Aylesbury Junction

[Metr0Land]

...that's a junction for Aylesbury, not a junction at Aylesbury.

 

(I’ve posted various bits on here but never did a joined-up posting, so this covers 3+ years)

 

Over the 3 winters 2007-2009 I finally got to working on my layout which seems to have evolved into a poor man's Watford DC lines. ie I wanted something BR/LT but not too large.

 

It took some time to work out how to do the 4 rail track in a way that felt convincing and that was a lot easier than some of the products on offer. I simply can't get on with most of the Peco bits (though do use some, and the track is Peco Code100 which runs fine).

 

Anyway, here's how the layout was after laying most of the principal track. It's heritage seems to be joint Metropolitan/LNWR to compete with nearby GW/GC joint and passing down through LMS etc to 1950/60 era.

 

Late 2010 it was looking like this:

 

 

I had so much to do on the layout that I decided I'd treat myself and almost finish some small areas as incentive to carry on.

 

The goods shed has since grown and been relocated (the 3rd rail didn‘t go through the shed it was just an illusion in this pic) . I created a cameo of a recently-disused coal yard, and the electrified storage siding has been slightly extended to get a 4-car set in.

 

No trains in this pic but hopefully it still conveys some atmosphere. Note that on the Metropolitan, coal staithes were usually made of horizontal sleepers and not vertical ones like most lines.

 

 

The wires between the concrete posts are EZ line from an American shop on ebay. In close up, the leaning posts, and breaks in wire seem amazingly to have occurred in reasonably prototypical fashion! Some you win....

 

I since discovered my nearest shop (Model Junction Slough) sells EZ Line. D’Oh!

 

2 winters ago I was concentraing on baseboards and some track. Last winter was really getting stuck into the trackwork and making sure everything ran ok most of the time. This winter has been more about getting really stuck into buildings and 'scenery' (ie includes infilling goods yards etc).

 

A general view of the yard and station as it was (as at Dec17 2010):

 

 

A closer view of the track gang:

 

The station is getting more built up. Note the line was orginally built with an island platform for the line to go into Aylesbury but it never happened, so the canopy is 'wrong' for the platform layout since rebuilding in the 1920's - the main building will be underpinned in due course:

 

 

The overbridge as the BR line comes out for trains to the Midlands:

 

 

I had couple of months off due to Christmas and a bout of illness, but then set to work on the station forecourt on the BR side.

 

As the A stock still hasn’t arrived, steam-hauled Dreadnoughts are still working into this side, to allow the locos to run round.

 

This was the situation 19Nov 2010 showing the area to be worked on, with a skeleton incline for the bridge - in true Blue Peter fashion with a cardboard base. Fortunately I had enough room to make a slope of about 1 in 7 which doesn’t seem too steep and toylike.

 

 

Now, 3 months later I’ve surprised myself and done something which I can leave, and come back to later. The building still needs weathering, and signage, and people, and and and and and…..

 

 

The 3/4qtr angle looks like this:

 

The tree is by Ceynix as I’ve not got the skills or patience to do this kind of tree yet. The single deck Bristol really belongs the other side of London but I like the general feel of it, until I can replace it with something more suitable. Fortunately the Weymann bodied STL’s were based at Garston so this suits the geographic area.

 

A closer view of the edge of the bridge incline 19Nov 2010:

 

An aerial view of the completed (for now) area 25Feb 2011:

 

I’m not a rivet counter but I wasn’t happy with the plastic ‘wire’ that comes with the Ratio fence posts, so I used more EZ line which I think gives a better impression.

 

I stopped taking my medication for a while and thought it would be a good idea to add some weeds at the bottom of the fence posts made from plumber’s hemp. Remind me to file bright ideas away next time….have had to double the dosage on my medication after this.

 

 

Still, at least it looks more passable that all the posts being bare at the bottom?

