Reviewed: Aristocraft 2 bay offset coal hopper Today we are going to review the new Aristocraft 2 bay offset coal hopper car. The first thing I noticed is how Aristocraft changed the packing over from a box to a plastic container, but my item still arrived safe and sound. It was a long wait to get one in the Rio Grande name, but they already seem to be selling out as vendors have these in limited numbers already. The coal hopper features a very realistic coal load and actual opening bottom hatches. The graphics are crisp and clear but I did notice however how the black paint seems to be a little too shiny and needs to be dulled out a bit. They also don't come thru with rotating bearing cap type trucks. They come through with plastic wheels also which by the time you add the $12 - $15 price tag for metal wheels, it puts this hopper car in the same price rang as the USA 70 ton hopper car which comes standard with metal wheels. There is a hook and loop coupler kit bag also included. I give Aristocraft 2 thumbs up on this one and I'm really happy with this piece of rolling stock. I think it's the best job Aristocraft has done to date with thier rolling stock and keeping it realistic. This item is a must have, but hurry, supplies are limited already and selling out quickly.
I have 2 Standard Great Northern 2-Bay's and 4 Road Number Custom Run Ones from RLD on hold with a friend of mine. I had hoped by now I could have them paid off but due to certain budget cuts he's holding on to them for me. They look great and run great. He's got them running on his overhead layout in his shop with Giant Signs on them that says "Semi-Sold. We're Tracking The Owner's Bank Account Down~" I laughed so hard at that.
Ebay gets hit with record number of G scale items I was shopping on ebay today for my most wanted list and noticed there is a record number amount of G scale items for sale, even higher than Christmas time. USA Trains sales which usually is around 200-500 items is now at 1,160 items. LGB which was around 1,200 items on the average is now up to 2,300 items. It seems vendors are flooding ebay with G scale trains for sale in hopes of increased sales. This would be one of the main reasons why I can think of the big increase. Although there seems to be a floding of G scale trains, bargians are still hard to find as vendors are usually 3rd party buyers and have higher prices than a regular retailer. Some vendors are selling for example USA 55ft modern tank cars for $109.00 when you can get the same thing from USA Trains for only $99. I also noticed one vendor using under handed methods of uping their auction bids. One vendor has been advertising G scale trains at a no reserve bid at $0.99, but when I went to bid on a auction that had no other biders and placed a bid for $10, I was soon advised I was outbidded. I have heard of these "Shark" type programs that automatically outbids you until the vendor price that he wants is matched making you think someone is actually out bidding you when it is the computer program doing the work. I noticed when I was out bidded, there was no name as to who out bid me, so I knew right then it was a "Shark" program doing this and quit. I wrote a naty little note to the vendor as to how under handed this was and would never bid on another auction of thiers again. So while on Ebay: Be wise Be Careful and compare pricing to retailers before buying from a ebay vendor, especially if they are only using a "Buy it Now" price. Usually "Buy it Now" prices on ebay are no deals from my experience and throw up a red flag instantly.
Aristocraft runs out of Rio Grande multi numbers As you may know by now Aristocraft is slowly releasing out it's 2 bay coal offset hopper cars in many road names. There is suppose to be at least 4 road numbers and in some cases up to 6 road numbers per road name. Well, looks like Aristocraft did something strange, they made thousands of these hopper cars in the main first road number for each road name, but for some unknown reason they only made 200 in each additional road number after the main road number for each road name. So for example there is plenty of Rio Grande hopper cars in the first road number because there are thousands of them, but the next 3 road numbers were only made in quatities of 200 each, therefore already sold out. Did this make sense? Why didn't they make an equal amount hopper cars for each road number. I never had this problem with USA Trains. My vendor is even disgusted because they did the same thing for Burlington Northern and those extra road numbers are sold out also and he didn't even get to fill his orders out to all of his customers. My vendor is also pro USA trains and is even considering dropping Aristocraft althogether.
Selling or buying trains on ebay, beware of esnipe I noticed a new trend on ebay of buyers using a company called esnipe. It seems this company will bid on a item for you at the very last second so there is no way for someone else to counter bid you. Also you can put in a bid, but esnipe will hide that bid, so for example there is a train you want anf it's $20 to start, you see there is no other bidders on that item so you only bid $20 thinking the item is yours, but in reality there is a secret hidden bid of $30, but you will never know that til the last minute. I just lost a auction to a esnipe user and I think it just ruins things for the seller and the buyer. It ruins ebay for the buyer because there is no bid war due to secret and last second bidding, so the seller looses out which is why you see 90% of the vendors using only buy it now options, which in turns hurt the buyers because now there is no chance of getting that good deal or not knowing about secret bidders and waiting around on ebay for 6 days only to have that item sniped out. I wrote a email to Ebay in protest and to have such services as Esnipe banned from usage on Ebay. For those who want to see more info on esnipe and how it works, visit www.esnipe.com and be prepared to be angry. I'm just trying to educate those who use Ebay to find and sell trains. If this trend continues, I will pull out of ebay entirely.
