# TYCO Trains... the later years



## wiley2012 (Dec 8, 2012)

OK, so many of us remember TYCO's HO trains being seen as low-end and toy-like since the 1970s. But during their final years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a few things have changed...

First off, starting around 1988, they began to move production of their stuff from Hong Kong to Yugoslavia. Train sets began to come with Mehano-produced locomotives and rolling stock, the latter painted to look like their TYCO equivalents. Even stuff like the power packs, track and non-building kit accessories carried a "Made in Yugoslavia" stamp.
However, in the late 1980s, the train set boxes would often depict the older Hong Kong-made locomotives and cars...








Yet in this case, the actual locomotive was Mehano's own Alco Century 430 in the Santa Fe Warbonnet colors, and the rolling stock was also actually the Yugoslavian substitutes. Instead of a single-powered truck motor like TYCO's own locomotives, this Alco 430 instead had a can motor with eight-wheel drive, and it was pretty much the same model AHM, IHC and Model Power offered.

The "Overnight Freight" set was also confusing with its' package...








While the front showed TYCO's Shark Nose diesel, the actual set came with either a Mehano F9 or FA painted in the Rock Island colors.

They redid the packaging style in 1990...








This time you could actually see what you were getting. Beginning around 1991, the sets came with what they called "Quik-Clik" connectors, which were basically these Yugoslavia-made track clips that I know IHC also branded...








They were a lot like Life-Like's "Trac-Loc" clips, meant to keep sectional track together without the need to nail it down onto the plywood or whatever. Today's roadbed track has somewhat rendered this method obsolete.
The "Santa Fe 72" set also boasted a "36-piece Sign, Pole and Townspeople Set." In addition to the usual signs and telephone poles (in the classic TYCO style, but I've also seen AHM and Walthers offer them, along with Model Power selling the poles), it also included a bunch of unpainted figures, probably also rebranded AHM/IHC products. This was interesting, as TYCO never offered figures like Bachmann, Life-Like and Model Power did (though some came attached to their lighted buildings).

An interesting item was their 1991-1992 "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" train set...








It brought back the steam-whistle billboard (now battery-operated) and chugging boxcar (basically like Lionel's old "chugging" tenders.) The locomotive was a modified Mehano 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotive and tender, with only the eight drive wheels intact, and no smoke unit. Some other companies have also offered this type of engine, like AHM, Rivarossi, IHC (in their "Premier" line), and even Life-Like! (in their SceneMaster line in the 1980s, meant for craftsman-quality products) It does not have a pancake motor in the tender like TYCO's own Chattanooga locomotives did, but it had a can motor and all-wheel drive right in the locomotive itself, thus it performed much better than TYCO's old 0-8-0 did!
I actually have one of those Chattanooga sets I bought a couple months ago...








Curiously, while the locomotive and tender, "chugging" boxcar and caboose are indeed Yugoslavian-made, the Railbox car, wood pulp car and Texaco tank car are actually bona-fide Hong Kong-made TYCO cars! Sometimes during this period, TYCO would mix and match different rolling stock parts, presumably to clear out old stock or something.









This was TYCO's last version of their Railroad Empire set. Worth of note, the box artwork shows a GP-20, and the photo of the set on the box shows TYCO's old Alco Super 630 locomotive, yet the actual set came with Mehano's Alco C628 locomotive (the one that had eight-wheel drive instead of twelve, the same kind of can motor, etc.) It was painted in the same Santa Fe paint scheme used on AHM's equivalent (Model Power and Life-Like's equivalents had the blue-and-yellow paint scheme.) So once again, you had a better-running locomotive than TYCO's own equivalent!
By this point, this was also the only way you could get the TYCO Pipe Loader, Log Dump car, and bi-level auto carrier car.
BUT, a number of TYCO's old accessories and building kits were still available!
