 

One of the things I remember from the 1980’s was a layout in Railway Modeller by a German called Abermymach (that’s the layout not the German). He’d fallen in love with the GWR in Wales whilst on holiday, and in those pre-internet days had gone back home and bashed suitable Kibri/Vollmer kits etc.

 

He’d made quite a good representation of the GWR in mid-Wales using virtually no British outline bits.

 

This has always stuck in my mind. If you look carefully a lot of ’victorian era’ buildings in UK, Germany and USA are similar - usually the main difference being the roof area. If you’re careful you can adapt SOME non-UK buildings to give you something that’s not run of the mill.

 

(We’re now up to autumn 2011)

 

One of the jobs that got interrupted by the summer break was building a goods shed for Aylesbury Junction.

 

You may recall the ancestry is that the line was built by Metropolitan and LNWR jointly. My skills aren’t up to completely scratch-building and in any case I couldn’t find anything that quite fitted so had no plans anyway. I certainly didn’t want the usual offerings from Superquick, Scaledale etc.

 

I stumbled on an American shed by Walthers, where the end profile seemed to fit the latter years of LNWR just pre-grouping. It was a little larger than I really wanted so the fact it was HO was an advantage.

 

The trouble was, the roof was ‘wooden’ and also the kit was a deleted item. After some searching I managed to find a UK shop which had it (except their stock system showed it in stock when it wasn’t and they took the money….)

 

A couple of months later I managed to find another UK shop that actually had it, so I could finally make a start at the end of last winter.

 

The main changes in anglicising it were to create a tiled roof, some ‘glass’ roof lights, and alter the canopy over the rail siding to make it more English.

 

 

 

The proposition is that the shed was hurriedly built towards the end of WW1 when Aylesbury Town was incredibly busy and congested. Needless to say the war ended as soon as the structure was built and it remained something of a white elephant, never fully realising its potential.

 

The roof tiles were Slaters buff coloured pavement slabs, painted with a wash of Humbrol matt grey 87 using Genuine Turps as a thinner which I felt gave a good shade for cheap slate. Everything else was painted/weathered using acrylics and powders.

 

 

The ‘rooflight’ section caused me some angst as I’ve never seen models of dirty glass represented quite the way I wanted. Eventually I settled on Wills batten sheets dusted with grey and black powders. Over these I then ran deep runs of PVA between the ribs, and left a couple of days to dry. After several experiments these seemed to give a kind of dirty glass effect, especially when over-brushed with further dark powders.

 

The walls were dry brushed with terra cotta powders, and then over-brushed with Tamiya acrylic weathering powder for the darker shading. I’ve tried to achieve a late 50’s/early 60’s look of a building which has an air of inevitability about it.

 

 

The base is Railmatch concrete, over-brushed with more Tamiya powders to get shading and runs. The seam around the bottom of the shed should disappear when the building is finally fettled into ground cover. The corrugated roofing over the rail platform canopy was taken from another Walthers kit to keep in scale.

 

 

‘Well weathered white’ on some windows and bargeboards was achieved by painting with Railmatch concrete, over-painted with Polly Scale Aged White to try and achieve the rundown effect.

 

Below is a general view of the shed and its juxtaposition with the station and yard - hopefully it will all come together in due course as the landscaping gets done.

 

 

(On to Dec 2011)

 

As a lad, I was always fascinated by the Widened Lines, so it should come as no surprise that Aylesbury Junction has through workings to Moorgate which bring an N2 and quad-arts here on Saturday mornings. (Saturday morning was part of the normal working week then, when men did 44 hours, and I can remember my dad cycling to work Sat mornings).

 

I took this opportunity to get some more practice in. I had an old Mainline N2 of 30+ years so tried to weather here in a workaday state of the late 50’s. ie quite well worn but still getting a bit of a rub down with a cleaning rag in places where the cleaner can reach easily without spending overmuch time.

 

69531 heads off to town one Saturday morning in early summer. L92 has collected some loaded coal wagons which have been brought in by something from the Midland Region and will head off to Neasden as soon as the N2 clears the section.

