The story behind the Aster Lion axle-driven water feed pump
by Markus Neeser
(please allow time for the pictures on this page to download)
The little Aster Lion is very nice
performer, but lacks a little from the rather short running time of about 6-7
minutes between topping up the boiler.
One possible remedy is to cut a thread to
the post in the tender and to use Aster's track side pump for refilling or to
use the supplied syringe from Aster. But since this can bring down the boiler
pressure dramatically, a refilling of the boiler still takes 5 minutes before
the engine is ready to go.
A much more interesting way to get longer
running times is the installation of an axle-driven water feed pump. Not
possible, too small ?!
Go on reading...
The original design was by Swiss G1MRA
member Rolf Engler, who some of you will know from his modified Aster Jumbo
(shown in one of the newsletters). He recently told me "when I began the
job I didn’t know if it would work or not, I just tried it". Well, he’s
retired and has plenty of time to do so, a big "Thanks" from here to
Rolf for trying it!
Unfortunately for everyone also interested
in installing such a pump as I was, he didn't make any drawings except one or
two sketches. So my job was to completely redesign it and to make the required
drawings before starting to machine the parts. Believe me, it took much more
time than I expected. Once I had the drawings completed it progressed pretty
fast, although some details had to be modified from time to time (I still have a
considerable collection of split eccentrics left over from experimenting to find
out the correct stroke of the ram!).
The hardware
To make sure the drawings were accurate, I
followed my own drawings and directly modified them wherever required or whenever
I had a better idea for detailed solutions while standing in front of the mill
or the lathe.
The axle pump kit consists as other water
feed pump of the pump itself, the nice bypass and all parts required for fitting
and driving them as eccentrics and so on.
The eccentric is a split one to make it's
installation easier. Although one could make it in one piece and remove the
wheel from the axle to install it, I prefer the split design for servicing
purposes. There are not a lot words to say about the eccentric strap and the
pump itself, the pictures reveal much more detail than I could put into words.
The bypass is located on the footplate
where it is very easily accessible. The original full-size Lion has some handles
for the valve drive control placed there, so it even looks a little more
prototypical with the bypass installed.
Other gadgets
The boiler lagging as shown in the pictures
has been done using 0.6 mm birch plywood as used for building model airplanes
(bent over steam in the kitchen).
Also, the side lagging of the haystack firebox has real wood inserts. I
milled out the etched part, silver soldered a brass sheet behind it and
glued plywood to it. Sealed with a heat resistant varnish it lasts a lifetime.
Glue with a 2 component epoxy glue (I used Araldite).
Another major improvement is the cladding
of the cylinder with a brass sheet metal box with cylinder head imitations and
two drain cocks on it. At the time the pictures were taken, it was not yet
finished. Now where this detail is almost completed (Ed, I’m still waiting for
the drain cocks…), it makes the appearance of the Lion even more realistic.
Lots of other details are not yet
finished since I spent lots of time on testing the pump thoroughly. Now that
I’m convinced about the performance, I’ll concentrate more on these details.
Geoff Calver and Andrew Pullen give us also
the hint to paint the fancy ironwork black as it was on the original locomotive.
Also the haystack type firebox was black on top.
The drawings
After discussing it with Rolf Engler, I
decided to make the drawings available to anyone interested. They are in metric
units and are based upon metric raw materials. But as we continental Europeans
can also live with the imperial drawings, I believe that it should not be a big
deal to modify the dimensions to imperial units where required.
The drawings come with a ‘How to make’ description in German or English language which you may also download as a PDF file from this link Download English PDF or Download German PDF .
If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, follow this link first for a free download:
If you are interested in getting a complete
set of colour printed documents (consisting of 21 drawings sheets, colour
photos, a parts list and the
documentation), then please write directly to:
Markus Neeser
Badmatt 6
6260 Reiden
Switzerland
Please enclose £12 or 19 Euros in cash and
you'll get your copy by mail (shipment is included in the price).
This fee will - besides paying for the rather
expensive inkjet cartridges and paper - also allow us to drink a glass of beer
while the Lions are running around the track . . .
Markus Neeser
