Home Trains Motive power mods & tips Aristo motive power
PDF Print E-mail

AristoCraft Motive Power Main Page

Quick links to major topics on this page:

This section is tips and modifications for your Aristo locos. There's a lot of little things that you should know, and will help you enjoy your locomotives, check the submenus on the left for individual Aristo locos and some other topics listed.

Note: If you read nothing else, you should read the two sections on the most commonly used motor/gear drive mechanisms. This will help you to know what to expect, how to avoid problems, and how to repair them:

Prime Mover Basics - This is about the new "prime mover" type of modular gearbox, used on all 3 axle diesels, and the GP40
Original Style Diesel Trucks - This is about the original gearbox, still used in all 2 axle diesels except the GP40

General Comments:

I would say that for the person that does not mind tinkering, Aristo motive power is a good deal for the money, but you must tinker with them, and there are some obvious and significant quality control issues in certain areas.

http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=ODA5MTM2NmEzM2JkYWZhN2RiZmFkOWIwNGYzZDhhZTU=

There is a lot of detail and fidelity to scale. The decoration (painting and road name identification) is some of the best. Once "tinkered with", the locomotives are reliable, and the new gearboxes are tough, and current production is all ball bearing.

Note: I also recommend you read about the wiring and installation of the QSI in the Mallet and Mikado sections, there some common issues and fixes detailed there.

Aristo Motive Power FAQ 

"my loco does not run on track/battery/rc properly"
"smoke came out when I hooked up battery power"

As much as I hate saying negative things, many Aristo locomotives are wired differently, or just plain wrong. Normally they run OK on DC, but when you add RC or DCC or even one of Aristo's own plug in TE receivers, you can encounter problems, sometimes catastrophic.

Watch out for wiring in steamers especially, two common problems are miswiring in the tender, and the wiring of the track/power switch in the loco. Be sure to check out the Mikado section for an explanation and fix.

Also, the tenders on the Mallet usually have pickup wires to the tender wheels, but they are usually not connected to anything. Again the Mikado and Mallet sections tell you how to improve this.

In the diesels, the "MU cables" (the wires that run "through" the loco and come out as 2 pin JST connectors by the couplers) often have a "polyfuse" circuit breaker inside in the middle of this power "bus". These usually cannot handle more than one loco, so if you actually MU 2 locos, they usually trip the "polyfuse" circuit breakers and stop. A simple solution is to bypass these, but then you have removed some important protection.

My best advice: ANY modification to the loco, or the use of the "battery"/"MU" cables requires checking with a voltmeter. There are just too many experiences with melted wires and circuit boards documented on all the forums.

"my loco does not pull enough cars"
"my steam loco locks up in reverse/forward"
"my loco keeps breaking side rods"

The "Prime Mover" modular gearbox system has several design weaknesses in my opinion.

The most obvious is exhibited by the drivers slipping on the axles. The drivers are mounted on a tapered shaft. The fit is usually poor from the factory, and often red loctite is gooped on to try to bandaid this. Slipping drivers are annoying on a diesel, and can be fatal to connecting rod gear on a steamer. There are simple fixes to this, but time consuming.

"my loco will not run on dirty track"

Another weakness is the power pickup. In the original design, the ball bearings used were all metal, so the power went from the wheel through the bearing to a metal clip and the wiring. Since then, "hybrid" bearings have come into use, where the balls are ceramic. This has an advantage, lower friction and heat, but NO CONDUCTIVITY, so Aristo has a very goofy arrangement to pick up power and it is normally not tested/assembled properly. I have seen up to 50% failures in conductivity in brand new locos.

The Aristo plug and play socket

Quite a while ago (**need** date) Aristo took suggestions about using a socket in their locos for a plug and play interface for DCC decoders. Aristo has used this over the years for some of their proprietary R/C receivers. Digitrax made a DCC decoder to fit. In 2008, several more DCC decoders were made, and Bachmann copied it for several of their locomotive, though they made some mistakes in the pinout.