 

 

Our gricer normally takes his camera with him when cycling to work and one weekday morning in high summer caught 69531 again, this time shunting a van.

 

 

With the impending arrival of the A stock, and the N2 working on borrowed time, our photographer caught this working one Saturday in high summer, again with 69531 and L92 on similar workings as previously.

 

 

 

(Dec 2011 onwards)

 

Not much progress on the layout itself since Christmas. Xercesfobe of this board is running a model railway show in May which is being advertised on here.

 

Aylesbury Junction is very much fixed, but in a moment of insanity I agreed to create a demo stand for his exhibition. I’m quite proud of my cheap and cheerful way of doing 4 rail, which requires virtually no skill. If you don’t want to solder, or even weather track you don’t have to, and can still create something passable.

 

I’m doing a little stand ’How To Cheat At 4 Rail’ where hopefully people will be able to copy easily, and go away knowing they can do at least as well, if not better.

 

I’m not quite ready to put up pics of this display yet. My time lately has been spent on this, and weathering some stock to display, so I suspect the ‘modelling season‘ is over for this winter in respect of further detailing of Aylesbury Junction.

[edcayton]

Can I suggest that you take some pictures/samples of your layout with you and have them on your demo. stand because a) it's a good layout of an unusual subject and people will be interested and B) it will put the demo in context.

 

Ed

 

It's gone and done the smiley thing again when I want the letter b followed by a right bracket.

 

[BROADTRAIN1979]

Yes like this! mixed LT WITH BR ,like what dads layout is like. great combination. Thats why i like nigels great model !

 

Mark.

[Metr0Land]

Can I suggest that you take some pictures/samples of your layout with you and have them on your demo. stand because a) it's a good layout of an unusual subject and people will be interested and B) it will put the demo in context.

 

Ed

 

It's gone and done the smiley thing again when I want the letter b followed by a right bracket.

 

Yes am planning to so and/or have a laptop with scrolling pics (not sure yet what space I'll be having).

[Guest oldlugger]

Very nice MetrOLand; this is all very promising and a nice subject. I'm a great fan of the London Underground and have been sorely tempted to build something a bit like this myself. Your conductor rail looks good; what did you use for components, apart from the Peco parts? The conductor rail looks heavier than the Peco rail that most use. I like the switch boxes and cable runs - nicely done.

 

Cheers

Simon

[Metr0Land]

Wow, praise from the master, thank you! Most of it is described here:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/39422-4-rail-oo-without-to-many-tears/

 

Not sure if it's mentioned in that thread but the cable posts are Radley. I'd like something a bit finer if poss but I'm never gonna make my own. Hopefully with eventual weathering they'll look a bit less chunky. One thing to remember with the Underground cable runs (at least when they were initially installed) the top cable isn't a cable at all. It's a compressed air pipe so I just use some brass rod, sprayed with grey primer.

[Metr0Land]

A boyhood favourite of mine was the ex GWR 61xx Large Prairies (or tanner one-ers as we knew them).

 

The occasional 61xx turns up on parcels workings from Reading. 6134 is seen here on the evolving shed-######-light maintenance area.

 

More appropriate red cabside plates are on order to change the id to 6167 - needless to say the Hornby couplings will be retired in time.

 

I've tried going for a more restrained weathering on this one, little realising it would take nearly as long as heavy weathering, as of course you need to do nearly as many passes to build it all up.

 

 

This started life as Hornby 6134 in the livery you see here but the model out of the box was totally clean.

[Metr0Land]

As mentioned earlier, I’ve been sidetracked a bit this winter by building a little demo stand ‘How To Cheat At 4 -Rail’ (with apologies to Delia).

 

The exhibition is being arranged by Xerces Fobe 2 of this board 19May2012 near Maidenhead:

http://www.rmweb.co....__fromsearch__1

 

It’s a fairly straightforward setup with Peco 100 at the bottom, untouched.

