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 Posted - January 11 2010 : 3:57:21 PM
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Hi guys:
Just wondering if anyone is running Prototypical Operations incorporating Tyco? I don't mean neccesarily hardcore card-system, but proto-like ops. Laded in-empties out, that sort of thing. Running at scale speeds....
what if any conceesions have you made to operate your Tyco's in that scheme?
Btw: please don't respond that it doesn't have to be prototypical to matter thats not the point of this inquiry. It's not an either/or. Rather I'm looking for some information, not a debate.
Thanks,
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
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 Posted - January 12 2010 : 01:52:30 AM
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It's interesting you should bring this topic up, as I've been pondering recently how to get my smooth-running Royal Blue (which by some miracle can operate at scale speeds) & matching caboose to fit in with my mostly Rio Grande steam fleet. While I had it running on a loop of EZ track at my grandma's over Christmas, I realized how. My dream layout has always been to have a train leave a big Midwestern union station, either St. Louis or Kansas City, creep along behind suburban backyards, race across the plains with nothing but signals and telegraph poles and rolling hills with a big blue sky, then plunge into the Rockies and struggle up into the mining towns. Only problem being, the Rio Grande never went farther east than Denver. The Royal Blue was the answer to that layout dilemma.
I immediately started outlining a history  of a joint fast-freight service by that name run by Missouri Pacific and Rio Grande, who already in real life ran the Royal Gorge as a through passenger train from St. Louis to Salt Lake City. All I would need to do to make it more believable is paint a couple boxcars in the Royal Blue scheme, and spot them at stations for parcel loading. Even if my dream layout never comes to pass in its entirety, I can make up an ad for the service in Photoshop and tack it up near the layout, and run the engine and caboose with a train of boxcars through on whatever layout I do have as a priority through freight. I'd imagine the same thing could be done with any of the other Tyco fantasy schemes.
Other than that rather fun (to me) work of historical fiction writing, I treat the rest of my Tyco rolling stock equal to my Athearns and others. They've all gotten weathered in some way (except the Jell-O boxcar and other "special" pieces, like the Royal Blue) and are slowly being converted to knuckle couplers with Life-Like Scenemaster couplers that fit right in the original pocket. That way I can do away with conversion cars (and increase switching possibilities) except for when I want to pull those few oddball cars that just won't take new couplers without major modifications. After the addition of paint scheme modifications, weathering, and knuckle couplers, it's hard to tell the Tycos and other cheap stuff apart from the kits. 
--Rio Grande--Thru the Rockies
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Posted - January 12 2010 : 08:58:34 AM
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| I find that operating my Tyco is more enjoyable with a somewhat-prototypical plan. If your track plan represents either a real or freelance location, your operations have more of a 'raison-de-etre.' I keep all my locos cleaned and lubed, and choose locos to run that can perform best (early Tyco steam, MU-2 diesels, etc.). I use nickel-silver track, and turnouts that have powered frogs to eliminate stalling. You can uncouple horn-hook cars reasonably well with Atlas or Tyco ramps. If desired, you can represent a particular railroad reasonably well, if it is something like Pennsy, SP, UP, ATSF, IC, etc. with Tyco's offerings. Of course, any Tyco operation will need a certain degree of imagination and suspension of reality. But that's quite liberating, actually--when trying to go strictly prototype, I find it somewhat frustrating, never able to get everything "just so." I think one key is to keep it simple. Have an operating plan without introducing a lot of complications, like mazes of turnouts, track crossing pieces, etc. Just my thoughts...
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Posted - February 28 2010 : 2:00:13 PM
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Hey Guys:
Some time ago, we had a disussion about writing histories "back-stories" for our layouts. I took some stuff that I had picked at random cause I ;iked it and wrote a history around it. really enjoyed that and even now writing a story behind a given modified locomotive...
-Gareth
PS: revived the thread mentioned above.
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
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Posted - March 02 2010 : 06:20:26 AM
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Speaking of history there is an article in the current Model Railroad Craftsman Magazine, on two pages in the back where they do vintage stuff, that includes info and pictures of Tyco trains and accessories. This is part II of the series. I did not know what's in the first part.
Some may want to check this out.
Alco Fan
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