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Avon Junction


ColinW
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As I said in my last post, we have started to carry out the scenic work on the extension boards, the first one being the one with the hidden fiddleyard.  We are looking to extend the countryside on this board

 

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the road is made form a sheet of wet and dry sandpaper and will be toned down to match the colour of the road on the main board

 

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Starting to place trees in place to get an idea of how to hide the isolation switches for the hidden fiddleyard

 

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Some work that was carried out this morning, with walling, Hedgerow and grass mat in place, and the road having received a coating, but a bit too light now !  The hedgerow is rubberised horse hair and a variety of green flock being held on by very cheap hairspray.

 

We now have a target of September next year to get this work finished and to go back to playing with the layout, as we will be attending two exhibitions towards the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019.  Will put more updates on here when we carry out more work.

 

Colin

Edited by ColinW
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  • 2 months later...

We can confirm that Avon Junction will be at the Faversham MRC exhibition on the weekend of 08-09 September.  This has given us a deadline to complete the majority of the scenic work now taking place.  We intend to put the layout up in the next couple of weeks (once the Tonbridge MRC exhibition is finished and out of the way) so that we can have a running day (first in a long time again :dontknow: ) and hopefully I will be able to get some more photos then.

 

Colin

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  • 3 weeks later...

We had the layout out today to test the electrics on it, and there were only a couple of small problems, that will hopefully be sorted in the next couple of weeks  :dontknow:   Unfortunately was not able to take any photos this time, but we are hoping to have it out again inthe next month or so, so hopefully get some then.

 

Colin

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  • 2 weeks later...

We have been working on the layout this morning, fixing some of the problems we had from the other week, including replacing a microswitch on the point in the tunnel at the entrance to the original main fiddleyard.  This should mean that the layout will now be fully operational and we can carry on with the scenics on the two extension boards.  We will be looking to put the layout up again in June/July (work/family commitments allowing)

 

Colin

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  • 1 month later...

Work has continued on the layout, including re-aligning (  :scratchhead:) the station building board and the station throat board, after we had found it left a dip between the two boards.  We have also added two extra sets of lights, to cover the extension boards.

 

Colin

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  • 1 month later...

We have been very busy working on the scenic for the extension boards recently, and here are some photos of them.  The first two are for the right hand side (when viewing from public side) and also covers the hidden fiddleyard as well.  The cottage is the Wills Craftsman cottage.

 

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The next two photos are for the left hand side.  The pub is the Bachmann resin model from Pendon, and the trees in the orchard were made by Keith Warren, who formerly owned Realistic Modelling Services.

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Part of the reason for increasing the work we have done recently is that apart from attending the exhibition in Faversham in September, the layout has been asked to attend the exhibition in Beaconsfield on the 07th July, replacing a layout that unfortunately has had to withdraw from that show.  This will be the first time that Avon Junction has been seen in that part of the country.

 

Colin

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  • 1 month later...

We managed to put the layout up fully last week to do some testing.  The good news is that we ran a loco the full length of the layout and through all the roads in all of the fiddleyards.  The bad news was that the double slip in the goods yard was causing a short, which after changing both point motors and watching several microswitches disintegrate while in place :scratchhead: was resolved  The two pictures show the route to the original main fiddleyard and branch and hidden fiddleyard.

 

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The layout will be at Beaconsfield on Saturday (hopefully behaving now!!) so come and say hello.

 

Colin 

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We had a good day at the Beaconsfield show yesterday, although there is now a small list of jobs to be done before it goes to Faversham in September :scratchhead:.  We had a lot of complimentary comments about the layout and no serious problems with running trains, although we think the heat started to get to the layout in the afternoon!  Thanks to the Beaconsfield club for their hospitality and for inviting the layout.

 

Colin

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Work has started on rectifying the problems we had on Saturday at Beaconsfield.  This includes replacing a point motor on the crossover in the station, after it suffered a mechanical failure!!, and finding two broken wires, one was on one of the frogs on the double slip in the goods yard.  A couple more jobs to be done in the next few days, hopefully.