 

 

 

The middle level has the track ballasted and the rails left un-weathered, but with track pins showing how I hold the bits in place whilst glue is setting. (They’re a bit dark in the pictures - not sure if I’ll try and find coloured pins for display or keep with the track pins. These are after all what I’ve used, and I’m trying to show people how you can follow the KISS principle and get something with ’the look’)

 

The top level has 2 tracks with a crossover, ballasted and weathered, but should be within the capabilities of anyone. All track parts are either cut, glued, pinned, filed or bent. No soldering, and it’s all in OO. In anyone’s motivated to have a go with soldering, or EM or P4 etc etc then so much the better, but this is all about low-tech.

 

 

On the day I hope to have some relevant stock on the RH end of each track.

 

If you are attending please drop by.

[Metr0Land]

Panic seems to be setting in with ‘management’ as the A Stock seems no nearer to delivery. A clearance trial has been run recently with a couple of Q stock cars.

 

They’ve found a Q23 driver that’s about to enter works, and a Q38 trailer newly ex-works.

 

Here the ensemble has arrived:

 

 

A few more showing the bay clearance measurements taking place (by an absentee workforce):

 

 

 

 

Afterwards the coaches were stabled in the yard awaiting haulage back to Acton.

 

 

Editor’s note: In practice I only have 2 Q cars at the moment so it will be ‘some time’ before I can assemble a full 4 car rake. Both cars are from the old Little Bus Co range. Although Radley Models do some, I could really do with a Q27 or Q35 car, and the LBC models seem to rarely, if ever, come up on a well known auction site.

[Xerces Fobe2]

I am thinking of becoming a Q Stock ROSCO any takers?

 

XF

[Metr0Land]

Back in the 50’s The Master Cutler used to work through the Chilterns. Word is on the street that some engineering work may cause some diversions via Aylesbury Junction, so I’ve started working on some stock.

 

A little while back Hornby re-worked their Gresley mainline coaches, but these got quite a bit of stick for having too many compromises/inaccuracies. To be honest as LNER isn’t one of my stronger areas, I don’t find them too bad, except that they have a much too plasticy look straight out of the box.

 

Note: I didn’t phot the brake composite before I started weathering so comparisons here are between the all 3rd and the brake compo.

 

Carmine/cream on these coaches seemed to wear quite badly so I’ve tried to get a well worn effect without being too ham fisted. The corridor side straight from the box:

 

 

I’ve tried to get a heavily worn effect here but not so bad that she won’t get overhauled and turned out in maroon for a few more years:

 

 

A clean version of the compartment side:

 

 

For the compartment side I’ve gone to town a bit more and tried to get her looking that she’s due for withdrawal soon, but somehow still seeing mainline service.

 

[Metr0Land]

A simple project for the summer.

 

I had some of the Airfix auto coaches from way back, when they were a cheap way of getting a complete train. Although the body has some inaccuracies it still offers a cheap basis for a bit of trial and error.

The one thing that really grated with the originals for me was the horrible purpley maroon they used for the BR ‘maroon’.

 

As a simple summer project I resprayed a couple with Halfords primer and then did one all-over carmine (Hycote Ford Rosso red acrylic). For the other one I sprayed Hycote Vauxhall Gazelle Beige for the cream and then Rosso red for the carmine. The window surrounds on the carmine one are black though that doesn't show here.

 

The close up camera work is a bit cruel, especially the recessed glazing. The weathering seems a bit more lumpy on the pic than it does to my eyes, likewise the cream seems to come across somewhat more yellow in the pic.

I’ve added some buffer beam detail to both and a driver for one of them. All in all it was quite a simple project and they withstand a bit of tarting up I feel.

 

 

[TravisM]

Superb, can't wait to get mine to the same standard but mine will be set in the present day.

 

Julian Sprott

[Metr0Land]

After turning on the Greenford triangle, W179W returns in company with 1442 showing the effect of the blackened window surrounds.

 

[Metr0Land]

Due to a mix of bad weather and really hot weather, I find myself with an unusually large amount of ‘small bits of time’ in the summer so am cracking on with things I can pick up and put down easily.

