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Operating Grain Elevator
-No.870
(1981 and 1982)
TYCO's Operating Grain Elevator (No.870)
shares its base design with two other items in the Action Car and Accessories product line. The Operating Grain
Elevator is the same item redressed that first appeared in 1979 as The Operating Gravel Conveyor
(No.922) and Operating Gold Mine (No.936). TYCO's Operating Grain Elevator is a new
item for the 1979 catalog and makes one additional appearance in the '81 catalog. Beyond different coloring, the small
plastic crates supplied with The Operating Grain Elevator are the items only features separating it from
the other two mentioned offerings. A hand crank located in the small shed sitting next to the bin controls the action.
As you crank the handle, the conveyor's black vinyl belt rotates emptying the overhead bin onto the belt up and out into a
waiting freight car. Though some items such as this did include a freight car, The Operating Grain Elevator
does not come with one.
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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