I can't speak for all road names, but as I was searching around ebay for Aristocraft 100 Ton hoppers, I saw a USA 70 Ton and an Aristo 100 Ton listed. I looked at them both and they were identical. USA and Aristo use the 526 prefix for the road numbering matrix. But how can both cars be identical? I managed to spot the difference: The USA Coal Hoppers are solid black on the ends, where as the Aristo's have a white painted Stripe on one of the rear ends in the Burlington Northern paint scheme. This got me to thinking.... On ebay USA and Aristo Cars are clearly mislabeled. And sometimes both companies have cars that are virtually Identical... So without having the car in hand, what other ways are there to spot the difference between USA Trains and AristoCraft rolling stock?
I spotted a Aristocraft box car being advertised as a USA Trains box car. Both Aristocraft and USA Trains make a Rio Grande box car in a yellow and silver paint scheme. So how was I able to tell the difference you ask? To me it was easy and will be for you when I tell you the secret. The secret is the ladders on the sides are a dead give away. Aistocraft box cars have a big bulky ladder and is usually black which was the case on the Rio Grande box car on ebay. The USA box car has more realistic liike ladders and are not so bulky and are usually the same main color of the box car they are mounted on. In this case the USA Rio Grande box car 40ft Ultimate series would have yellow ladders. Also notice the roof walks, USA Trains uses main body color for the roof walk while Aristocraft again uses black. Aristocraft figured they would save cost and inventory on keeping different color roof walks and ladders by just making them all black Picture #1 is the real USA Trains Rio Grande box car, notice the side ladder Picture #2 is a Aristocraft Rio Grande box carr that someone thinks is a USA Trains Rio Grande box car, but with my trained eye it is not. Notice the big bulky black ladder on the side. Besides I have enough experience to know that Rio Grande road number 46002 is also Aristocrafts stock number. Aristocraft just now recently started coming ouot with real road numbers. Since how both are 40ft box cars and both are 1:29 scale ratio it is hard to tell, but looking for certain details makes it easy..
As far as the difference between a 70 ton USA hopper and Aristocraft 100 ton hopper it's way much harder unless you see it in person. Just the size alone lets me know right away, but to see it on ebay it's too hard. The only way to tell on ebay is if there is no coal load, it's defintely a Aristocraft, but if someone takes a Aristocraft and puts a cola load on it, it's too hard to tell. Usually if the picture is good enough on ebay you can look at the couplers as long as no one changed them. Aristocraft couplers are easy to spot with that big lower hook under it to release the coupler
These hoppers had Kadee's on them and if it wasn't for the difference in the BN Paint schemes I'd have been confused. With the boxcars, I tend to notice that Aristo Spring loads their door handles, while USA does not. Far away it can be hard to spot. This information actually is quite good for those who are new to the hobby and need help spotting the differences. I saw a custom Burlington Boxcar being sold as a "Bachmann Boxcar." Would be nice but Bachmann doesn't make Steel Boxcars (At least not in G).
If the photo is clear enough you can tell the difference. A lot of time you can go by the paint color, or road name.
Don't forget the brake wheels. Aristo uses an odd flower shaped brake wheels on their older 40 foot cars. Many people have been after them to upgrade those for years but evidently the brake wheel form is part of a larger mold so....
Here is the USA 70 ton hopper car road number matrix. If you know the USA road numbers for every road name you can't go wrong because if it doesn't match my chart don't buy it. You may have to copy it to your computer and blow up the picture to see it better.
Differences in USA Trains & Aristocraft Cars One other way to identify if it's really an Aristocraft car is to go to Aristocraft's website. They've really done something nice for the hobbyist/collector by setting up an area called "Un-cataloged Database". This is a user supported area that lists pretty much every car they've ever produced, including some they've issued in 3- or 4- series. I sure wish some of the other vendors (USA Trains especially!) would do something as nice for us!
Quick way to notice is by looking at the trucks USA uses a friction bearing truck on their cars while the aristo has a roller bearing truck.
