Dash 9

[Anonymous]

I just need to vent a little here . I've been waiting to get my hands on one of the new Aristocraft Dash 9's for a while now . Finally last week I had the money and my railroad supplier had the road that I was waiting for in stock . So I got in my car and drove the 140 mile round trip to pick up my dream engine .When I got home I took it out of the box and thanked my understanding wife , not in that order and gazed at this beautiful locomotive . After a while I took it downstairs to my basement to test it on my short test track and it ran like crap . It seems like they didn't put grease or something in the front motor block and at low speeds the rear truck would pu***he front truck along and all of a sudden it would leap forward .Not to mention the horrid grinding noise after it did get going.So now it sits back in its box waiting for the UPS man to pick it up .Even though I played with it for just a few hours I feel like I am loosing a old friend .I know this sounds dumb and there are a lot worse things that can happen to someone but I thought someone out there could relate to this experence. Anyway I guess i'll be waiting once more . I'll go now and gaze at my SD-45 .

[Anonymous]

Have you visited Aristo's Forum. I'm sure they (Aristo) and other members would be interested in what you found. I was there this morning and saw what some have done to "quite" their gear box noise....add grease.

I can relate to your pain. I recently got a set of USA PA/PB and have found defects with the sliders on those engines causing them to run poorly. While the engines still work, it's a pretty rough ride for those onboard. I'm hoping to get replacement ones this week.

[bman36]

Hey guys,
I think we all have been through that at one time or another. Blue Aster...are you able to fix it yourself if Aristo tells you what to do? Sure beats sending it back and waiting for it to once again return. Hope it works out for ya' quickly! Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

bman36 , I am sending it back to aristocraft . They are going to give me a different new one . I wrote a note and told them I would apreciate it if the test ran the replacement unit and tweaked the gearboxes if necessary before they send one back to me . I also told them to put the cab wall in cuz I said I feel it should have been in it in the first place . I really am new to this and I don't want to have to take my new loco apart when I recieve it . I expect it to be ready to run.

[bman36]

Blue Aster,
Fair enough. Hopefully it comes back to ya' real soon. Hate it when something new won't run right. My very first Large Scale set was an Aristo 0-4-0 in Napa paint. Took it out of the box and set it up for me and the kids to "Run In". Ran like c___. Since I had been taking toys apart for years I cracked it open. Motor mounts were loose and one had to be glued. Short while later we were hard at it. A lot can sure happen in transit from vibration. BTW, what colours will that NEW Dash 9 be sportin'? Later eh...Brian.

[toenailridgesl]

Tell Aristo to check the wheel gauges too, apparently this particular model is SO under gauged on all axles that it won't go through a lot of switches. HUGE thread on this topic over on http://www.mylargescale.com and http://www.largescalecentral.com

[BudSteinhoff]

Blue Aster,
Glad to hear that Aristo is taking care of you.
Mine was a little noisey, after adding grease it purrs like a kitten,
As far as going through switches, I have thirty 8/10 FT Aristo/LGB switches and it flies through all of them with no problem.
Bud[8D]

[Anonymous]

Hi guys , its still here in the brown box waiting to be picked up . There was a little lack of comunication between Aristocraft and UPS about the pick up but hopefully it will be on its way tomorrow . Mine is the ATSF version . I hope everyting is resolved fast and I get one back soon .I didn't want to make a big issue out of it I only want to run my trains . I'll let you know how it all works out .

[Anonymous]

Well its still here . I've owned a dash 9 for 8 days now and seen it for a couple of hours . Still in the box at my front door waiting to be picked up . Hopefully it will be on its way tomorrow .

[Anonymous]

Well UPS still hasn't picked it up so I am taking it back to St Aubins and letting them send it out . this S#@%s !

