# Modifications to an old Aster



## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

I purchased a French 232TC Aster that was cheap as it was overpainted in grey with a brush, had some parts missing that I can make but it has never been run. As this model has a small single fill smithies boiler where water top up is by a trackside hand pump I decided to put in working water side tanks, axle pump and hand pump as I needed to strip it right down. 
The images attached shows what the loco looked like when I got it ( better in the photo than it really was) and then onto the axle pump and plumbing that I fitted. The axle pump eccentric is operated by a scotch yoke (thanks for the idea Bill I learn a lot from your loco build postings) with a ball bearing on the eccentric (another of Bill's ideas here). I made a new cross member to hold the axle pump that I purchased ready made and fitted the plumbing back to the cab where the water by pass valve is and boiler clack valve. The original dummy side tanks slip outside and over the new water tanks with the main one extending into the cab for easy filling.
It's a tight fit in the cab as you can see but everything fits in well and I use the pump handle with cutouts on the end to operate the by pass valve as I found fingers wouldn't fit.
Along the way i added more roof detail and made the distinctively French curved sided coal bunker extension that was not on the original model then repainted the model in the original Aster green. These loco's were generally all black but I like the SNCF green that Aster applied. 
I now have a loco that runs for longer without stopping to pump up for water but I found the original small Meths tank means I still do have to top that up often, but that's OK by me.
Hope this gives others incentive to do the same to early Aster models with a single fill boiler
Russell


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## Steve Shyvers (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice, Russell.

Steve Shyvers


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## clifforddward (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice job fitting the axle pump, tanks, hand pump and related plumbing...Great craftsmanship!


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## AuSteam (Jul 26, 2019)

Lovely job !


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## zephyra (Jan 2, 2008)

Great job - where did you get the Aster SNCF green - I'm looking for paint for another Aster french locomotive.


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and Zephra the paint was obtained by taking my Aster 141R, another French loco in green, down to my local automotive paint supply where he has a sort of light source spectrograph thingy (don't ask me how it works) that gives him the paint "recipe" to mix it and then maybe adjust colour from there. He can supply me paint in half litre tins or in a spray can and I have used both. This service isn't common here in Australia but the equipment to analyse colour and to put into spray cans I believe is American supplied so someone will have this service where you are.
The paint is automotive acrylic and needs to be low temp baked (ask paint supply man) for use on boilers but on coaches and other non heat models it's good applied without baking. If airbrushing it needs to be well mixed and thinned down quite a bit for my little airbrush, about 2/3 thinners (often more) to 1/3 paint. Using his pre mixed spray cans it applies very well and this is what I generally use especially for the bigger surfaces on say a carriage.
This paint man is now used to me bringing in loco's and rollingstock for a paint match and asks me about my hobby all the time and fascinated by the steam loco's.
Russell


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## derPeter (Dec 26, 2010)

Hallo Mr. Russell,
this is very informative thread for me, becaus i also think about changing my JNR-loco, is similar to the BR 78..
greetings derPeter


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## fsts2k (Jan 13, 2009)

Nice looking loco!


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Hello der Peter, I haven't seen one of those loco's but it looks like you can do a conversion like I did with working side tanks. The axle pump and the hand pump I purchased ready made from an ebay site called Microcosm from China that are reasonably priced and work well.
One thing I have found is that even though I have two side tanks there is not much water in them so while I am topping up the fuel (with feed closed of course!) I put in water as well. Unlike a big water tank in a tender it needs topping up but as I have to do fuel as well it's no problem and I have had this loco in steam for nearly an hour once I get used it.
Also I put in two baffles to each water tank stop water sloshing back and forth as that can be a problem where water spill could wet the fuel wicks.
Russell


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## derPeter (Dec 26, 2010)

Hallo again,
i found this item at the china-site, is this the pump you used?
Thank you for info and 
greetings derPeter


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Yes derPeter that's the pump and I also used his hand pump. His axle pump does not have the usual balls in the check valves but nicely made "mushroom" shaped valves with o rings to seal so hopefully they won't stick like check balls sometimes do. I also find sometimes I have to prime the water circuit with a couple of pumps of the hand pump if the axle pump doesn't seem to pick up usually after I have run the water tanks dry.
Russell


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## graham25 (Nov 22, 2015)

Attached is a video of Russell's wonderful Aster 232TC in action from last weekend.


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Thanks for adding the video Graham where you can not only see my railway but also the crowded cab and the empty LH side water tank and baffle. That's where I fill the water and with the linking tube to the RH tank it fills both sides.
Russell


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Awesome work
looks and runs great


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Thanks Bill, it's your loco build postings that give me ideas and inspiration, the scotch yoke idea came from one of your builds.
Regards
Russell


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

And it was very well done.
I would be interested to see how you made it.
Was it three pieces soldered together?


