As it stands now;
ScottPolk kicks off a new company "GenerationNext" beginning of 2014, starting with a "found" container of track !
Navin manages (also servicing), Crest Electronics as of Dec. 1 2013 at a new location.
Lewis Polk stated he will personally finance the continuation of 'AristoCraft Forum'.
And the 'AristoCraft UnCataloged Db' is still accessible as of today but still unaccessible by the volunteers who kept it going over the years. That would be a big loss as it is great reference even now. imho !
nite
doug c
The general consensus amongst Monday Morning quarterbacks is that there's still a lot of value in the molds, as well as demand for the product, so it's expected to see the product line revived down the road. Aristo brass has alluded to this at least in very vague terms. Whether that's because there's something in the pipeline that they're working on, or whether they're just shopping things around is anyone's guess.
Later,
K
Oh boy , there is no simple answer to your question, but this is whats being talked about on other fora.
Aristo is going under, true, sounds like they simply couldn't survive the economic downturn but any internal problems or downturn issues (which killed alot of other companies as well) are simply unknown and may never be known. However it appears that Aristo's product line was manufactured under a licensing contract with Sanda Kader (Bachmann's owners) and that what AC owned was the AC brand name, the actual tooling is apparently still owned by Kader (this is the way most toy products are actually made, under license with a large fabricating company) . So there is a very good chance that Kader will at some point reissue some or all of the modern AC lineup, possibly under one of its own product lines. Probability is that it would be under Bachmann's header, why else would Bmann after 20 years of a rabid narrow gauge affiliation suddenly issue a 1/29 trolley? Whats not known though is the fate of the older REA line (the old Delton molds and the Made in Korea very early AC products), those tools and molding could turn up under someone elses brand name, like MDCs old tooling turning up under Piko more recently.
The general consensus with AC closing its doors on the new year seams to be "wait and see". What will remain is what moves Kader will make (if any).
Have fun with your trains
Very sad news. Does anyone think the product line can be saved ? Also your thoughts on why this 80 year old business failed ?
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