Many of the Pola building kits TYCO sold were still available at this time, including some of the Center St. series buildings. The locomotives and rolling stock pictured were most likely leftover stock TYCO was clearing out. Also look how limited the track available was at this time! If you wanted to expand beyond 18" curves and 9" straights, you'd have to look toward somewhere else, like Bachmann's steel track available at the time, or even Atlas's nickel-silver track. The TYCOScene layout board was also still available, but the expansion section no longer was.

Pretty interesting stuff, from what was once such a well-known company in manufacturing HO-scale trains. One reason was due to dwindling interest in model railroading from kids during this time. Plus, in addition to higher-quality stuff from Atlas and Athearn, TYCO's rival Bachmann still had a much larger selection, and Life-Like was getting really popular during this time as well. It seems by this point Bachmann, Life-Like and Model Power stole much of TYCO's thunder.


----------



## mustangcobra94 (Apr 28, 2014)

very cool stuff thanks for the info.


----------



## Hutch (Dec 19, 2012)

Interesting read.
Thanks for taking the time to do it.:smilie_daumenpos:


----------



## THE TYCO MAN (Aug 23, 2011)

Worst years of Tyco was the final years! The older stuff is what I like better. Some of the building kits Tyco made are still being made by folks like Model Power and so on. Mehano just quit making the C430 and C630 not too long ago. The box art could through a collector off if they ain't looking close enough.


----------



## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)




----------



## blackz28 (Jan 6, 2013)

*wow thank you for the detailed history , i never knew any of this*


----------



## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Interesting information, thanks.


----------



## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

In the 1980's Tyco ran a series of TV ads, just before the video game pandemic killed the model train:






This is a parody:






Tyco had a wide range of products. The tram, the slot car set, the T Rex and the pterodactyl, all that is 100% Tyco. The slot car set was originally designed to run in reverse and the semi trucks could both load and unload automatically.


----------



## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

Tyco came out with some real odd balls. One of which was the "Super Tanker," notorious for "hand rails to nowhere;" featuring handrails, but no catwalk. The squeaking sounds are the Derilin bogies, an effect I call "Tyco Sound Effects." Sounds pretty real, huh?


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Hey, who needs a catwalk…..just do hand over hand on the handrail to move along the car….🤣


----------



## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

Like Monkey Bars, right? 

One of the other inventions of Tyco was the uncoupling ramp. Essentially it was designed so that if a car was pushed over it, it would uncouple. Well, sort of. First problem is that most Tyco was geared to approach the sound barrier, so I opted to try an Athearn BB switcher for more control. Second, horn hooks were king, and I still like them, but most modellers today wouldn't be caught dead with them.


----------



## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

Tyco didn't stop with trains, or dinosaurs, for that matter, they also had a line of trolleys and trams. My favorite was the "Strap Hanger" set, which consisted of two permanently coupled trams, no poles, and a small, very small, oval of track. To extend it slightly I added some home made straights using Balsa and gray paint. Not perfect, but it got the job done. Finding straight Tyco sections, if you could find them, was mad money.


----------



## Bonz85 (Sep 16, 2019)

Was Tyco, Model Power and Life-Like failing a sign of the dying market of low end trains? I always see people complaining about how expensive this hobby has gotten but there is hardly a mid range company let alone low end. I wonder what a Tyco grade locomotive would cost today.


----------



## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

You know Bonz, that's an interesting question. To answer the question: $5 to $100, depending on the rarity and desire of the rare Tyco collector. A very, very important determinant with Tyco is that there were two types of motors: the open frame MU2 motor that had metal, or sturdy nylon worms, and these things are pretty darn tough. I got MU2's fifty years old and they work fine. Sometime, during one ot the regime changes (Tyco was bought and sold a few times, by General Foods, for one), a very cheap Power Torque motor, known as a "ringfield" in UK, was installed and these things soon became the death nell as they were notorious for "gray smoke," cracked and slipping pinion gears, and poor brushes.

Average Tyco might run around $20, but buyer beware- the PT motors are really garbage. I find one and I toss it aside or give it to someone who has to have it.

