The bench behind ASTEM
Where this started
ASTEM began with a jammed gearbox and a missing differential. One of us was rebuilding a model crane, found the drivetrain two parts short, and spent a fortnight buying single pieces from six different places. The idea of selling parts by the handful — graded by function, in packs deep enough to finish the job — came out of that fortnight.
What we actually make
Two families. Loose technic parts: gears, axles, pins, beams, bushes, connectors, motors, pneumatic cylinders and light-up bricks, moulded in ABS to the dimensions the system has used for decades. And 1:87 railroading: locomotives, freight cars and nickel silver track, built to run rather than to sit in a display case.
How a run gets checked
Samples come to this bench before a batch is released. Pins are pushed into new bricks and into bricks that have been rebuilt for years. Gears are run under load until something complains. Locomotives do an hour on a test oval, and anything that stalls at low throttle goes back. It is slow and it is the only part of the process we refuse to shorten.
Where to find us
Post reaches us at ASTEM Parts Bench, 118 Roundhouse Way, Suite 4, Altoona, PA 16601. If you want a person rather than an address, the parts desk page has the email and what to put in it.