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TYCO's 1963-64 Catalog is the first year the HO-scale slot cars
are found along with model trains. Borrowing apparently from the slot car line was the hand-held TYCO-trol throttle.
What's the old saying about building a better mousetrap, well apparently this wasn't it.
The TYCO-trol throttle connected to what the typical power supply transformer used in slot
car sets. The TYCO-trol looks very much like the '60s slot car controller, but it does have its own unqiue features.
Unlike a typical slot car controller that simply allows the user to push down to gain speed
and let off to stop, the TYCO-trol included a direction flip switch and you could press a button and hold a given speed
setting. The cruise control-like button was a great inclusion as few would probably want to operate their trains long,
if they had to keep their hand on the speed control all the time. The top back end also apparently gave a speed reading,
though one can only wonder about its accuracy.
During TYCO-trol's first year of cataloged availability in 1963,
it shown packaged in only one train set The Blue Ribbon (T6322). Perhaps TYCO was not terribly confident of its abilities
or maybe it wasn't in full production, either way you could only find in this one set for '63.
TYCO did list the two items needed to set up a TYCO-trol system as available separately
beginning in 1963. The TYCO-trol Speed Control for Trains (No.601) was $3.98 and the TYCO Fixed Voltage Speedway or
Train Power Pak (No.604) was $5.98.
The TYCO slot car TYCO-trol appears to be identical to the one pictured
in the model train section. The only difference is the band on the top of the unit says TYCO HO TRAINS on one and TYCO
SPEEDWAYS on the other. The slot car version carried stock number S600 and sold in pairs for $7.96.
Too bad TYCO did import its MOTO-roar unit over the train line along
with the TYCO-trol. Mounted to the top of the hand-held TYCO-trol this MOTO-roar unit produced "realistic sound" and
was listed as "patent pending" in the 1963-64 catalog. Might have made for an interesting item, if they could have made
something like a LOCO-roar perhaps?
TYCO also notes that the MOTO-roar is "Not a vibrator," but I'll
leave one for the slot car fans to discuss and get back to the trains.
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