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Aristo-Craft Track
Overview:
I use Aristo track at this time, the stainless steel stuff. They are one of the main suppliers of track in the hobby, I have a separate section on their products.
Aristo products are designed to be low cost, and this track is no exception, but 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 becauses even with the negatives, it was the most cost effective stainless steel track at the time. When I started the only other SS track was imported by H&R trains, beautiful stuff, but twice the cost of Aristo. Today, there are other SS alternatives, especially in code 250. Aristo brass track used to be very cost competitive, but today, there's many alternatives.
Nice page with exact sizes of Aristo track
http://members.westnet.com.au/susprog/AristoTrack.htm note that the LGB track sizes are not quite exact here. Nice list of the real radii/diameters of Aristo track. In general it's pretty close to the advertised specifications..
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 has 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:
