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 Posted - August 02 2013 : 6:24:50 PM
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I am sure many of you remember in Tyco's waning years of model trains, their sets began to no longer include their own manufactured locomotives, instead substituting them for Mehano's made-in-Yugoslavia locomotives.
However, this wasn't just exclusive to the early 1990s. Tyco actually first began doing this around 1988-1989. I remember seeing a few "Rail Master 72" sets on eBay dated from 1988, and even though the box photos and artwork depict their famous Santa Fe GP-20, it actually includes an Alco Century 430 locomotive. I have also seen an "Overnight Freight" set from 1988 on eBay with an EMD F9-A Rock Island locomotive instead of the Shark Nose diesel.
The packaging still would often feature artwork/photos of the old Tyco locomotives instead. A confusing example was this:
The box artwork shows a GP-20, and the included stock photo shows Tyco's classic Santa Fe Alco Super 360, but the actual set would use an Alco Century 628 lo-nose diesel locomotive.
Strangely, the Mehano-made locomotives seem to be of a higher quality than Tyco's diesels of the 1980s. Maybe that's why. AHM, Life-Like and IHC also rebranded Mehano's diesels as their own, with Life-Like billing them as "premium-quality" locomotives. They actually had can motors and more than four-wheel drive.
The later 1991 Chattanooga Choo-Choo set also includes a Mehano-made Mikado 2-8-2 steam locomotive replacing Tyco's own 0-8-0. From an eBay guide I saw on Tyco trains, it claimed this later Mikado engine was of a higher-quality and more reliable than the 0-8-0 was.
But Tyco continued to offer their classic Hong Kong-made locomotives separately outside of the train sets until the end of their train line in 1993 (which also eventually lead to the demise of the company in 1998.)
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Posted - August 02 2013 : 8:18:30 PM
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sometimes the Tyco locos will have Mehano on the bottom 
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Posted - August 13 2013 : 01:46:07 AM
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C628 so far as I know always had 8-wheel drive, even the purple box versions sold last.
Tyco may have continued to offer the Hong Kong items out of leftover stock, given they were likely shipped over by the container load.
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 Posted - August 13 2013 : 02:04:23 AM
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Also as far as I know, the TYCO offering that had a Mehano 2-8-2 wasn't.....that was a 2-8-2 for sure, but the times I have seen it, the pilot and trailing trucks were removed to make it an 0-8-0.....strangely enough looking to say the least but....... Also, this same model, was lacking valve gear.... it merely had the driver connecting rods, and a main rod, nothing more!
How do I know? I own 2 or 3 of them, or well did, they have all became rebuilt models in some way from IHC parts!
Also, I think all 3 of them, were the early models from Mehano, even tho IHC was selling "Premier" series stuff, again, how do I know? IF I recall correctly, I bought boiler stanchions from bowser, and added ALL the boiler railing to the 2 or 3 of them I had as they didn't come from factory, with it.....I had to drill all the holes for each stanchion....THEN again, with IHC's "Premier" series stuff, that all had handrails on the boiler and such and even on the boiler front, and I think (this is a long shot) but had cab, handrails!!!!!
Crazy part? THIS:
WAS one of them! I added all the IHC parts, fits perfectly, including the valve gear.....THEN the vandy tender, is a rebuilt Rivarossi that had taken a dive, and was "junk" when it came to me, in a trade!!!! I took it as I seen this shorter version that I needed for the 2-8-2 application!
~John
Many have tried to, and failed, ya just can't repair stupid... 
Do NOT try to Idiot-Proof anything!!!! God, will simply create a better......IDIOT!
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