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Brown Box Era HO-Scale Trains
F-9A Diesel Locomotive
The cornerstone of any great line of model trains, the classic EMD
f-unit carbody was among the first diesels offered by the old Mantua line. Though labeled an "F-9A," throughout its life,
this model is really a late-phase F-7A.
Though offered throughout TYCO's life, this model does have some variations.
The F-9, as well as the GP-20 and Centry 430, were initially sold with Manuta's power truck motor. During the early/mid '70s,
the F-9 was 'upgraded' with TYCO's PowerTorque truck. Collectors can spot this difference by looking at the EMD Blomberg trucks.
The original Mantua truck side frame has more depth in its casting and the newer PowerTorque truck is visibly larger and longer.
While the majority of TYCO F-9's come from Hong Kong, I have seen a handful with 'Made in Austria' on the fuel tank. Collectors
should also be aware of the very late production F-units that arrived as TYCO exited the train market. These F-units carry
two headlights on their nose and the model is actually an F-9 body, rather than the original TYCO F-7 model. These late offerings
are most often seen in train sets, primarily the Rock Island set, and this shell is very similar to the American Train &
Track offering of the 1960s. In fact, it may well be the old AT&T shell.
Collectors should note that Mantua began offering the F-9A and B-unit,
as well as the GP-20 and other steam engines, in 1978 under the Mantua name. There are differences in the motors, roadnames,
and in some cases the shell itself to help collectors pick TYCO F-9s from their Mantua cousins. Though early examples
of the F-9A's underframe often read "TYCO MANTUA" on the bottom of the fuel tank, for most of the 'Brown Box Era' the fuel
tank reads "TYCO" and country of manufacture.
An additional note regarding the roadnames depicted, prior to the
1975-76 catalog TYCO did not always include ALL roadnames produced for a particular model. I do attempt to cover all
known examples of roadnames found in 'Brown Box' TYCO packaging. Not pictured below, but known to exist in 'Brown Box'
packages are the standard blue-and-yellow Santa Fe Freight scheme on the F-9A. TYCO also produced a green Penn Central
F-9A in the early 1970s.
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Amtrak
No.224-U
(1974-75)
No.224-07 (1975-76)
You'll notice this Amtrak F-9A has not step
coming down from the cab, pity the poor engineer. This is not a damaged example, but is one of the many variations to
be found in TYCO's F-9A molds. Amtrak examples have also been spotted with different shells and PowerTorque drives,
this example has the early '70s Brown Box Mantua-MU2 style power truck. Regardless, all shared the same Amtrak paint
scheme as shown above. According to a May 1972 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman magazine, this TYCO model is the
first Amtrak paint offered in the hobby market and does not represent a specific prototype.
TYCO catalog image
Burlington (CB&Q)
No.224-L
eBay auction image
Burlington Northern
No.224-17
Never listed among the Diesel Locomotives in any TYCO catalog,
but was probably available in the early/mid 1970s. It is noted as having "Mantua Tyco" on its fuel tank and PowerTorque
examples have not surfaced. The Mantua name drops off the fuel tanks with the coming of the PowerTorque drives
of the mid-'70s and the Burlington Northern railraod itself did not exist until March 1970. This evidence
leads to the conclusion that this is an early/mid-'70s example. The model carries the roadnumber 657.
Mantua offered a similarly decorated Burlington Northern
F-unit, when the company returned to offering products under its own name in the late 1970s. Mantua BN examples were
labeled as F-7A units and carried the stock number 402-63. Though painted and lettered the same as the above TYCO example,
Mantua's BN F-unit carries the roadnumber 431 in much larger size than the TYCO's small 657.
  CN Canadian National
No.224-K (1971-72)
The CN F-9A appears to carry the same paint scheme in its handful of variations, the
unit's roadnumber is what makes for different examples. Among the CN numbers is 4316, 4751, and 6536. Interestingly,
TYCO even borrows the typical GP-20 number of 5628 and applies it to a run of Canadian National F-9A units.
The CN F-9A carrying number 6536 seen above comes from TYCO's 1971-72 catalog. Some of the variations may be Canadian
offerings, as TYCO did have certain items that were not regularly found in the U.S., but were standard pieces in Canada.
TYCO catalog and eBay auction image
CN - VIA
(No.)
Photo courtesy Eric aka DaCheez
CP Rail
No.224-82
Though not confirmed, this CP Rail F-9A is very likely a late '70s
or early '80s TYCO offering in the Canadian market. The CP Rail F-9A does not appear in any TYCO catalogs.
The estimate on the time period for availability is made going by the type of F-9A shell seen in this example.
Chessie System
No.224-03 (1977-1992)
No.248-03 Twin F-9 Diesels (1979)
TYCO catalog image
Conrail
No.224-20
(1977-1982)
No.248-20 Twin F-9 Diesels
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Cotton Belt
No.224-73 (1982)
Penn Central
No.224-R
The above image with the red-and-white "PC" logos and roadnumber
"9451" comes from an early '70s TYCO catalog. Examples viewed include similar red-and-green "PC" logos, but carry the
roadnumber "4751" and "9769." Additionally, TYCO produced Penn Central F-units with only white "PC" logos and they also
carry the "4751" roadnumber. Needless to say, variations abound for the Penn Central F-9A. Some
examples could technically be Red Box Era offerings as well or instead of being exclusively Brown Box items.
Santa Fe (Freight)
No.224
Though not found pictured and or listed with the Diesel Locomotives,
this common F-9A example was available as a brown box TYCO offering during the early 1970s. This Santa Fe F-9A was also
available from TYCO prior to the 1970s in "Red Box" Era packaging of the '60s.
Santa Fe (Passenger)
(No.225H)
(1974-75)
(No.224-21)
(1976-82)
(No.248-21) Twin F-9 Diesels
(1975-76)
Santa Fe (Freight
Warbonnet)
(1st Version)
No.224-D (1974-75)
Santa Fe (Freight
Warbonnet)
(2nd Version)
No.224-22 (1975-76)
Spirit of '76
No.224-35 (1976)
No.248-35 Twin F-9 Diesels (1976)
Though one generally thinks of TYCO's product as being imported from Hong Kong, examples
of these Spirit of '76 F-9As have shown Austria on the bottom of their fuel tanks. No further information is available
regarding this run of F-9As from Austria, though their has been speculation that Roco of Austria may have possibly been
involved in their manufacture.
TYCO catalog image
Union Pacific
No.224-23 (1975-76)
No.248-23 Twin F-9 Diesels (1975-76)
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Mantua's F-units...
In 1977 the Tyler family purchased back the original line of HO-scale trains
from then TYCO owner Consolidated Foods/Sara Lee. The F-9A Diesel Locomotive was among the first items that
became part of this second generation of Mantua trains. Mantua did make a number of changes to the original tool and
die work of this F-unit shell. Originally, the Mantua F-7A still appears very similar to the TYCO F-9A. The F-unit
has the same slots open on the shell sides to hold the trucks and the closed pilot with coupler mounted to the shell.
Later Manuta F-7s have a talgo truck and opened front pilot with the slots filled in on the sides.
From the 1990's, MANTUA's Rock
Island Rocket-scheme F-7A and F-7B units. Notice MANTUA has cast a full frame for the A-unit and the slots on the sides
of the shell are gone. The B-unit however still has its slots and appears to not have been altered for this production
run.
Last Updated November 9,
2007
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