this same thing happened with the GP20, but I have not looked at one to be sure.
Are the handrails plastic or metal? I think all the Tyco WP GP20's used plastic handrails. I have discovered the plastic and metal ones are NOT interchangeable without some modification to the loco. I have seen foam walkway inserts used on the SD24 and later Tyco GP20s. Didn't really make sense to me as the plastic rails are pretty harmless. But the metal ones were always bagged as kits. Maybe the New Mantuas were different?
Have not seen or heard of Tyco overstock being sold in Mantua boxes... but I have not collected Mantua extensively. I suppose it *is* possible some was sold that way... the early years of "New Mantua" had products very similar if not nearly identical as some Tyco and from what I gather the Woodbury plant produced both lines for a time ("New Mantua" was formed when Sara Lee decided to sell off the Woodbury plant and retain Hong Kong production exclusively; the Tylers stepped in to save the plant by resurrecting their old company).
But Mantua was very specific about NOT using the PT drive. They were trying to resurrect the goodwill associated with the old name, and the PT was damaged goods, hated by the market they were trying to cater to again. New Mantua NEVER used a PT - they only reissued locomotives that were tooled for the original MU-2 drive. Their catalogs were very specific about using the MU-2 drive until they later developed newer can-motor designs.
SO my guess is that someone stuck a Tyco loco in a Mantua box after the fact. The connection between the two companies is so fragmented and confusing, it's a wonder it doesn't happen more often. Better to stick a used Tyco in a spare Mantua box than a Life-Like or Bachmann one, I suppose. 
Edited by - GoingInCirclez on November 20 2009 3:39:44 PM
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Posted - November 20 2009 : 4:57:21 PM
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Thanks for the info,
It is orange and silver and the handrails are plastic. I figured it was a tyco in the wrong box. Just wanted to make sure. I really wish i had the origanal box with this loco. It is brand new, never ran by the looks of it. I found a tyco box for it, just no stamp on the end.
Pleasant rails.
Neil
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