There are 2 rows of pins, but only one is wired up (12 pin), the other is used for mechanical support (10 pin). On the 12 pin connector, the pin assignments are:

  1. right rail pickup
  2. right rail pickup
  3. motor (+?)
  4. front lamp control
  5. smoke unit
  6. positive output
  7. ground
  8. smoke unit
  9. rear lamp control
  10. motor (-?)
  11.  left rail pickup
  12. left rail pickup

The locos come with a dummy plug installed which has jumpers:

  • 1-4 (connects right rail to motor lead and enables front lamp)
  • 9-12(connects left rail to other motor lead and enables rear lamp)
  • (there must be a jumper between 5 and 8 to enable the smoke unit) (**need** to update)

Important note:

The Aristo socket is NOT always wired the same, nor is the "sound" socket. There are tremendous wiring variations where wire colors are swapped, but bigger problems with sockets that you assume are standard.

The headlight and backup lights are not always independent, nor controlled by the socket. The sound socket may get voltage from the motor, or from the track pickups. This may make your sound card go to full speed. This problem has been reported in the E8 quite often.

Who makes Aristo?

There were some statements that Aristo products were made by a J. P. Morgan company: "The management of our supplier is a JP Morgan company called CCMP who control Sanda Kan". In reality there was an Asian company seeded by J.P. Morgan. It sort of does not matter now. Previously the stability and the quality of the company was touted by using the J. P. Morgan reference. With the problems at Sanda Kan and subsequent sale, now J.P. Morgan is the "bad guy".

The real info:

Aristo products were made by Sanda Kan, in late 2008, Kader bought Sanda Kan.

J.P. Morgan Partners Asia bought Sanda Kan for $188 million in 2004.
J.P. Morgan Partners Asia was a Hong Kong company.
J.P. Morgan Partners Asia became CCMP Capital Asia, completely independent of J.P. Morgan Partners Asia, which is NOT the same as J.P. Morgan USA.
As of late 2008, Sanda Kan is wholly owned by Kader, the largest manufacturer of model trains in the world. Kader owns Bachmann.

Miscellaneous AristoCraft part numbers: 

Here is a short list of Aristo parts I have ordered over the years, just to have a convenient place for them:

  • Mikado pilot - 21400-22 (2 each)
  • polyswitches - (need number)
  • Mikado bell - 29101-96
  • mikado contact wires - 21500-108 (4 each)
  • equalizers (clamps for contact wires) - 21500-109 (4 each)
  • hex head screws large - 21500-114 (8 each)
  • hex head screws small - 21500-115 ( 6 each)
  • washers for pacific - 21500-121 (6 each)
  • spring for prime mover - 29132-164
  • ball bearing for prime mover - 29132-163
  • pacific brake hangers (need number)
  • ART 29098 - freight truck metal wheels and BB (simulated??)
  • ART 29099 - modern freight trucks, plastic wheels
  • ART 29100 - modern freight trucks with roller bearings (simulated)
  • ART 29101 - freight truck with plastic wheels (what is diff from 29099)
  • ART 29102 - caboose truck, metal wheels
  • ART 29103 - passenger truck (modern??) 3 axle with 6 wheel set
  • ART 29104 - plastic wheels (2 axles?)
  • ART 29105 - rogers loco small wheel set
  • ART 29106A - rogers front wheels
  • ART 29106B - rogers back drive wheels 
  • ART 29107 - trucks passenger (wood) (old time?) metal wheels
  • ART 29130 - wheels for RDC (and other 2 axle?) - no traction tires - pack of 2 
  • ART 29131 - wheels for RDC (and other 2 axles) with traction tires - pack of 2
  • ART 29135 - wheels for 3 axle diesel (and GP40) - pack of 2
  • ART 29138 - stainless steel wheels for 3 axle trucks (6 wheels)
  • ART 29139 - stainless steel wheels for 2 axle trucks (4 wheels) (not gp40)
  • ART 29345 - RS-3 speaker
  • ART 29351-20 - one wheel for an FA-1, will fit all other modern 2 axle diesels (except GP40)
  • ART 29351-20-TT - same as above with traction tire.
  • ART 29355-22 - one wheel on SD45 exploded parts diagram - should be same for all prime movers
  • ART 29403 - misc screws 
  • ART 29608 - 2 and 3 pin connectors

 

The unofficial Aristo "In Development" listing

I thought I'd try to keep this updated. The information listed will come from Aristo employees only, mostly from posts in the forum. I'm doing this just out of interest, since this page on the Aristo site is no longer updated.