 

Having tarted up some Airfix auto coaches I’ve turned my attention to some B set coaches. These weren’t a bad representation but as with all things GWR there are lots of variations. I hadn’t realised the Airfix B set coach has a window on one side which shouldn’t be there, so this current pair perpetuates the error as I was too far into the project to remedy it this time. However, I have another pair about to enter works where I’ll get it right (hopefully).

 

Any easy conversion is simply to lop off 3 off the roof shell vents so this is what I’ve gone for. The proposition is an increase in squaddies travelling between RAF Halton and RAF St Athan has created the need to replace some auto coach workings Maidenhead-Aylesbury with some B sets drafted in from the West country.

 

Original Airfix:

 

The pair in carmine. I still have a bit of bogie/underframe weathering to add, and I need to sort out the couplings. Both coaches have had Laserglaze fitted – just 44 windows per coach to send you insane…..

 

A close-up of W6459W

 

And a close up of W6460W

 

On the layout:

 

A closer view on the layout:

[London cambrian]

Good stuff Metr0land

 

Weathering looks pretty effective, always love a good beaten up piece of rolling stock, especially a panelled coach getting towards its 'sell by date'!

 

Tell me, is this a portable or stay at home layout?

 

Cheers

 

LC

[Metr0Land]

Afraid it's stay at home. Must admit I've surprised myself over the last 3 years as I never thought I'd have anything good enough to warrant close scrutiny let alone take out to show.

[London cambrian]

Just thinking ti would be a great addition to acton show! they on the look out for anything Met related for the met 150 themed show in april

[Metr0Land]

I had to chance to crack on with a bit more BR stock. The old Airfix LMS 57’s LAV vehicles provide another way of getting some reasonable looking stock for low outlay.

The windows on the real thing were never flush so there’s no point using SE Flushglaze!

 

The really big disappointment for its day was the size of the LMS bogies which I’ve replaced with Bachmann ones. The ‘girder’ on the Airfix one is 2.5mm deep but on the Bachmann is 4mm – quite a difference.

 

 

The first pair are in carmine, like the B set coaches. I have a maroon pair in works but they probably won’t be finished for a while due to staff holidays.

 

[Xerces Fobe2]

I use the Bachmann LMS bogies of my stock however I managed to pick up some metal Graham Farish 4mm LMS bogies which are ideal for my Oerlikon EMU - even though they were originally LNWR units the bogies are very similar.

 

XF

[Metr0Land]

With the winter 2012/13 ‘season’ underway, this winter’s principal task is to get some more scenic work done. Herewith an initial update.

 

One of the reasons for leaving this so long is that I’ve been using part of the layout as a workbench, and if I do all the scenic work in the foreground, I lose the working area. Please bear in mind this is all very much work in progress, but hopefully it’s starting to ‘place’ the layout in the outer reaches of the LT area late 50’s/early 60’s.

 

First up, a long thin bit behind the signal box and towards the station. It wasn’t without problems, as I bought some trees a couple of years back and then decided they don’t quite work, so at the moment I have no tree line on this section. Also, I’ve discovered it might have been easier doing the Alps or Fenland….. getting a happy medium for the Chilterns wasn’t at all easy (at least not for me it wasn’t).

The signal box is just plonked here for judging perspective etc. The colour of turf needs blending from one section to the next in the immediate foreground, and the exposed chalk will mostly disappear under several decades weathering in due course. At the moment it looks a bit too much like it’s on the coast.

 

 

The room in which the layout lives is a loft conversion which means I have 2 chimney stacks forming a triangle behind the layout. I did think about blocking this in, but that was looking like it’s too narrow, so I’m trying to create a bit of perspective here giving a longer scenic view. The grass needs highlighting as the colour is too uniform, but I’m quite happy with this area as a first really serious attempt at scenic work.

