I’m looking at making another engine purchase soon and have a couple of options to choose from. I currently own one of both brands. While I’m not going to say which I like better at the moment, there is one that sticks out as my favorite because of how well it runs. Being as I have not seen any of one or the other, other than what I have, I would like some objective input as to what experiences people have had with both makes. Does each company have some engines that are better than others in the line? Which engines seem to run the smoothest, have the best low speed operation and with the least gear noise? Details and accuracy of paint, rivet location, ect. are not my biggest concerns. I just want to know which engines really seem to run the best.
Run the best = durability in my thinking.
USA’s locos, along with the older LGB’s are in use 10 hours a day at the Living Desert Museum in Palm Desert, Calif. This is a proving ground for large scale if there ever was one. With 4,000 feet of track, the locos pull all day long. USA is the loco of choice. Now, IF the gear axles do crack, there are remedies. Instead of the fix that is offered on this site, the gears are ordered by phone and are sent to the park asap. The street talk among the enthusiasts who give their time on the layout is the double axle engines last the longest - that’s the GP 38, etc.
Phil, and others, if you are willing to drive to So. Calif. – A visit is well-worth your time. I frequently work in the engine barn and do lubrication and repairs. The Living Desert is on Portola in Palm Desert, south of Palm Springs.
Wendell
Ditto… While the Aristo gearboxes have ball bearings and look hefty, other design weaknesses, notably power pickup connections and wheel plating and impossible to adjust back to back makes me give the nod to USAT.
Have a number of each brand.
Regards, Greg
I have both brands, but never thought to compare. Here are my thoughts…
My USA GP 9’s were my first engines and ran them a lot when I first built the layout. Always track power and the sliders and traction tires help a lot.
Later on I got an Aristo RS-3 which I really liked - in fact I liked it so much I picked up 2 more. All 3 were show locos. They have been run almost exclusively on battery power. Because I’m not fighting power pick-up issues they run very smoothly for me. I did run them on track power at Rooster’s place during one of his group runs and they ran fine on his track.
For no reason other than the Aristo’s are already set up for battery trail car, I run them more. My Geeps haven’t turned a wheel in a very long time. I plan to fix that this spring.
So for me, I think it’s a toss-up. If you are running track power I think that USA might be the better choice.
I’ve used a lot of both brands, downthrough the years and both have served me well.
I don’t know anyone who really has had a major problem with either.
Arisro’s were a bit crude, detail wise, in the begining but ftom the RS-3 on, have been top notch.
I have had to replace some traction tires (not a big fan of traction tires).
One thing to consider when running multiple units, Aristo’s Dash-9 runs slower at a given voltage than USA’s SD40-2 and Mac 70. We have a couple of Dash-9’s,
so I removed the motors from one (a dummy unit) to run with the big USA’s.
Phil here is what I have found out.
I have 5 USAT loco’s and 1 Aristo.
I have had 1 USAT loco burn out a motor block at one yaer of age. Well one year and one week.
USAT has a 1 year warrenty. I had to pay 130.00 to get it fixed. when it came back it had a number of body parts broken off and a cupler was broken and screwed back on with a self tapping screw thought the body and sticking out the top. I sent a e-mail with pictures and was told that is how they got it. BS.
My aristo after 4 years had a motor go out. Cost. shipping it back to me 25.00.
So for me. I’m going to go with Aristo. They have a better warrenty and IMO better service.
I have a FA/FB combo and an SD45 from Aristo, and a bunch of USA - The FA combo is relegated to snow service and stored otherwise, never had an issue.
I love that SD45 but it runs at a different speed than anything else, which is huge bummer.
I’ve had to deal with cracked axles on all of my USA locos. I did swap out the traction tires, and removed the sliders. (I had issues with the traction tires in snow and ice) The USA locos run great, look great.
I guess if I went with DCC, I could adjust the two brands to run together is what I have heard, not sure if its true…otherwise I would own one of Robby’s BN GP-40’s.
I am holding out for a SW1500 or an SD-9 (I will keep dreaming)
John
The newer Aristo’s are fine, from what I’ve seen.
USA, too.
Both have their little ups and downs.
Run the brand and road name you want.
Yes John Miller, you can match the speeds of different locos within a gnat’s eyelash with DCC.
Greg
I’ve got a couple of each. I found the USA performs better than the Aristo when using track power, the sliders work well for me. I have the the GP-9 and NW-2, I just converted the NW-2 to RCS on board battery. I have the Aristo FA and RS-3 also on board battery and they wrk fine. I also have the SD-45 & Lil Critter both still using track power but in my case don’t run as good under track power as the USA’s. Before converting the NW-2 to battery the gear boxes had become defective and had to be replaced - I took it to my “local” hobby shop to have it done so I can’t comment on the USA Service dep’t. The FA & RS were converted in 2000 and other than having to replace the battery neither has given me any problems The gear boxes on the NW-2 become a problem after 1 year of minor use.
Here is a thought for people with sufficient money:
If you want to run Aristo engines and USA engines together, it might pay to swap out the power bricks. Its usually a bit of work but can be done to put the other MFG’s bricks in the other engine. If you had two Aristo -9’s and two USA 70macs, I’d swap the bricks on one of each.
Just a thought.
Greg, yeah it came to me when I was at an outdoor railroad last weekend in Arizona that used battery and RC. The investment is what scares me, but when Dan put a couple loco’s on track that I thought would require a few hours of prep, and ran without a glitch…
Right now my indoor workshop/railroad is getting ready to enter the great outdoors!! let the fun and mistakes begin.
John