# aristo craft usa trains questions



## bigmatt14 (May 18, 2011)

Hi everybody I'm matt from turlock ,ca 

does any one have aristo craft santa fe sd45 red warbonnet? what color are the handrails suppose to be along the 
side yellow or silver .

i'm looking to make a santa fe sd45 -b i needed the high nose part that aristo craft says on there parts sheet for 
sd45 that it's basiclly availale for $10 but i could'nt get a hold any one execpt for lewis polk himself that's right
he said he would have to make 1000 of them at $10 a piece you do the math , i said do you know that people are
looking for them he said yes , it's like he did'nt care so does any one have that part?

how come there web site search engine says they have all these trains and when you click on it goes back to the search?

has any one bought a usa trains sd70 heritage unit , it's missing some major parts to make look like the sd70 ace
has any one made the parts or is there drawings i'm talking about the chopped nose and the rear air vents raditors or wings 
if know what i'm talking about look at your usa trains sd70 heritage unit and look at the real one.


maTT


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

The hand rails for the SD 45 should be Silver. As for part of the high nose for get about it as there are none and most likely will never be run. That's AC for ya. Always some excuse as to why Parts are not made. Later RJD


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I think the answer is "any darn color you want", I am unable to find a prototype in that paint scheme. 

Yeah, the endless "we can't have parts" excuse... but USAT does and is made in the same factory... 


Greg


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## Ironton (Jan 2, 2008)

Some pics and info at: 

http://www.atsfrr.com/Reviews/HO/Diesel/SD-45New/ATSF_SD45-2_ModelingByRalphBack.html


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

If you are looking to model a high hood SD-45, your options are to wait until one shows up on Ebay or to find one at a train show (pretty rare, but not impossible). These were made several years ago, and did not sell at all. You may also try calling some of the custom builders, like Jeff Damerst at Shawmut Car Shops to see if he has one in his parts bin. Otherwise, you may be looking at scratch building. That may be a better route so that you get the details exactly how you want them. 

Good luck!


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## jake3404 (Dec 3, 2010)

I think that is something we all have to understand. If we are used to the HO market, like I was, I assumed that I could get parts in Large Scale like I could HO. When you get into this area (large scale) of model railroading, there are a lot fewer customers and manufactures are in this for the money and so they have to make some. 

As much as us modelers would love to have them make extra when they are producing, sometimes it isnt as easy. Yes it is cheaper to "just make a little more" but that is still stock, that stock costs a lot of money to maintain. There are a lot of costs involved besides just producing the part. 

In the end, some companies do a much better job at trying to keep an inventory, others dont. It seems Aristo is on that "dont keep good stock" end of the spectrum. 

As a large scale modeler I think we have to accept that at some point you will have to scratchbuild something.


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

I don't think Louis cares about much of anything but lining his pockets. He sure dosen't take care of the people
that buys his products!


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Rich, I believe he is asking about either the yellow and blue freight paint, or the red and silver warbonnet (which I believe was never prototype). 

The Bicentennial picture you have has white handrails. 

There were other paint schemes, like the SF one and there must have been some singles... but I have never seen a prototype SD45 picture with the red and silver warbonnet scheme. 

I have to agree with Lewis' comments on the high hood, it's clear his parts orders are 1,000 pieces minimum when ordered alone. He's admitted that it's 200 pieces if ordered with a production run. 

The missing parts of that conversation, which can be easily documented in his own forum, is that typically, they do not order spare parts on the first run, but the second run, which is usually 2 years later. So people with new locos with broken parts often wait up to 2 years for replacements. 

The excuse here is "we don't know which parts to order"... well after making locos for what, 40 years, maybe it should not be rocket science that you order all the detail parts and some hoods and cabs and motor blocks and pilots. 

The funny thing is that the common excuse given all boils down to not making enough money. But then, how do Bachmann and USA trains continue to have parts, and believe me, they are not losing money at it! Now, they are all made by the same company, and before that, USAT and Aristo the same company. 

There's just no excuse that holds water. 

Greg


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Well Saw two High nose SD45 at the Dalton show last weekend. $500 per loco. Later RJD


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## jgallaway81 (Jan 5, 2009)

To heck with the Hi-noses, I want that USRA 0-6-0


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Posted By jgallaway81 on 22 May 2011 11:51 AM 
To heck with the Hi-noses, I want that USRA 0-6-0


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## Truthman (Dec 13, 2008)

I just posted this same thing over in another topic so forgive me for posting it twice. I just saw this topic now. Has anyone tried to fit a USAT GP7 high nose to an SD45 or GP40? Or even a GP38?


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