[bman36]

blue aster,
Sorry to be the one to tell you this. My supervisor at work once worked for UPS. She was once called AT WORK by another UPS employee to tell her that a parcel she had shipped via UPS (her employer at the time) was lost. They went on to apologize for the inconvenience and hoped she would continue to use UPS in the future. Dumbfounded she told them not to worry for two reasons. 1) She also was a UPS employee and 2) The person she sent the parcel to received it TWO weeks ago!!! [D)] Now that is service! NOT! I think another call to Aristo is in order as this would be very unacceptable for me. Again I sure hope you see a resolve to this very soon. Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

I took it back to St Aubins and they were real understanding . Good people there .They sent it off for me and at least its on its way .I work for DHL so I am familiar with problems that sometimes happen .Can't wait to get one back .In the meantime I set a oval up in my basement thats 70 feet around and am running a train around . SD-45 and GP-38 with 13 cars .All the sound and smoke .REAL COOL ! Will be starting on my outdoor railroad in a few weeks .Hope to post pictures someday soon .

[bman36]

blue aster,
Good deal. At least you have something to run in the meantime. Nice to have room indoors for something temporary. Keep the wheels turnin'! Let us know when it comes back. Later eh...Brian.

[Marty Cozad]

Becarful about running Aristo engines with USA ones, the gearing is different. Which makes the speed different which may wreck a motor.

[Anonymous]

Got my dash 9 back yesterday .They replaced some bad gears and smoke unit . All I have is praise for Aristocraft ! The engine runs beauitful and got it back real fast too !

[Anonymous]

I have heard this same story time and again about Aristoand that is why I will never buy any of their stuff. I cam upon a goods waggon by chance and it runs off the rails so much I have just put it away and tried to forget about it.

This problem with gearboxes seems to be so wide spread that it has beecome folklore, it seems as I see it they just don't grease them period.

One more reason to just se the best LGB and bite your lip about the terrible price.

Ian; Kawana Island Tropical Railway.

[BudSteinhoff]

I grease all my new loco's when I get them and also periodically, including LGB.
Aristo's new gear box is tough and will out pull anything else.
All brands have some bad gear boxes including LGB.
As far as I am concerned LGB is overpriced for no reason, I had one that stripped its gears and 2 others that spun the axles in the gears.
Every mfg has their problems.
Bud[8D]

[bman36]

blue aster,
So you are up and runnin' eh??? Good deal. Looking back that was pretty quick. I own Aristo, Bachmann, and LGB. None of them are bullit proof. As long as anything is mass produced there will be problems. For me a "Good Deal" is when I am well looked after when I do have a problem. I would say you won on this one. Enjoy that BIG loco!!! Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Brian .Like I wrote earlier i'm running them on the floor of my basement for now but in a few weeks my wife and I are gonna start on our first garden railway. I purchased all the track I need and have been drawing my simple track plan on paper over and over again all winter. I live near Chicago and the weather is starting to get warmer now . My railroad will be a around the fence design with a single long passing siding . My intention is to have more scenery than track look .I want to incorperate a stream and pond somewhere along the line too . The average garden bed width will be in the range of 8' at its widest to 5' .Will be using track power with Bridgewerks products . All my locos (6) have sound.I just started purchasing equiptment over the winter so my roster of cars is at 14 freight and a 5 car set of the USA streamliner cars .All of the curves are 20'dia. and the two switches are the Aristo #6.As you can tell I am very excited about getting it running. Will try to post some pictures someday soon .

[bman36]

blue aster,
You sure have purchased a lot in short order. Glad to hear you are starting simple and going from there. Had to laugh about your track plan being re-done several times. I think we have all done that! Mine kept changing even as the track went down! It's all good right??? Have fun! Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Blue Aster
Put a lot of thought into your layout and think big even if you don't due it all at once, it makes life a lot easier later. I have a large Pond 14' X 16', 4' deep with a waterfalls and a 25" stream into it and another 8' x 6' pond with a water falls and a 20' stream dumping into the large pond. Under the 25' stream is a tunnel and there is also a 20' tunnel in the ground that comes out to my railroad station. I have a double arch bridge over my big pond and a single trestle bridge over the 20' stream. There is about 450' of track with at least 25 buildings lighted built from Garden Texture plans. I have 2 SD-45, RS3, U25B, AND a Dash 9 on the way. All have sound and LED's for headlights. I plan on installing the sound in the Dash9 when I receive it. I belong to a club here and since I run DCC on my layout I am adding a working yard and a whole new run around the present layout so that Club members can bring train's to run.

Good Luck,[:)]

Waterfallstoo
Bob