Life Like used to be another word for "Pure Junk," but sometime, not so long ago, someone else picked up the line and they make some really solid stuff that works great and isn't stratospherically expensive. I want to say it is under the Walther's Train Line brand, but I really don't know. I got two latter day Life Likes, and they got the simplicity of Tyco with the durability of a quality piece.

This video has a Tyco G, and to make it work properly it was necessary to install two powered PT bogies so it would pull a hoot, while the F7 is equipped with an MU2 motor. The FP is either a Bachmann or a Model Power, I don't remember. The switcher is a Con Cor. Maybe the G was about $35, and the F maybe $20 and the FP and the Concor were trades.


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

The Life-Like line you are thinking of could be the Proto 2000 series….excellent locomotives, even today!
Great detail, wide selection of beautiful paint jobs, and excellent runners! 

Walthers bought Life-Like, and are doing these locomotives in their Walthers Proto line now….


----------



## Bonz85 (Sep 16, 2019)

Chops
Just to clarify I wasn't asking what old Tyco's are currently selling for today. Was wondering what a comparable product then would sell for now since there isn't any low end products like that in the market. In the late 80's early 90's A new Tyco cost 10-15, a new BB Athearn was 20-40. While I don't think Athearn has a line today that compares with BB, it's high grade now but they are 150-250 today. Just had a hypothetical question/wondering if a Tyco/model power/life-like brand existed today what it would sell for.


----------



## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)




----------



## scott7891 (10 mo ago)

Bonz85 said:


> Chops
> Just to clarify I wasn't asking what old Tyco's are currently selling for today. Was wondering what a comparable product then would sell for now since there isn't any low end products like that in the market. In the late 80's early 90's A new Tyco cost 10-15, a new BB Athearn was 20-40. While I don't think Athearn has a line today that compares with BB, it's high grade now but they are 150-250 today. Just had a hypothetical question/wondering if a Tyco/model power/life-like brand existed today what it would sell for.


Just look at whatever Bachmann is making. They have become the defacto entry-level model company outcompeting the rest (Life-Like, Tyco, Model Power, IHC) and consolidating the lower market. That isn't to say everything they make is bad or low quality but model quality has gone up across the industry compared to years' past.


----------



## Murv2 (Nov 5, 2017)

I ended up with one of those monster tank cars, chucked it in the "Cars that displease me box" after stealing the 6-wheel trucks for a battleship gondola.


----------



## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

That GG1 clip was what got me back into the hobby. In the early 80's I was walking past a hobby shop in Queens, NY and saw that GG1 in a set with 3 passenger cars and I bought it. It barely resembled the prototype and was in a paint scheme that never appeared on a GG1 but with a repaint and some decals I was OK with it.


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I’m afraid that the average model railroader’s tastes have moved past the toy-like cheap cars of the early days….more exposure to higher quality, better running locomotives and cars has entrenched itself, and not many modellers want the cheap junk anymore….

Sure, there are some that will stand by those old lower end pieces and prices, they like working on them and upgrading them, but those of us who want the quality right out of the box, and are willing to pay for that, are now the norm rather than the niche….

I figure if the demand for the cheaper, toy-like items was there, there would be someone to fill that void, but I know of no manufacturer doing that right now…..even Bachmann isn’t “cheap” anymore….metal wheels and knuckle couplers are not as cheap as the old plastic wheels and x2f couplers were….

IMHO, of course…..


----------



## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

Point taken, Old Hobo. I am one of the nostalgics who likes the cheap junk. It is the devil to keep operating due to parts availability and zinc rot. But here 'tis:
























At some point, presumptively in the latter years owing to the PT motor, Tyco tried to break into the Australian market. Not the first place I would think of when it comes to model trains, but it has a strong base. How well or how long Tyco fared Down Under is hard to guess; not terribly well, presumptively, as the Tyco line dried up in the early 90's and there is not a lot of Aussie Tyco out there.


----------



## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)




----------

