IP Blocking from DNS at hosting site might be the problem
I have have been experiencing the same troubles as others here in this thread.
There is definitely a problem with accessing jointedrail.com.
Mitigations efforts that I have tried:
1) Change your IP address! This works only partially. Basically if you change your IP address you will be able to access the site. However, multiple attempts using this "new" IP address will result in the long run of not being able to access the site. Often if I wait a day, and try to access the site I will be allowed exactly ONE contact with the site. After that it fails. Unless you change your IP address again.
2) The findings in 1) lead me to believe that your IP address is being blacklisted for some unknown reason. As proof of concept, I tried an online proxy server, with connections points in the US. When I use the proxy server I can access the jointedrail site at will. BUT, be forewarned, there is NO WAY that I am going to use some unknown proxy server as a go between to log into jointedrail! I suggest that you do NOT do this either.
3) It is not clear what DNS service the jointedrail hosting site is using, nor is it clear if they are blacklisting certain IP address ranges, etc. Nor is is clear if jointedrail is using a IP address blocking provider which is erroneously filtering legitimate site access request from its customers. While filtering is understandable given the amount of hacking that is is going on (I have daily SYN Floods from bad actors trying to break into my router here), there should be a mechanism where customers can contact jointedrail to inform them that the filter is affecting them. You can do this by creating a ticket on the jointedrail website, but you need to be able to access the website first, before you can log in. This is of course a rather big problem.
4) Given 3), I decided see if my IP address was blocked somehow, some anti-spam database, etc at this location:
https://whatismyipaddress.com/blacklist-check
When I input my IP address there is one AND only one server, dnsbl.spfbl.net, which has my IP address listed as bad/blocked. Again, since we do not know what service the hosting provider jointedrail is using, but this could be a problem if a similar list is being used. I am NOT a spammer or hacker. But maybe someone in some past had the IP address from my service provider that has been allotted to the MAC of my router and the collateral damage is that on dnsbl.spfbl.net I am listed as a blacklisted. This is a proof of concept.
Last but not least, I would not gauge the severity of this by the complaints noted here. Often, and this includes myself, I post here very infrequently. This does not mean that there are not others like me, who will just give up.
Another proof of concept is access to:
https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...-2-s-62ft-Bulkhead-Flatcars-and-Clubcar-items
In the past the images from jointedrail would load..always..today it showed up exactly once..but if I use a proxy server it loads everything as expected.
I will me more than glad to recant this speculation if the problem is resolved with an explanation other than what I have shown here.