/raises hand "I'm guilty of esnipe. I use that because I lose to so many dealers it's the only way to get an accurate snipe attempt off. It's how I got some of my HO Detail Parts (that have yet to be put on my F7A&B). I'm withdrawing use of esnipe now. I just sent an email protesting it. I really don't need to deal with many dealers lately so I need not use it anymore.
DragonFyreGT, thanx for the honesty, at least you realize now that esnipe is just plain wrong, no matter how bad you want something. I rather loose a rare item in a bid war that is honest and without esnipe, then I'm not as angry about losing because you know you lost fair and square. Thanx for emailing your protest about esnipe also. Hopefully ebay will realize esnipe hurts everyone.
Esnipe revenge on Ebay I often use Ebay to sell items and now have changed my buyer policies to get some revenge back on the esnipe users who won't stop using that service. I have posted in all of my auctions and in my policies under my user name that any bidder who uses Esnipe or any other such related services to bid on my auctions with will get a instant negative feedback. I ask all of you ebay sellers to do the same so we can nip the abuse of Esnipe on Ebay right in the bud together. Maybe all of us doing this will also get Ebay in gear to do something about this terrible problem.
EMD Trainman wins one for the wanted list Thanx to Solase I was able to hunt for that yellow and silver Rio Grande box car by Charles Ro which had road number 41617 on it and Solase was able to identify it as a Charles Ro stock number R1932. I found one on ebay at first with no box, but was esniped out in the end. This time I found another one with the original box and I emailed the person who was auctioning it as to how many watchers there were, he said 4. It was a up hill battle on this one as it was in like new condition, but in the end at the last minute I put in a ridiculous high bid so no esniper could out bid me in time and I did it honestly with Ebays 1 click bid opition.
Congratulations. Ya most people who use esnipe (mainly dealers) don't go insanely high on items because it's usually a business loss when they go to resell it. Non dealers just tend to not have a huge amount of money and perfer the software. Takes a little wait time but eventually the smaller bidder tends to win.
Welcome to the Aristo-Craft Trains Internet Depot has prototype paint scheme drawings for the 4 Club Car Double Door Boxcars up on the front news page. The Club Cars for those who don't remember or know this year are a tributed to our Boys and Girls overseas. US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, and US Marines. My Girlfriend's father is a Desert Storm Marine Corps Vet and just got back from Afghanistan and I have scraped some money to preorder the Marines boxcar specifically for him. They may just be boxcars and model trains, but let's give a big Thank You to our loved ones, friends and families in the Military.
Lets face it we are all looking for a bargin,If a machine out bids you in the last second you were possibly low balling anyhow.What's the difference if I'm busy the last hour the item closes and I ask you to stand by and bid for me at the last second???No real difference? If it was a machine the guy set the bid up in advance for his highest attempt. The score at the end of the ball game is what counts Now if you tell me the guy has a shill who drives up the price or bids on his own stuff,that wouldn't be right,does it happen ya better believe it!
This is primarily for EMD Trainman regarding ESnipe or any other sniping program. If you are a bidder in ebay, you should know the maximum amount that you are willing to bid on an item and then place that bid. If you get outbid the old fashioned way or by someone using esnipe, it shouldn't matter to you as you placed your maximum bid anyway. Programs like esnipe DO allow you as a bidder to get items cheaper than if you didn't use it in many cases. They prevent you from getting into an emotional bidding war and pay way too much for something. I haven't used this type of program lately, but only because I am too lazy to sign up with one again. I love the fact that many sellers have a Buy It Now on items as that allows me to get lots of bargains. One thing I have found with ebay is that almost always, there will be another one coming along. Regarding you, as a seller, leaving negative feedback for buyers; I guess you haven't read the rules lately. Sellers CANNOT leave neutral or negative feedback anymore. The only recourse a seller has is if a bidder does not pay and the seller can report them as a non paying bidder. Just my opinion and nothing else.
To me though, in the technology age, where ebay can send alerts via MSN, Email or in the case of some phones, straight to your cell phone, why even use a bot program? I mean 70 percent of bidders (mostly dealers, I could be wrong) use blackberries or palms to conduct their bidding business. So again why even bother with a bot program? And not just that, Some bidding software is not legitmate. I've seen versions of esnipe that have illegal software in it that can seek and jam peoples accounts so they cannot bid during the auction. I don't use that software because using a hacker program within a bidding bot to win is just plain wrong. This is just what I've seen and my simple opinion.