0-4-0 Live steam - was promised summer 2008 - Delivered January 2010

It has been shown for several years.

  • "The 0-4-0 is due this summer, 2-4-2 is due late summer/early fall.", George Adams, Aristo forum, 12/22/2007
  • "We were not happy with the performance of the 0-4-0 and have requested changes. I just spoke with Scott and we should be receiving the updated sample next week. Depending on how it performs will determine when they will ship.", George Adams, Aristo forum, 2/17/2009
  • n October 2009, Lewis Polk said that the 0-4-0 would be delivered "next month", Lewis Polk, October 2009
  • The 0-4-0 will be "Due in stores in January 2010.", Lewis Polk, email, November 30, 2009

2-4-2 Rogers Live steam - was promised late summer early fall 2008 - no update since 12/22/2007

  "The 0-4-0 is due this summer, 2-4-2 is due late summer/early fall.", George Adams, Aristo forum, 12/22/2007

Consolidation (electric) - 2-8-0 using Mikado power block- promised early 2009

  "The Consolidation is due out in early 2009." Jonathan Polk, forum, 9/26/2008

Consolidation (steam) - promised early 2010

  "1 year after sparkie", per Lewis in forum 9/2/2008

E8 - second run - promised end of 2008

  "Yes, they are being made now along with the new road names. They should be here by the end of the year." Lewis Polk, forum, 10/10/2008, in response to if there was a second run of E8's and new road names.

GG-1 - postponed

  "postponed"

Gp-40 second run - promised no later than August 2008

  The second run GP-40's in Norfolk Southern will be out in about 9 months to a year." ,John Mikesh, forum,  8-17-07

On 10/23/2008, Karen Darling posted this response from John Mikesh to a PM from her:

I do not have an estimated time for the second run of GP-40's at this time, although your most likely looking at the spring of 09. It will be after the PCC car which was supposed to have been here this fall/winter. With the factory move we are about 6 months behind on everything. The E-8 should have been here in June and I'm trying to get them here by November.

PCC - 1:29 trolley car - no idea

  (Delivery date): "Sorry! No date yet as we're redesigning to get a DCC port in it if possible." - Lewis Polk, forum, 9/24/2008

RDC-3 - originally talked about in 2006, seemed to be promised around end of 2008, now spring 2009, now"shortly from April 2009

     RDC-1 will be in production again, Michael J, Aristo Forum, 6-10-2006 (just for reference)
     Blueprints received from factory, test shots about a year away, John Mikesh, Aristo Forum, 8-21-2007
     Will have complete interiors, George Adams, Aristo Forum, 1-2-2008
     "planning to run this year", George Adams, Aristo Forum, 6-18-2008
     it will be made in same thread, Lewis Polk, Aristo Forum, 6-19-2008, mentioned they had to "close out to get rid of it" (about RDC1)
     requested to leave traction tires off by several.
     It will have full interior, Lewis, Aristo Forum, 6-19-2008
    "The mold and die work is done at this time. Right now working on circuit board and other interior components. Right now if there are no further delays or problems, the RDC-3 should be reaching store shelves around Spring time of 2009.", John Mikesh, Aristo forum, 10/18/2008

"Dear Winston, Yes, we are making the RDC-3 sometime in the spring. When I have a date confirmed I will pass it along.All the best,Lewis Polk" Lewis, Aristo Forum, 1-2-2009

"Dear Winston,We're expecting a finished sample in several days and if approved it will go into production shortly. We needed a new circuit board as the new interior took up the space where the board went in the RDC-1, so it took some special engineering to re-seat the location of the board. Let's see how the sample is when it get's here, but there are often roadblecks that require fixing as this one was. We have also added LED lighting to the interior and that was a bit of a challenge too. We're not talking a one of, but how to do it in mass production.All the best,Lewis Polk", Lewis, Aristo forum, 4-10-2009

SD-9 - never made

never made, but advertised by St. Aubins, ART-23500 series

Streamliners - lowered with interior detail and led lighting - promised mid 2008, they made only one run, ATSF around beginning of 2008, second run PRR only, arrived October 2008

  promised mid 2008 by Lewis in forum 6/3/2007
  Only ATSF were made, no other road names
  "We ran lowered streamliners with led lighting, ball bearing races and seated passengers.", Lewis, 9/2/2008, this is the thread where Lewis also says: "We work off of reservations made by our customers ......... the dealers. We do not need one to one orders, but an indication there is an interest. So far the interest in other than ATSF streamliners is minimal and so we wait. Place an order with your dealer and let him place an order with us and you will see the product. No interest ....no product as we don't have room here to keep product hoping for some interest."

