Aristo-Craft Track

Since I use Aristo track, and they are one of the main suppliers of track in the hobby, I have a separate section on their products.

Aristo was designed to be low cost, going back to the copies of the LGB track years ago, that prompted LGB to sue them.

With low cost comes shortcuts, so the following sections will be concentrating on fixing or improving the track and switches.

I use Aristo track exclusively myself, and at the time I purchased it, it was half the cost of the nearest alternative.

Common problem - wiring:

One common problem is corrosion. Jumpers in switches are usually small diameter wires screwed to the underside of the rail. There's a number of dissimilar metals involved and no weatherproofing.

All of the wiring in my switches eventually has self-destructed.

The #6 switch uses a non-waterproof microswitch to power the frog. The actuation mechanism is non-adjustable and just sort of overall lousy. All the this wiring has likewise self-destructed: (this is the early style switch, the newer ones have the switch under a larger area of plastic, I'll get a picture)

Common problem - plastic rot:

Unfortunately, after (I guess) 10 years of manufacture, the throwbars on Aristo switches are still made of a plastic different from the ties, and it is NOT UV resistant (per Lewis Polk). Depending on the exposure to the sun, and if you use different switch machines, the thin end of the throwbar will crack or just rot off.

I recommend trying an Armorall type UV protectant to help lengthen the life of these. Aristo ha promised to replace these free if requested, and I have taken them up on the offer several times:

Common problem - pulling ties from the rails:

The "spikes" on the ties are not a tight fit to the rail, what holds the rails in gauge (ha!) is the screws underneath. Nevertheless, it's really easy to brush a tie and pull it away from the rail. Getting it back in place without tearing the "head" off the "spike" is difficult, it really takes two people.

Recently someone came up with the idea to use 2 small hook-shaped "jaws" to put into a pair of snap ring pliers to spread the spikes apart to repair your track.

Not sure if they will go into production, but here are pictures of how he shaped the jaws: