This Burlington example is likely the first roadname to have been offered on the TYCO GP20 model.  According to the Test Track evaluation in the January 1962 edition of Railroad Model Craftsman magazine, TYCO first shipped its GP20 packed in the Black Diamond (No.6110) train sets in late 1961.  The GP20 review states that TYCO would begin shipping GP20 diesels as separate items by December 1961.  Again the CB&Q example is stated as the only roadname made, but that others would be in the works in the near future.  Should this review's info be correct, and one would have consider it very likely, it adds further evidence to the case that the black Illinois Central GP20 only exists as a pre-production catalog model and was never produced for sale.

 

Over the years, TYCO offered at least three Cascade Green BN GP20 models.  The first one has been confirmed to have existed in the later part of the Red Box Era and would likely have been issued about the same time the Burlington Northern came into being itself in March 1970.  This first Red Box example BN GP20 features the BN logo and railroad name placed below the cab windows.  A later TYCO GP20 in BN from possibly the mid-'70s features the same lettering, but the BN logo and railroad name has moved down along the lower section of the unit's long hood.  Finally, TYCO produced in large quantity a bright green BN GP20 first cataloged in 1979.  This model had a very large BN logo on its long hood and remained in the TYCO line until the early 1990s.  

 
There are variations to the numbering used by TYCO for its GP20 offerings.  The CN model likely survives also into the 1970s and the Brown Box Era and may also have been a Canadian-only offering at some point in its career.  TYCO catalogs this CN GP-20 in its 1966-67 and 1967-68 editions.

No. T228E -1962 Release

No. T228H -1964 Release

No. T228C -1962 Release

 

 

An EMD GP20 without the dynamic brake feature was a rare prototype.  The New York Central is the only buyer of the GP20 minus dynamics.  For most of its life in the TYCO line, the GP20 was offered as a non-dynamic brake equipped model.  During the Red Box Era however one could upgrade a GP20 with the dynamic brake molding.  TYCO part number 6500 selling for forty-nine cents was a black plastic dynamic brake that fit onto the GP20 shell.  Examples have also been seen of a Santa Fe GP20 in a TYCO Red Box with a burst-sticker on the box noting the addition of a dynamic brake on the model.

Below is about as "mint" an example as one might locate for a 1960s TYCO GP20 model.  The window display boxes were solid with a "Please Remove For Display" flap as seen in the image.

TYCO offered a separate dynamic brake casting for the GP20 model.  Additionally, I have observed examples of a Santa Fe GP20 in Red Box Era packaging that included the dynamic brake on the model and a note on the packaging stated the model was equipped with dynamic brakes.