![]() Mehano, a Slovenian manufacturer, began supplying product about this time, which led to some interesting oddities. Production during these final years is quite different from what had been previously. No separate accessories were offered in this final year of production. Only three train sets were offered in the final year, including Railroad Empire II, Overnight Freight, and Santa Fe 72. Model train production ended in the 1990s, with the final catalog appearance in 1993. In early 1986, Savoy Industries put TYCO stock on the open market generating $13.4 million and ending Savoy’s involvement in the toy company. These changes in product line see the model train category down to 60% of TYCO’s sales by 1986. The company also began offering telephones remote-control vehicles and other items beyond the model train line. The 1980s also saw TYCO diversify into such things as “Super Blocks,” which were similar and compatible with LEGO building blocks. The company added the “US-1 Trucking” HO scale slot cars to its line in 1981. The appeal of model trains was dropping and TYCO’s management began to look for new product lines for the company. The line of model trains in general also was shrinking in total variety of products offered. During this time, TYCO’s train line was becoming even more outlandish with items linked to television shows like “The A-Team” and movies like “Rambo,” with few items relevant to serious model railroaders. Consolidated Foods sold TYCO in 1981 for $18.6 million to Savoy Industries. When the old factory in Woodbury Hieghts, N.J., was placed on the market, Norman Tyler purchased it and re-launched Mantua trains in 1977. Grey and Pearce brought TYCO back into the black by the late 1970s. Management remained positive on TYCO and placed Dick Grey as president and Harry Pearce as chief financial officer in 1973. The book Toyland by Sydney Ladensohn Stern and Ted Schoenhaus, reports TYCO’s returns were unprofitable by 1972 and Consolidated Foods was put in the position of folding up the TYCO line or making major changes in operations. The Consolidated Foods purchase of TYCO did not enjoy much of a honeymoon period. Looked down upon by serious hobbyists, these items none the less have found favor among those who enjoyed them as kids and now enjoy collecting them as adults. It is this interesting period that provides modelers and collectors with such items as a Popsicle and StarKist Tuna box cars and various Bicentennial locomotives. After 1970, TYCO’s offerings wander into a fantasy world of unprototypical models. Prior to 1970, TYCO offered models that reflected fairly accurate prototypes. This change in ownership ushers in the “brown-box” period for collectors. Consolidated Foods would later change its name to Sara Lee, though Norman Tyler remained as an executive with the new company. The Consolidated Foods EraĬonsolidated Foods purchased TYCO in 1970, and manufacturing was shifted from New Jersey to Hong Kong. The “red box era” models can be identified by their bright red packaging. The model train line saw growth and expansion during this time as well. During the 1960s, the TYCO line added HO scale slot racing cars. Collectors refer to this time period as “the blue box era” as TYCO offered kit versions and later ready-to-run(RTR) versions of various steam and early diesel era model trains in a light-blue packaging.Ī family-owned business from the start, John Tyler’s son Norman Tyler was named president of TYCO Industries, Inc., a consolidation of TYCO and Mantua, in 1967. Kits continued to be produced under the Mantua name, while TYCO sold RTR buildings and train sets. The shift towards “ready-to-run” (RTR) train sets after World War II led to the creation of the Tyler Manufacturing Company in 1952, better known as TYCO.ĭuring this period of growth, the company’s entire line of model trains were marketed as TYCO-Mantua. ![]() Early offerings included the powerful Midjet Motor as well as a variety of rolling stock and steam locomotive kits. They began selling trains under the Mantua name in the 1930s. ![]() The history of TYCO trains can be traced back to John Tyler, a pioneer in HO scale who helped found the Mantua Toy & Metal Products Company in 1926 with other members of his family. ![]()
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