I always have room in my collection for some token Tyco pieces when found in good condition. I am nostalgic about it since its what was in local stores and at friends houses when I grew up in the 1980's. I knew that era of production was cheap but I loved the flashy playfulness of it. The only set I owned was the Transformer's Train which was disposed of at some point out of my control.
My question is...did Tyco clone some of the tools when they moved production from NJ to Hong Kong during the mid to late 70's. (did production move partially earlier???) Clearly in 1976 Tyco was still producing some trains in NJ but that was about the last year as far as I can tell. Some of the Hong Kong rolling stock and locomotives were identical to what Mantua was producing after it took over the NJ factory. I do realize in the last year of Tyco 1993 Mehano was producing the trains. IMO their tooling also looked like an attempt at copying Tyco designs. If anyone can help me piece this together I would appreciate it. I do frequent the HO Collector sites but this info is never very clear.
