I just picked up a brand new old stock Aristo 19.5° Crossing in brass. It’s fine when laid flat on the bench; but when lifted the ends sag away from the center frog. I tightened up all the screws underneath, but that didn’t make much difference. There was no evidence of shipping damage at any time in it’s life.

Is this normal? I’m not really worried about it - I just need to be careful when handling it.

Hi Jon,

In my experience with Aristo track, especially switches and crossings, they were very “wobbly” and “loose” even from the factory new. No amount of tightening seemed to help get them board stiff, but it did help the wobble. Also it depended on the yellow or black version of packaging. The early black packaged items seemed to be a bit more loose than later yellow package items. As you mentioned, it will still work fine, its the inherent design Aristo selected that lead to the wobbly nature of these items in the track to tie securing points. I have used both for many, many years on an outdoor layout without issue and they were wobbly right out of the box.

Thanks,

Chris

Thanks Chris. I had a feeling that was the case. My only other experience with Aristo crossings is the 90° and it has short stub tracks and is quite stable. I use Ariosto track and switches exclusively and had not experienced anything like this so it prompted a very close inspection, but I could find nothing cracked.

Jon,

I agree with Chris stated.

Unlike the Aristo 90 degree crossover that has stout metal strapping underneath it - shown below,

it’s “normal” for the Arsto 19.5 degree crossing to sag, so it’s best to be supported on a flat surface - something like a piece of cement / backer board. The Aristo 30 degree crossing has similar sag.

-Ted

Jon,

I think you got a dead one!

I have one, it is indeed “floppy”