Making the cover of TYCO's 1968-69 product catalog is a Santa Fe Texas
2-10-4 Steam Engine. The end of the boiler has a Pennsy Keystone, but then it is TYCO. The Texas 2-10-4 returns
for the catalog's back cover with the description that it is "Bound to be the 'conversation piece' in any HO scale railroad
empire." If anyone has an example in their railroad empire, it would certainly be a conversation piece among TYCO fans.
The legend goes that tooling was done on this model and that the hold up
was possibly the driver's inability to negotiate TYCO's 18"-radius curves. To date, no known examples have surfaced
and it is thought to have never been produced.
The Texas is listed at $34.98 and apparently was only to be offered in ready-to-run form.
Another example is found in the 1969-70 TYCO catalog, this time with C&O markings and carrying
an even $35 retail.
The Texas does make one more appearance in a TYCO listing, the 1973-74 catalog includes a Pennsylvania
Railroad example. Listed again as NEW!, this Brown Box Era Texas never made it either.