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Hi Bill
I am not that good a machinist so armed with your idea I enlisted the help of a friend who made the yoke and the eccentric. The eccentric is made on a lathe as one piece, using 4 jaw chuck to do eccentric centres, except for the final end plate to hold the bearing that was held on by tiny bolts. This plate is the other side of the boss where the grub screws hold it to the axle. The scotch yoke he made on his little CNC mill and we found it might be a bit heavy hanging from the pump shaft so we drilled it out with lightening holes that did reduce the weight. 
It was all made easy not having to make a split eccentric and a having a bearing as Aster on this model have split axles on the first and third driving axles.I am not keen on pressing on and off wheels.
I should have taken images as he made it.
Russell


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Hi Bill, on re-reading your question I see you were referring to the scotch yoke and that is in two pieces one side being a straight bar milled for the bearing 'groove' and other made as the curved top and straight leg in one piece with no bearing 'groove' (looks like 1/3 of a horseshoe) that was silver soldered to the bar to make whole scotch yoke.
Russell


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

That is what I was thinking. Two or three pieces. It looks nicer that the ones I do where I make the whole horseshoe and JB strips on the outside to hold the bearing.
Well done


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## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

Hi folks: Just getting over a broken backbone, so sorry I didn't give any news lately. Very good job Russell, many here in France just use an enot for refiling, but an axle pump is much prefered.
Just for those interested: These rngines were ordered by the ex Alsace Lorraine railway when it was under Prussian rule before WW1. They very commonly were used in passenger service with Prussian six wheelers (Märklin), then in later years near the end of steam the SNCF tended to concentrate most of the ex DRG "prise de guerre" (war booty) stock on the ex AL lines so they also ran with the"thunderbox" type coaches ( Hubner & Märklin). In Truffault 's film Jules et Jim you can see one with such a consist on one of the branches along the Vosges mountains. It is not that common that you have a French Aster and the right coaches available...


By the way I have a 1938 photo of a Chapelon hauling a St Quentin- Paris express made up of the bogie non corridor Prussian coaches Märklin has just produced.


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Thanks Simon, while the axle pump is good I now have to see if I can squeeze in a bigger capacity meths tank for even longer runs. It does look good with my six wheeler Prussian and bogie coaches with the SNCF transfers you sent me.
All the images I have are of black 232TC so do you know if many were painted green when in AL service? Also the Aster model has the early feed water heater I see on many early AL models that were changed to later style with the big cylindrical reservoir on the front buffer beam. I am thinking of making this distinctive detail to make it a more recent variation but all these 232TC appear to be black so did any become green in SNCF ownership?
Sorry to hear about your back I hope recovery means you can get on with building your new layout.
Russell


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Russell,
I would have thought that most photos of these locos pre 1966, when according to a book that I have they were withdrawn, would be in black and white, so how does one know if any were indeed green.
Just curious.
Merry Christmas,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Hi David, yeah I am curious too as all images from 1950's and before are in black and white but Aster would have had some advice on the green colour from someone who know's back in the day when they made it, but I can't find any evidence that some were green. Some early images from Alsace Lorraine ownership shows a lighter boiler shade that maybe green and I can't take that as being true. 
Down here in Australia information on French trains is very hard to come by and searching for information only by English language books and on the net throws no light on the subject but Simon is my "go to" man for information on French trains so he might know. This is the value of this website where I make contact not only with live steamers but people who are interesting and informative in various railways.
It's a bit academic anyway as I like the green and I'll keep it that way but to me it's always nice to know what the reality was
Merry Christmas to you and everyone too
Russell


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## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

Unfortunatly the ex Alsace - Lorraine Ry (Pre 1918) is the one I am the least informed about, it is possible that the grey livery was used then. I never saw the 232 TC in service however I did see in 1965 the ex AL and ex PLM 4-8-4 tanks. That did the run across the Rhein to Kehl, they were all black. I almost got run over by one: Used to Steamtown, I crossed the tracks from one platform to another, a light engine came bombing through the station, compound, didnt make any noise, the whistle warned me just in time! Seeing those fine engines in December was great with great display of steam.
Or you could use a trick I used on my Saxon narrow gauge locos in HOe scale, as I did not fancy red frames and running gear I sprayed a mist of black so that you could hardly see the red frames, the real ones were often so weathered after some service.
In Montparnasse the Chapelon mikado's 141 P were black from the front to the cab and you started to see green on the cab side and tender. But then again I remember seeing ETAT pacifics at ST. Lazare **** and span with lining and polished brass. It often depended on the traditions at the loco shed. Unfortunatly mainline steam on the Nord region, which was notorious for the pristine conditions of its engines disapeared when I was too young to notice.


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## fredlub (Feb 7, 2010)

There is a book in French on the 232TC called: "Les 232TC Locomotives de Prusse sur les rails d'Alsace" by Vincent Conrad. In this book is mentioned that these locomotives while running for the Alsace Railway were black with black wheels and red buffer bars at the front and the back. The SNCF kept this livery but certain locomotives at a revision received a green SNCF livery with black wheels.
The book also describes the different models of the 232TC and mentions that the ASTER loco had the (red) identification plate at the wrong position on the cab-side. It should be at the other side of the cabin door.

Regards
Fred


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## ferroequinologist (May 8, 2016)

Thanks Simon and Fred, and info on AL trains is scarce but thanks Simon for your input where maybe AL livery was grey as that may explain why the previous owner of this loco painted it grey. I always love your anecdotes when steam was common and those 4-8-4 tank loco's must have been a sight. They are one of my favourite tank loco's.
Fred, thanks for the info from Vincent Conrad's book on some being green in SNCF ownership with black wheels like my HO Lilliput model I have. I must keep an eye out for a copy of that book on evilbay. 
I do like the green colour on my 232TC and the ID plate I did think about moving but it sits in a stamped recess so I left it as is. Good to get some feedback.
Season's greetings to all
Russell


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## du-bousquetaire (Feb 14, 2011)

Of course it must be understood that many SNCF engines, especially near the end of steam looked black, but it was probably from weathering, rather than actually painted black. But some depots painted their engines black never the less. The aspect of Etat pacifics at Saint Lazare terminus was like that of a new Aster, but on the very same western region, at Le Mans and Rennes, all engines looked black. No lining being visible at all.


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