Aynho Junction: 1980s N gauge flying junction

[50031Hood]

I've taken a break from punishing locos up vicious inclines by having a go at making Aynho Junction signal box. This has been a labour of love over many months. I haven't been able to find architectural drawings so I resorted to counting bricks (yes, really) from old photographs to get the dimensions right.

 

In the end, the model has been made by laser-cutting a 1mm thick clear plastic shell from separate pieces which are glued together.

 

The windows have been laser cut from an adhesive label which is then stuck on to the shell.

 

The walls have been laser cut and scored from brick-coloured card. A happy side-effect of using the laser to score into the card is that it creates a pale brown mortar colour. These wall panels have then been stuck onto the shell.

 

As for the roof, well, the same technique; a laser-cut net from grey card that I subsequently folded and glued.

 

There are still some more details to add, such as the chimney pots and weathering.

 

Comments welcome!

[Jim Martin]

This is right up my street. I grew up in High Wycombe in the 1970s and went to university in Liverpool in 1982, so I passed through Aynho whenever I travelled between the two. I always used to look out for the first sign of the main line below and to the left when I was en route to Banbury, just in case there was a southbound train passing by.

 

You might find this thread from the last version of RMWeb helpful. Most of it is about the route a bit further north, but a lot of the trains concerned would have passed through Aynho as well.

 

Jim

[37058]

The Box looks lovely. Been viewing your layout thread.......This is going to be great

 

Anthony

[lmsforever]

Looking forward to seeing the station building,its still there a car park alongside line and a good view from bridge,the bridges are quite substancial and should look good.Good luck with the project.

[bcnPete]

I haven't been able to find architectural drawings so I resorted to counting bricks (yes, really) from old photographs to get the dimensions right.

 

Nothing wrong with that! As an architect, I regularly count bricks to draw elevations of existing contexts etc - it's very useful in abscence of information.

 

That box looks great so far - keep us updated...

[Rugd1022]

50031Hood you have a PM

 

Nidge

[Kris]

The laser cutting of the window frames has worked very well.

[50031Hood]

It would be fair to say that I've been a bit lax over the last two and a bit years since my last post. The truth is that whilst I have visited this website daily and been inspired by N gauge masterpieces such as Cross Street, Horsely Fields and Banbury, I just haven't found the time to make any progress.

I've had a rethink, too. Making my first layout in 30 years a mammoth 16 footer doesn't seem wise although some of the ideas and experiments will be retained.



The board will now be 8 feet x 2.5 feet. The idea of having a flying junction and nothing else (other than a crossover and siding) remains and it is still loosely based on Aynho junction. It is still a roundy-roundy style layout and still with the twist of one of the branches curving back underneath the layout to the fiddle yard. I am still going to plan it out using CAD software and laser cut cross-sections every 110mm. The track bed will also be laser cut in separate sections that will dovetail together. Today I laser cut a 1:4 scale model of the layout using various thicknesses of card just to establish that the geometry and feel is right. This is one of the beauties of using CAD; the model and the real thing will be produced from, essentially, the same drawings.

[50031Hood]

And here, 6 months later, is one half of the layout, laser cut and slotted together!

 

This grid is formed from 4mm MDF and is an attempt to create the topography and the track-bed in one go. Trying to get my head around the shape of each of the profiles in both directions has done my head in. The lightweight structure is incredibly rigid but will eventually be mounted on a 6mm 1220x750 ply baseboard

[ess1uk]

nice work

[D1059]

Like this one - Oxford area mid 80s pre NSE was one of my possible layout scenarios a while back - huge variety of locos and stock seen on the line up through Banbury

 

Look forward to further updates

[50031Hood]

Big day today; after a flurry of activity in recent days, all the cross-members and track bed pieces have been laser cut and slotted together.

 

These pictures show the two structures laid on two tables. The tables will be replaced by 1200x750mm ply boards. The next pic shows how the different profiles have created the scenery and the track gradients at the same time. This was my main aim; to move from plonking down the track and building up the land around it to creating both elements at the same time.

 

Next up is track laying but at the current rate of progress you might not hear from me in a while!

[50031Hood]

I said you might not hear from me in a while, so nearly 11 months later, an update.

The 4mm MDF profiles have been varnished and glued onto two separate 9mm plywood bases. Each base, in turn, is bolted onto a 1"x1" tube aluminium frame to keep it light. Next up is varnishing the MDF track-bed (I'm going for a Walnut-coloured varnish) and then finally laying the track (Peco code 55 since you ask).

My plans for controlling the points have changed somewhat. I was initially going to build my own point motors using a 5V DC motor/gearbox combo but have experimented further and simplified it to this.

This layout is now almost 4 years in the making but my interest has been sustained by so many other excellent N gauge modern image layouts such as Prestatyn, Par, Millers Dale etc. My aim is to run the first train on this by the end of August. August 2014, that is.

[50031Hood]

Track laying on the visible section now complete. The multi-coloured wires are the cables to the servo motors*, the laser-cut boards have been coated with walnut coloured varnish* and the track glued in place. I've used Xuron cutters* to cut the track to the correct length. This morning I tried out 11 tankers and a Bachmann 56 up the slope from the fiddle yard to the highest point of the layout. This is a climb of 50mm on a 1st radius curve going through 180 degrees. I did trial this (see post #24) nearly 4 years ago but it was a relief to see it managed without difficulty; I didn't have a plan B! I know this means no steam specials (although they would probably manage the gentle rise from Aynho junction).

This picture shows the half of the layout with the tracks heading towards the junction.

One advantage of having the track mounted on thin sections rather than directly on the baseboard is that they can be taken up and worked on individually rather than working in situ. Next up is painting the rails with Tamiya XF64* and ballasting. I have tried various substances including chinchilla dust* but have settled on Woodlands Scenics and Johnson's Klear*.

 

*stuff I wouldn't have known about had I not been on RMWeb