Lets not forget some under handed vendors will use a program to bid up their own items on ebay. The item will usually be advertised as a no reserve bid with a $.99 start price and it usually involves a new high priced train. You find thier is no bidders on this item and then you bid on it, then Whamo, you get a big red display you have just been out bidded, no thanx to the under handed program being used. Why does a vendor have to trcik you into buying thier item like this and why not use a buy it now feature like everyone else. Anyone who wants this vendors name please PM me and I will be glad to give it to you, I will not display it publicly here. Lets just say these people sell alot of trains, mainly G scale. But of course I can't 100% prove they are using this type of program, just a good guess from happened in my case, so that is another reason I don't want to out right start accusing of such practices pubilicly with no 100% proof. Plus we are not allowed to post negative things in threads here on train board about vendors.
No you are right about that too. Although it's hard to do that if the seller and the bot are on the same account. Mostly they'll use a family member (not direct) name and set the bot up that way. I take a Network Security Course in college and we spent a good part of this semester focusing on internet scams. eBay got brought up briefly and we were shown how some programs are designed to not be a so much a hacking program but to be used by business' for less than legitmate purposes. But as such, that's the times we live in. Scamming's gone from on the street and in the mail to the digital age of the internet. Some dealers may use a legit program, others may not. But just the same, and I understand Dave's point very well, but most bot programs will sniff the server, see the max bids and _THEN_ throw a bid up with 1 second left. The computer can do this because it operates off code and doesn't need a human reflex to do that. Because the computer can be programmed to snipe quicker then a human, it seems to me it really isn't all that fair. If I lose on a good deal, I feel better losing to a human being rather then a machine, and having used a program like esnipe before, I understand what it feels to be on both sides of the equation.
EMD Trainman updates train albus I will be deleting and updating my albums on train board. I will be making seperate catagories for easier viewing of my train collection which will also make it easier to follow along when I wriet a story or need something for my collection. Anyway, I'm sure everyone will like the new updated and seperate catagories for my albums. Here is my EMD Trainman album link > www.trainboard.com/grapevine/album.php?u=10664 Note: Still under construction, check back for updates.
Continuing with basment improvements part 1 As I last talked about how hard it is to collect and keep up on a G scale layout while making improvents in the basement, sometimes the money gets balanced out and sometimes not. The trains wins the budget most of the time if there is something I really want. Below is pictures from start to finish of the Train shelf wall project from 2008 Picture 1 & 2 show the aftermath oif tearing out a 6 person bar and a improperly done wall and now construction is going on to properly stud the wall away from the brick work. Picture 3 is the finished project and a moisture barrier was used along with R19 insulation, 1/2 plywood and paneling. The only thing that I decided to replace and keep was the sink, it comes in handy for washing up after projects and elminates the need for running upstairs to empty the dehumidifier in which the old one started knocking, so a new one of those had to be bought also.
Continuing with basement improvements part 2 Now for the problem area around the wood stove. I could not have a wood wall near this location for obvious reasons. I was considering a idea to put in zipper bricks which is just like a slim 1/4 inch think brick you put on the wall with mortar, but time consuming and expensive. Another problem is the constant expansion and contracting due to heat conditions in that area may crack the zipper brick work since it is not the real thick bricks. The other alternative was to paint the walls in this area using a special concrete paint which was $25 per gallon. In the end it was well worth the money. Picture 1) You may remember this eye sore corner in some of my pictures Picture 2) This is that same corner with some fresh prep work and paint along with a nice curtain to go over the window.
Train Manufacturers cut back production Many G scale train manufacturers are cutting back on production due to current status of economy. Although stocks may look good, don't let that fool you. Mortgage companies have now resumed forclosures in a furious way now that the time limit is up the goverment gave home owners to try and catch up. Train manufacturers are worried as to the future and although G scale trains are a world wide sold product, this does not help any since the economy is a world wide problem. When interviewing Charles Ro he says "You know the world economy is bad when Japan shuts plants down for 4 months at a time, I've never seen Japan slow down until now. He also went on to say, "I'm worried about the economy, we had a steam locomotive on the drawing board, but out it on the back burner for now and didn't put it into developement, I'm glad I made that decision". I asked him about production, He stated "We stopped production on the trains already out, we will be producing very little new products, I don't see us producing in full swing or making new models for at least 2 years." "If the economy gets better before then I may change my mind, but don't see it happening before 2 years." We will probably see a slow down of all hobby train manufacturers and not just G scale items although G scale trains have a much smaller market than other scales. This means you probably won't see many new items for G scale being announced in my News and reviews thread, at least for now.
