A model train specialty shop opened near me a while ago. We had one previously, but he closed. The new one is called Train Depot and the have some nice 1:1 artifacts out front and their small shop is chock full of merchandise in all scales. I stopped there last week to pick up some grass mat and noticed he had some NOS Aristo Wide switches in stock. They were marked $45.99 and he said they were Stainless Steel.

I did some looking on eBay etc. and it looks like the current price on these in brass is about $59 - I couldn’t find any SS models listed.

My indoor expansion will work a lot better with two more Wide Right [they should be nicknamed Scott Norwood] switches, so I broke open my piggy bank and decided to pick up two of the 4. I had forgotten his price and was figuring $60 each. When I got there and saw the price I told the owner I was tempted to take 3 if he could give me a little off. He offered $20 off on the third, then suggested I should take them all. Not being a fool I asked if the $20 off applied to the fourth as well - he said no, but offered another $10 off to take them all. I did some quick math in my head and had enough cash so I agreed to take all 4! That works out to $38.49 each for Wide Stainless switches. You cant beat that with a stick!

Unfortunately he has none left for you guys; but I’ll make you a deal on some NOS Aristo R1 Brass that I will no longer be using

Thanks, but no thanks. I run wide radius stainless here on the P&CS. But I lucked out and got a pair of wide radius stainless steel switches at auction for $61 for the pair. They look like they were used in a display, a little staining where the joiners go on, but no visible wear nor damage.

Good job John. Sounds like you have been taking lessons from Larry.

cheers Richard

Turns out two of the 4 are lightly used and missing the lanterns and blue screwdriver. I don’t use the lanterns and I have enough blue screwdrivers to last a lifetime. I don’t think the dealer paid full wholesale for them - they had a UPS label on them from St. Aubins to someone in the next town over. He probably bought an entire collection. Still a good deal and lets me finish my expansion the right way.

Dumb question time… Does anyone know a fast way to tell if the frogs are updated? I have some replacements in stock; I guess I need to compare them. It was the flange depth they changed, right?

yes John they increased flange depth and lowered the frog so it is not above other rails

cheers richard

Nice find John. I got a few off of e-bay a while back for $35.00 each but they where right hand instead of the advertised left and right pair. I still took them but now I need more of the left hand ones for my outside yard I want to build after winter.