Riding The Rails

Trains have always been an important part of my life. My Dad worked on the old Pennsylvania Railroad line, staying with it as it became the Penn-Central, and finally Conrail. The railroad clothed and fed us, paid the mortgage, and kept my Dad employed for forty years. The money was good, the perks even better, and the pension plan has kept my parents secure in their old age.
A special day for me and my brother would be a trip to whatever section of Philadelphia Dad was assigned to. We would be allowed to climb up into the cab of a yard locomotive and get a short ride, thrilling to the sounds and power of the diesel engine. We could go inside a real working caboose and talk to the brakemen and conductors; this was the real deal, no tourist attraction, and we were proud of our father who was in charge of a small part of it all.
Naturally we had train sets, every railroad family did. The big Lionel ones,or Marx or American Flyer with the triple rail tracks, and locomotives that actually puffed smoke as they chugged along the line. Every Christmas the trains would be set up, circling trees or filling basements with elaborate layouts that rivaled real life in minute detail.
Woodbury Heights has a place in model railroad history. John N. Tyler and James P. Thomas would move their business, Mantua Metal Products, to Grandview Avenue in 1933. It all began as a company that made small motors designed to power toy boats and trains. In 1937 they decided to produce their own line of HO gauge trains in ready to run and kit form, and the company that would later become TYCO was born.
Everyone in town referred to the company as Mantua Metals, and it was a source of pride in the community. During World War II, train manufacturing was suspended, and the company made precision instruments for the war effort, earning an award for manufacturing excellence.
After the war model railroading began to gain in popularity, and during the late 1950s the plant was expanded, running three shifts and providing jobs for our neighbors and folks in the surrounding communities. Mantua Metal Products was a significant part of the local economy.
In the late 60s Mantua Metals became TYCO Industries, and by 1970 they would sell out to Consolidated Foods, and our local legend and its jobs would be shipped overseas in order to compete in the changing world market. The Tyler family would try to revive the company in 1977, under the Mantua brand name, lasting until 2001.
Mantua and TYCO trains were never taken seriously by HO train enthusiasts. They were considered toys, but they were popular. John Tyler created trains for people to enjoy and to have fun with, and the public responded with enthusiasm.
We had several TYCO locomotives and lots of rolling stock. Steam engines and diesels set up on two 4x8 foot sheets of plywood in the basement. Our city and railroad yards were populated with buildings made by Revell and Plasticville and Atlas. We spent hours laying track and putting down the artificial grass and trees made of lichen, painting roads and building trestles. We pushed our trains to the limit, turning the throttle up as fast as it could go until the locomotives would careen off the track when negotiating a curve. Staged train wrecks and head on crashes, and wars fought with Airfix toy soldiers kept us down in the basement for hours on end. TYCO trains may not have been the best, but they were fun and our friends and neighbors built them. They were known nation wide and for a time they came from our little town, yeah, right here in Woodbury Heights, New Jersey, and nowhere else in the world.
All aboard!