I have a TYCO Santa FE engine from the mid 80's that has not been used in a while. The wheels will not turn. When I increase the throttle I hear a sound as if the engine wants to turn but it doesn't.
That's great...even Tyco has a respected place in model railroading---even if it's the butt of jokes. Long live Tyco...
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If it were not for Tyco and the lowest level Life Like made when I was a kid I would not be in this hobby. I hate to say this but a Tyco from EBay will probably be my first kid's train. Cheep and if it breaks I have lost nothing of value.
I have found several of the Tyco rolling stock to be good runners. I commonly run some of their gons, tanks and hoppers. The work as well as my Bachmann ones.
I love them myself and cringe at the thought that I've defaced a couple with weathering and Kadee couplers over the years. Now I leave them alone, if they don't run fine, if they do, even better. They have a growing fan following too, now that that generation is getting up in years...yikes...If it were not for Tyco and the lowest level Life Like made when I was a kid I would not be in this hobby.
Nope. The Tyco locos I have are standard silver and red Santa Fe paint schemes.@ TJcruiser, would those late 70's Santa Fe's happen to be blue and yellow F7a Warbonnet's? just asking since I have like 5 of the shells for them (no guts) and I see them a lot on craigslist.
There's an idea then they would be weighted.Good, old-fashioned JB Weld - now why didn't I think of that?! Thanks, T-Man.
I'm in the same boat as steam chaser - an F7 that is missing both wheel covers on the rear truck, and a C430 that is missing both front covers. Unfortunately, I don't have the parts to piece together.
Now, if I had paid more attention in metal shop (and possibly gotten into the trade), I suppose I could carefully remove the remaining covers, make a mold of them, and cast some new ones out of aluminum. I'd make a fortune - non-breaking Tyco wheel covers! :laugh: