Aristo-Craft engines..Longevity question!

How are the new breed of Aristo engines holding up? Lets here some input from those that run lots of Aristo and have the new SDs, 2-8-8-2, new Pacific,etc. Would be great to know if the newer gearboxes were all that Aristo says they are.

I love the looks of the Aristo diesels…very tempting for my Brothers layout! CUrious to know how well they run over long periods (not necessarily 10 hours straight running, but regular use on a garden line over a period of years).

Regards,

Tom M.

TOM M.
I HAVE BEEN running diesels by ARISTOCRAFT for 4 1/2 years now I HAVE 2 RS-3 S,1U 25 B 1 CENTER CAB , 4 LITTLE CRITTERS and not much problem with them ,and i run them 2 to 3 hours at a time or longer , do the maintance on them they will last a long time. i also have a aristo craft C-16 WITCH an electric board went out ,the other week., i repaired it , it’s back running .i had it 3 1/2 years, i was pulling to many cars with it . BEN

I have 3 SD45’s, two of them from the first run, a Mike, Dash9 and the Mallet.
As far as I am concerned, if you do the normal maintainence they will outpull and outlast anything I know of.
Bud

i have 4 aristos 2 from the very first run there still running tip top after the how ever long ago they came out? can’t remeber?

One of my 0-4-0’s has 1993 on the builder plate. The same age as Ethan T.

do the C16’s have the new gear boxes in them?

I have a 0-4-0 from a 1999 Xmas set I got new last spring that stopped working while it was going around the Xmas tree. Smelled “burning wire” type smell and it just stopped. I have boxed it up and will be sending it to Aristo to be fixed soon.

My Little Critter has been doing all my maintenance (Pulling Track Cleaning Car) work for a couple of years. I run it for extended periods. As they say of the rabbit. It keeps going and going.

My Aristo FA-1 has just failed. It was not new when bought. The plastic axle spindle/gearwheel on one of the trucks has split.
Anybody else experienced this.

Ian P

ian p
not spliting but worn gears from 10 yrs hard service from pulling to much weight.

I have a couple of dash 9’s and a sd45 that I run alot . Usually i’ll put them out in the morning and they will run almost all day without any problems. Only problems so far have been a burnt out ditch lite on one dash 9 and recently I lost the cab interior lites and number board lites on another dash 9 . I think overall that they are real nice runners.

A club member from SEPGRS told me that Aristo engines are great (DO NOT BUY BACHMANN STARTER SETS, engines are crap)

i can’t complain mine are all good items and a lot cheaper then the red box!