John Le Forestier said:And trains could turn out to be way less expensive .... in the long run. :lol:Michael Moradzadeh said:'coz after you're all done playin' with wimmen, th'ain't never been nuthin' invented that's better'n playin' with trains.
" .... why should I spend my time playing with trains when there are so many other activities beckoning?"
Scott and Charles are doing what they have to do to survive. Hobby shops are closing in droves and no longer carry the traditonal ‘hobby’ items shuch as trains model cars and ariplanes, doll house, but are filling their shelves with high turnover items such a plastic flowers scrapbooking material and cheap jewlery. The internet/ebay stores are no overhead who have the manufaturer become the retail distribution facility (drop ship). Almost no hobby shops offers inhouse repair but charge a handling fee to send it back to the manufacturer. In essence the manufacturer now provides all the services which we expect from a retailer ,but, sharing the profit with a middleman. If you are lucky enough to be in one of the nine states that still a full service train store, SUPPORT them, but for the rest of us, why not deal directly and help the manufacturers survive.
So the new Arsito site is suppose to be up and running. It looks like the same site. Even the online store is the same. Not very userfriendly. Am I missing something?
Try this:
https://aristocraft.3dcartstores.com/?view_full_site=1
From the prices I see, they are comparable to Trainworld, St. Aubin.
That’s what my 'puter says about that site.
“You have requested an encrypted page that contains some unencrypted information. Information that you see or enter on this page could easily be read by a third party.”
Notice the C-16 (which I believe their not making anymore) has it’s drive rods missing.
Good proofreading!
Looks like it is still under construction. Once they get the pictures in, it may be fine. To John, my proofreading friend, you spelled its wrong.
Meanwhile, rain has stopped here, so out we will go…
Well I’m not in the market to buy anything, but I could stand to sell some items.
But if you want to buy my Little Buddy,
SORRY can’t do that, she’s all I have that’s worth much.
Michael Moradzadeh said:
Looks like it is still under construction. Once they get the pictures in, it may be fine. To John, my proofreading friend, you spelled [u]its[/u] wrong.Meanwhile, rain has stopped here, so out we will go…
jb is so old that he has been around since before the 1800s, when the common spelling of the possessive case of “it,” was “it’s.” You know the old saw, “First learned, best retained,” stated differently, “you can’t teach on old dog new tricks.”
:lol: 
It is not raining somewhere? I thought that was not allowed.
D@#$MN Splint!
Well, today is April 2nd, so I went to the Aristo site and found . . .
Stainless Steel TRACK: What they list is basically quoted at the [old] “retail pricing”. So what happened to the “discounts” they claimed in their emails to all of us?? If the prices posted are indication of what is still to come, any dealers still left in business won’t have any trouble with competition from Aristo itself.
Anyone have 15 feet (+/-) of Aristo stainless steel rail/track they would like to sell? New or Used. (Please don’t quote “retail pricing” to me. I consider myself to be a reasonable person, one who would like to complete his RR’s mainline before he dies. BUT I hope I’m not THAT desperate - yet.) Thank you all.
Follow-up to my earlier email about looking for some Aristo SS track. I don’t always check this forum very often, so if you have any for sale please email me at [email protected]. Thank you.
The web site is up, but not yet finished. I looked at a couple of items.
They were discounted, even without the 10% extra they’re giving.
Ralph
“…how will it affect the retailers? It could be the end of the middle man hobby store. …”
Geee I did not realize that AC was 75%+ of the marketplace 
As mentioned USAT/charlesro config has been around for decade(s) …I’ve bought USA locos and other rolling stock, but never from charlesro !! And the only direct purchase from USAT was some replacment gp38-2 wheel/gear sets.
nite, doug c
Michael Moradzadeh said:
Looks like it is still under construction. Once they get the pictures in, it may be fine. To John, my proofreading friend, you spelled [u]its[/u] wrong.Meanwhile, rain has stopped here, so out we will go…
Spelling and grandma ain’t my strong suit.
And Steve is right. I’m so old, I don’t give a frig either.
Besides, my spell checker didn’t catch it, so it must be right. Right?