At its beginning in 1980, AS initially produced passenger coaches.
It wasn’t until AS had produced coaches of the PLM, EST, and Flèche
d'Or that their first locomotive was cataloged in 1982-1983. This first steam
locomotive was a 222T Tank Locomotive which the company produced in two versions,
with and without smoke deflectors, and in ten different road names including
two English and two German liveries:
With deflectors: EST, Nord, PO, SNCF, DB
Without deflectors: ETAT, PLM, LMS, LNER, DR
An AS NORD 222T awaits its commuter duties for
the day
(Photo courtesy of Bryan Pentland)
An AS catalog page displaying the 222T in the six French liveries
The PLM and SNCF locomotives had identical color schemes as did the DB and DR locomotives and the ETAT and EST locomotives.
An AS 222T for the EST Railway
(Photo courtesy of Laurent Sockeel)
The AS 222T tank locomotives were based on the NORD 222Ts (numbers 2.231 to 2.305) constructed between 1902 and 1906 and used for commuter service (Ref. 2, page 31).
A photo of NORD locomotive 2.245 is shown below. The NORD railway displayed the locomotive number on the pilot beam. The AS NORD 222T displays the number 2.304 on it’s pilot beam and we know that 2.304 was a NORD 222T. The AS model’s appearance was probably oversimplified to make construction easier and cheaper.
These NORD locomotives had the name “Revolver” and later, with nationalization,
were termed SNCF 2-222TA.
(Photo courtesy of Jean Pierre Vergez-Larrouy )
The locomotives were constructed entirely of stamped metal and had steel axles with brass bearings. A two motor drive, 20 volts DC, powered the 3-rail engine. They weighed a hefty 1.5 kilograms but they used nylon gears which wear easily and a long, flexible, spiral drive that bends and causes the gears to strip. The engines are not considered good “runners”.
With two domes and a coal bunker there is little detail on the locomotive. The body was spray painted and serigraphy and cliché printing were employed for details such as boiler bands, piping, and valves. The side water tank’s rivet detail was painted as well. The smoke stack was painted turned brass and the two domes were attached with screws to the boiler sheet. JEP and French Hornby compatible couplers were provided with the engine.
Tinplate parts for the 222 T locomotive
The 222 Ts had a very English appearance to them and are sometimes mistaken
for the Hornby 4-4-4 or ACE E-1 tank locomotive. But the brass dome on the Hornby
4-4-4/ACE E-1 easily distinguishes the two.
The AS and ACE tank locomotives. Note the distinctive
brass dome of the ACE E-1
(Photo courtesy of Archaic Photos)
A 222T locomotive would have cost you 1800 French Francs in the early 1980s.
Next: The AS Pacifics Chapelon
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