Without starting a ford vs chevy discussion, anyone able to point out the difference between the aristo and usa 20 foot diameter 332 track?
John
I think you would need a microscope to tell the difference. They are just about identical.
Track screws are even under the same tie in the same red wax with the same mark inside the tie.
would the answer be price and the box they come in?
Prolly made in the same Chinee factory and thrown into different boxes at the end of the assembly line.
Track is Track!! Where ya get’s yer best deal!! Regalhttp://
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One you have to pay Polks Tribute, the other you dont.
20’ dia full circle Aristo = $395
20’ dia full circle USA = $375
$20 for a different color box adds up over a decent size layout
Ridge Road has the 20’ Dia at $384.80 and don’t forget the buy 4 get 1 for shipping cost from Aristo deal. For some reason I never even considered USA track. Probably because not many places stock it.
Al Kramer USED to give some spectacular deals on USA track, not sure if he is still doing it or not. I know at one time he was less than anybody, as I bought several boxes when he was!!! Might check him out on the Evil Bay!! He has always told me, he can get pretty much anything I would want. Regal
I much prefer the USA Trains track over Aristocraft. In my coastal southern California experience, the Aristocraft track gets a gummy oxidation residue on it, tho’ not as gummy or as rapidly as LGB track. The ties on Aristocraft track seem to deteriorate much faster than either USA Trains or LGB. I do use Aristocraft turnouts exclusively, however, because USA Trains doesn’t have one with a turning radius between its very tight radius turnout and its #6 turnout. Aristocraft fills that niche, but it sure is a pain to clean them, relative to all the USA Trains track, every time I run my layout in track-powered mode. Just recently I bought 144’ of AML (sp?) flex track. With a good railbender, it and its lower price per foot seem the optimal choice for my layout in the way it has evolved over the last 8 years.
Where are you from?
When you go to any train show and USA’s there , he sells it @ a great show price!!
I use USA’s because I work near the Co.
I have some of the TRAIN-LI 's track it’s just as good as the LGB stuff!
Sean
Thanks for the quick response. Vic I had the same thoughts about the overall cost savings. Other than some old LGB track, all I have ever used is Sunset Valley (Garich Light Transport) Code 250 at my house in Huntington Beach, but here in the local mountains, Ive decided the exterior track will be 332 with 250 inside.
John
Yeah I will hit both shows in June and see what deals are to be had. That outta be interesting.
The brass is different, they both age/oxidize differently.
I would trust the presence of UV inhibitors in the USAT stuff over Aristo, based on track record.
Regards, Greg
It’s funny Greg, how you say you’d trust usat track 1st over AC. I trust your knowledge on this fact. But just p*sses me off how AC brags about everything including their track trying to justify the cost. IMHO just another reason not to shop at AC
Randy McDonald said:Mea culpa, I had to expunge what I wrote so that I wouldn't be sued for libel.
It's funny Greg, how you say you'd trust usat track 1st over AC. I trust your knowledge on this fact. But just p*sses me off how AC brags about everything including their track trying to justify the cost. IMHO just another reason not to shop at AC
I bought some USAT #6 switches thinking they’d be about the same as Aristo’s. They are not installed yet so I can’t speak for the operation, but one thing in particular stood out right away: the tie spacing! The tie spacing on the USAT switches was very far apart and very NG looking. In fact I compared it to the tie spacing on some standard NG/Euro LGB track I had and the USA ties were further apart! That suprised me. That may bother some if they have a bunch of nice standard gauge spaced ties on their flextrack and the USA train switch suddenly had very coarsely spaced ties.
I was informed that both brandnames are made in the same factory on different production lines only metres apart. I am puzzled that brass and tie plastic are different composition between the makes. I believed that they were identical, just the colour of the box was different.