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Operating Gold Mine
-No.936 (1979-1981)
TYCO's Operating Gold Mine (No.936) is first found in the company's 1979 product catalog. Decorated for TYCO's
Clementine train set (No.7333), the Operating Gold Mine was among that set's contents and was also listed in '79 as a separate
item in the Action Cars & Accessories line. Though sharing the same base model used for TYCO's Operating Gravel
Conveyor (No.922) and the later Operating Grain Elevator (No.870), the Operating Gold Mine is a more elaborate offering including
an Operating Dump Car and Trackside Bin.
The Operating Dump Car and Trackside Bin found in this Gold Mine set are the base pieces that
make up TYCO's Operating Gravel Dump Car (No.929); Ore Dump Car Set (No.916); Operating Pipe Dump Set with Dumping Station
and Pipe Load (No.953) and Operating Coal Dump Set with Dumping Station and Coal Load (No.956). The Dump Car is a
40' flat car that holds the hopper section. The separate hopper section includes a separate brake wheel at one end.
It has been seen in a typical TYCO freight car package carrying the stock number 936-2. By turning the closed bin of
the car's hopper section into an open hopper, TYCO squeezed another entry out of this freight car making the Operating Log
Dump Set with Dumping Station and Log Load (No.952).
The Operating Gold Mine, as well as the Operating Gravel Conveyor and Operating Grain Elevator, is a non-electrical Action
Accessory. Beginning around 1980, TYCO moves away from the typical accessory item that required wiring to the power
pack for operation and introduced items that did not demand much effort to put them into action. The "gold" provided
with this item is actually a very common looking jewelry bead complete even with the same hole drilled through the center
for stringing on a necklace. TYCO uses the same bead cast in different colors to serve as rock in the Gravel Conveyor.
Considering TYCO produces three variations on this same base model, non survive for very long in the company's product
line. Introduced in 1979, the Operating Gold Mine serves in the Clementine train set which is only cataloged in '79.
The Gold Mine returns again in 1980 and a final time in 1981. The Gravel Conveyor exists in catalogs for 1979 and
1980 only; while the Grain Elevator gets two years in catalogs only in 1981 and 1982.
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TYCO utilized the same base model for at least three different entries in the Action Cars and Accessories line.
The plastic model of the overhead bin with conveyor belt operated by a hand crank in shed is the same for TYCO's Operating
Gravel Conveyor (No.922); Operating Gold Mine (No.936); and (No.870) Operating Grain Elevator. The 1979 TYCO catalog
is the first to introduce this model with both the Operating Gravel Conveyor and Operating Gold Mine as new items for that
year. The third entry using this base design, TYCO's Operating Grain Elevator, arrives with the 1981 product catalog.
The 1982 TYCO catalog features the Operating Grain Elevator and is the last catalog to feature an Accessory with this
base model. The Operating Gold Mine is the most deluxe of the three selections, as this item also included an Operating
Dump Car and two-piece Trackside Bin. The Gravel Conveyor and Grain Elevator items do not include a freight car, nor
do they have the separate Trackside Bin.
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