I have to insert a comment here: that is an unbelievable statement, throwing the blame of not making more roadnames back on the dealers.

In October 2008, the in stock list showed a PRR set of streamliners, this is apparently the second run of the new ones, after the ATSF at around the beginning of the year. Apparently Aristo is dribbling these out one road name at a time every 10 months or so.

Streamliners - Interior and/or lowering kits for old streamliners - has not happened, promised (effectively) twice, latest promise is no later than early 2009.

    "The next time we run Streamliners we will make kits, It will be sometime next year once the current run sells out." , Lewis, 6/3/2007

    "The next time we do run these we will run some lighting kits or early next year either way", Lewis, Aristo forum, 9/4/2008

     So, the "next time" has come and gone twice, early 2008 ATSF, October 2008 PRR, and still no kits to update older cars.

Streamliners - smoothside dome/diner - no dates

  here's some part numbers:
     33306 Coach (not in stock) - will it be re-issued?
     33406 Observation (not in stock) - will it be re-issued?
     33506 Baggage (new) - promised in new products (was old full dome #)
     33606 Dome/Diner (new) - promised in new products
   These were from the "2008 New Item List", a word documents posted by Lewis on 1/3/2008.

  "Yes, we will bring back the older ones too with interiors like we did with the smoothsides. The engineering designs are done for the new ones,
   but our plate is pretty full and I can't give you a date right now.
  Whats required our stamping tools, not molds per se, but there is a lot of work to do.
  When it's imminent I'll comment here.", Lewis, Aristo forum, 1/4/2008

  "We are working on a Dome/Diner combination, but it will not be a full dome length.", Lewis, Aristo forum, 1/29/2008

SW-1 Switcher

 Dear All,

Team Aristo decided we needed a small switcher to round out our line and this one was the most appealing to us. Not only that, but we found one nearby that could be measured to make sure it was super accurate. We think it was one of the most widely used locos, so we can make a large number of road names. Some of the pictures shown here verify that. We spent a year in research and drawing and have paid the piper already, so this will happen.

All the best,
Lewis Polk  (11/21/2008 Aristo forum)

SW1500 switcher:

EMD SW1500 switcher, ART-22400, as identified in the Aristo-Craft Trains 1996 Catalog "1996 New Products" section on page 54.

 

Aristo Kuppler

Announced in 2008, it's not here yet in January 2009. Originally described as a new body mount coupler that was not compatible with Aristo or Kadee, a few months later, this picture was shown with it coupled to a Kadee, and a reference that the original "misdirection" was to avoid legal stuff. We shall see what the heck is going on, but the Kadee patents have expired, and making a coupler that works well with Kadee is now a possibility.

In July 2009, Lewis said the engineer working on it was sick and maybe by the end of the year. Hmm... It was ready to go a while ago.

The coupler on the left is the Aristo "Kuppler" and the coupler on the right is a G scale Kadee #830, the standard body mount coupler.

 Tank cars, new road names:

 Promised and in the 2008 catalog:

1. GATX
2. UTLX
3. General Molasses
4. Stauffer Chemical
5. Corn Industrial
6. Redpath
7. BCR
8. BA Oil

 Gordon,

Due to a factory move early this year, some of the 2008 planned projects have been delayed.

The group of tank cars you ask about are not yet on the production list.

I will post road numbers when these items are nearer production time.

Michael J

Aristo forum 11/20/08, Michael J.

 

Archived stupidity:

 

http://www.aristocraft.com/vbulletinforums/showthread.php?t=12058

http://www.aristocraft.com/vbulletinforums/showthread.php?t=13077&highlight=stainless+wheels

 

 

 
Last Updated on Sunday, 20 June 2010 22:37
 

Who's Online

We have 10 guests online