 

Colin

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  • 2 weeks later...

Work has continued on the problems, that developed during the day at Beaconsfield.  This has included replacing some microswitches on the points, and repairing a fault on the point to the branch that was causing locos to de-rail, as they were entering the station throat area.  We are looking to put the layout up again in a couple of weeks time, so that we can have another testing session.

 

Colin

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  • 3 weeks later...

The layout was put up fully today, so that we could test the rectification work that has been done since Beaconsfield, and the electrical work done ran successfully :danced: .Some scenic repairs have also been carried out,although unsure as to how much more can be done before it appears at the Faversham show in 4 weeks time.

 

Colin

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  • 2 weeks later...

As I said, we had the layout up the other week for testing.  Here are some pics 

 

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The 14xx in the picture, is the Hattons version, which I have to say is a superb runner.

 

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The pannier awaits its route into the station

 

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The view down the river.  This is an area of scenery we often get asked about

 

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The horse drawn milk cart leaving the station

 

Colin

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  • 9 months later...

Having not put anything on here for some time, here is an update.  Unfortunately, we once again suffered electrical problems during the Faversham show, and this left us with little choice but to go through the wiring on each board.  Fortunately  the way the control panel has been made has meant that we could plug each board into the control panel and fully test them.  As we did this, we also found problems with some of the Fulgurex point motors, so we took the decision to take 4 of them out and replace them with Cobalt motors, and these appear to be working much better.  Today we had the layout up and had a successful running session, much to our relief.

 

Colin

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Some more work was carried out this morning, mainly tidying up the wiring, but we were able to sort out the isolations on the two tracks in the hidden fiddle-yard.  Some of the next jobs to be carried will be checking the Seep point motors used for operating the un-couplers and signals, and looking to install a new un-coupler in the extension board, for the hidden fiddle-yard.

 

Colin

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  • 2 weeks later...

P{art of the reason for extending the hidden fiddle yards, was to allow us to add a local freight movement down the branch line, rather than just use a 14xx & Auto coach or Diesel Railcar.  Due to the way the original fiddle yard board was constructed, we are unable to fit a hand into it, so the extension board was made so that we could gain access to the nearest track on the hidden fiddle yard.  Running a freight down the branch means that we will need to remove and then reconstruct the freight before it departs again.  This means that we need to fit an un-coupler to that line.  In the second picture, the rule is 5" from the end, as that is where a loco can be run/pushed to before using the un-coupler to un couple each wagon.  The piece of card in the third pic, is just a template to show where it will be situated.  Will show more when I continue with this work later.

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Colin

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  • 5 months later...

Despite all of the work that has been carried out on Avon Junction, this week we have taken the decision to retire the layout, as we cannot guarantee operational reliability.  The layout was first exhibited by its previous owner & builder in 1998, and I have been fortunate enough to have been involved with it since then, and it has been a great layout to operate.  Unfortunately the last couple of years have seen it blighted by electrical problems, and despite continual rectification, they kept appearing.  Since its first exhibition (Tonbridge 1998) the layout has appeared at about 20+ shows, and was continuing to receive some good comments, especially various parts of the scenery.  Thank you to everyone who has commented on the layout either at a show or on here, and to the people who have assisted with the layout over the years, and to the exhibitions that have had the layout at their shows.

 

It is possible that we will start another layout in the near future.

 

Colin

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  • 10 months later...

During the past week we received the sad news that the gentleman that built Avon Junction, Denis Pidgeon passed away.  We wish to thank Denis, not only for building the layout, but allowing us to assist him with it at exhibitions, and then allowing us to buy the layout from him and continuing to loan some rolling stock from time to time.  We would also like to remember him for taking several of us under his wing on club nights, when doing scenic works on club OO layouts.  RIP Denis

 

Colin

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