Todd Brody said:
That became standard practice on a lot of their stuff including the revised heavyweights. Other manufactures have also done this (e.g., my Accucraft galloping goose).
Many a person has created a short by removing and replacing AristoCraft axles (the wrong way) without realizing this.
Thanks for the confirmation Todd. The short could have been the reason I got it for a great price, I didn’t even know it included Phoenix sound, and neither did the seller. Only took me a little investigating to figure out the short.
The reversed axle is something I thought of checking too. Unfortunately, my railroad is 1000 miles from me until the end of September! I do miss it!