|
|
 Posted - September 12 2010 : 8:26:11 PM
|
OK all,
Had to ask this, because I'm curious, why do we like Tyco stuff so much?
For me, its a step back to my teen years when I took over my Dad's railroad "duties" and he had a few Tyco engines on his layout.
Tyco trains, train sets, and slot cars, were readily available in local stores, in the catalogs, and they were cheap.
Back then, we just ran the crap out of them, and if they died, we just went out and got new ones.
Just a thought.....
Cheers, Ian
|
Country:  USA ~
Posts: 87 ~
Member Since: September 05 2010 ~
Last Visit: September 26 2012
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 12 2010 : 8:32:52 PM
|
First model train of my own too. A little late I was I think 13. Left home and lived in some pretty bad places before 16 but the feeling stuck.
Before that my big brothers Lionel NW-2. But no track or anything just handled it a lot.
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
|
Country:  Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 13 2010 : 02:03:21 AM
|
| I had Tyco when I was a little kid in the 60's. I also had AF "S" ga. The AF I stopped collecting two years ago when I got laid-off. I find the Ho is cheaper and available.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 668 ~
Member Since: April 28 2010 ~
Last Visit: February 14 2026
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 13 2010 : 02:10:57 AM
|
I grew up with Tyco trains & slot cars thru the late 60s and early 70s. In 1978 I took my layout apart and in 93 let my boss use my trains on his layout. He died & I never got anything back.
I never forgot the Tyco layout.... In 2001 I started reliving my childhood and collecting the Tyco & like-Like stuff I had back then.
I believe my collection is up to 10 or 12 pieces now!
Walt
Luck, usually comes dressed in work clothes...
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 6279 ~
Member Since: February 18 2009 ~
Last Visit: March 04 2022
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 13 2010 : 05:41:09 AM
|
Tyco was before my time so there's no nostalgia in it for me. What drew me to their model trains was simple; they made the locos I like, in the roads I like, with lots of groovy rolling stock. Using Pola for many of their structure kits was also a great decision.
My Tyko trains mostly mirror the Tyco range but I'm not bothered none are the genuine article. To me, the spirit of Tyco is more than the smell of a PowerTorque drive!
|
Country:  Australia ~
Posts: 362 ~
Member Since: March 21 2009 ~
Last Visit: December 31 2011
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 13 2010 : 06:35:26 AM
|
Yes, Tyco was a big part of my childhood as well. I'd say 1/2 of my stock was Tyco, although I tended to buy AHM or Bachmann engines, not Tyco. I don't believe I ever actually owned a Tyco engine until my more recent collecting in the last 7 years. So I never experienced the Power Torque issues. All my locomotives had FRAMES. LOL. I had hours of fun with them, wish I'd had a place to do more than floor train layouts, but our basement was too damp and musty ( and cluttered! ) for any long-term useage like that. I tried keeping them under my bed once, but Mom didn't like dusting around it. Sigh. Oh well, I'm 50 now, my basement is PACKED, and I still don't have room for a layout, except the 4x4 foot square over my stairwell upstairs. Some things never change....
You can see my slot car collection along the back wall if you squint hard. I have trains in the drafting drawer unit as well. This view was 4 years ago, when it WASN'T as packed. It's way worse now. It's past shoulder height, I have narrow pathways to get to stuff (sometimes). 
Jerry.
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 3974 ~
Member Since: January 04 2009 ~
Last Visit: January 11 2019
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 13 2010 : 6:26:01 PM
|
I had a train set when I was young in the early 50's can not remember what make it was. The idea of a train set up when I retired was all I thought about. I was talking to a friend and he said I have a steam engine you can have if you can get it going. Well that was it I was into Tyco. I brought the engine home and it turned out to be a Chattanooga 2-8-0 I had it going in no time and the rest is history. I now have 6 Chatt's and a Royal Blue coming from e-bay. A member sold me a bunch of his parts now I can get more going. Thanks Nelson. I love the old steam as my Dad and many relatives worked for the CPR my Dad was with them foe 50 years.
The last steam engine to run from Fredericton Junction N.B. to Fredericton was a Hudson CPR # 2929 and the whole crew were relatives of mine. I guess steam is inbreed in me. My layout is small now but will grow larger this winter to more than double its size.
FIDDLEHEAD RAILWAY CO.
|
|
Country: Canada ~
Posts: 468 ~
Member Since: January 17 2010 ~
Last Visit: February 29 2012
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 13 2010 : 7:31:30 PM
|
well my 1st set was Bachmann's Golden Spike set It didn't have the Golden Spike boxcar I later got Tyco years later after being a adult  But I likes the advertizing/billboard cars that Tyco made Even if alot were cause of the Sara Lee buyout
Sides Tyco locos was & still is cheap junk Unless like alot of you here remotor them with CD motors  Which I needs to learn how myself  Tyco mostly made stuff for kids not the serious model railroader
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 14999 ~
Member Since: February 23 2009 ~
Last Visit: February 28 2026
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 13 2010 : 11:44:33 PM
|
My first train set was Tyco's Spirit of 76 over and under set. I got it when I was 12, ran it for several years while buying more Tyco cars and a few loco's. The first layout was a 4 x 8 using the layout expander set. Over the years it was stored away. I revived it in the late 90's and started collecting more and more Tyco via train shows and ebay.
It's a great hobby and I hope to run my trains fro many years to come. Oh the original So76 still runs, and I found the original set MIB on ebay and bought it a year ago. Way cool stuff.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 636 ~
Member Since: February 03 2008 ~
Last Visit: February 18 2026
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 14 2010 : 11:05:31 PM
|
Good question/post Ian,
The low cost and challenges of operation are what hooked me. I never had a Tyco as a kid, my first loco being a Bachmann AT&SF Northern 4-8-4, then an Athearn SP Daylight PA-1. I got away from modelling for years, but when I was laid-off in April of '09 I started doing some light carpentry for friends, and I was on eBay buying some power tool parts and for some reason checked out the model railroad offerings. What brought me into the fray was a Spirit of '76 C430. I have since added an IC C630, Virginian C430, Midnight Special RF-16 (Sharknose!), 2 Mantua 0-4-0Ts, Burlington, BN, & Santa Fe GP20s, and an AT&SF F7B dummy. Not all run, but some did not run when I got them and reading the excellent advice posted in the forums has brought at least 2 back to life. I think the whole point is to have fun, right?
Cheers,
Lee
"It is better to have loafed and lost, than never to have loafed at all." James Thurber
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 19 ~
Member Since: October 24 2009 ~
Last Visit: July 01 2018
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 15 2010 : 7:31:09 PM
|
Lee,
Yup, thats my point
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 87 ~
Member Since: September 05 2010 ~
Last Visit: September 26 2012
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
Home
Forums
Events Calendar
Forum Admins & Mods
Register