 

 

There was a film a while back called The Money pit where a couple bought an old house to fix up. Am starting think scenic work is a kind of money pit…. This area is about A3 size but takes quite a bit of material to do convincingly. However, I am at last starting to get a feel that I might actually get some ‘train in the landscape’ cameos as work advances.

 

[Metr0Land]

Scenery work seems to be going on forever, so I’ve taken a little time out to build a water tank.

 

AYJ doesn’t have an engine shed as such, but I felt it needed a bit of a servicing facility for when locos are out-stationed here eg for weekend engineering. I was always fascinated by the Met’s little shed at Brill, and its rather Heath-Robinson water tower, so I’ve had a go at scaling this down.

http://www.flickr.co...ury/7488299220/

 

This is my first attempt at building anything from solely scratch-building materials. The tank is made from Evergreen planking, with 2mm strips for the strengtheners, and L shaped plastic for the corners.

The supports are balsa, with brass rod for the diagonals.

 

 

At the moment this is just for judging relative size, height and perspective. There’s plenty to do yet with sanding the balsa, thoroughly painting the tank, and then painting the support structure, plus of course getting it all reasonably square as things are just plonked in more or less the right positions at present.

 

 

Needless to say there’s plenty to do with the pipes in and out to be done, and also a minimalist ‘coaling facility’ which will probably just be a pile of coal on the ground.

I though it worth taking these unpainted pics as I’ve not done anything from scratch before, and a lot will probably be lost when it’s all got a heavy coating of weathering.

[TravisM]

I have to say Metr0land, your layout has spured me on and I should have some more pictures of it soon. Keep up the good work.

 

Julian Sprott

[Metr0Land]

I’ve done a bit more weathering on the water tower and didn’t have time to do any serious modelling tonight so I’ve just taken a few more pics of the area to judge sizes, angles and perspectives.

 

One of the beauties of digital photos is that you can take some snaps and see instantly if things are panning out ok (or not!)

 

The building on the right in the between-the-sheds shot moved on me, it will of course be level in due course.

 

The background sky is just a piece of card with some emulsion slapped on, to judge colour and height. It needs to be taller but I’m reasonably happy with the colours.

 

 

 

[Metr0Land]

I’m trying to concentrate on scenery for a while and have been continuing work alongside the back wall. With a triangular shaped alcove and the square angle just by the station, I’ve been trying to hide these in plain sight, and make use of them rather than just block them off.

 

I’m lucky enough to have a much longer run along this section than some people have space for, and am trying not to overfill. One problem I have though, is the Metropolitan lineside was quite clear in the 20’s and 30’s, but by my period was much more treed up.

 

At the moment, all my scenery is on various size moveable boards so I can pull them out to work on without leaning across the layout too much, but it does mean there’s a gap and/or unfinished areas right at the front, just behind the cable runs.

 

As you walk in the door, I’m quite pleased with the relative open stretch between the signal cabin and the station, although it looks a bit too bare from the station end looking towards the cabin, so I’m debating if a bit more woodland is needed.

 

 

 

For the ‘corner’ wall I’ve installed a water tower (Townstreet – but I’ve bricked up the windows as the Met just had brick representations of windows). The tree growth is very strong behind as it doesn’t get any attention, whilst newer trees are getting established in the foreground.

 

 

 

I decided to have a go with static grass for the embankment here. I couldn’t really justify £100 for the Noch Rolls-Royce jobbie so settled for a £40 Grasstech tea-strainer variety. I have to say this has gone quite well for a 1^st attempt. The area was painted with brown and green emulsions to give an undercoat. Patience is needed to build up layers and colour variation. By doing small areas at a time and continually making minor variations to the mix of ‘grass’ you can get transitions with ‘green’ grass on the top where the sun hits, and ‘straw’ coloured grass on the steeper slopes and so on.

 

On the attached pic, the texture seems more grainy/lumpy than to the naked eye, but hopefully shows the big variation in colour and the transitions you can achieve from a few colours. After trying all kinds of material, I’ve more or less settled on Noch for the smaller 2mm strands and Realistic Modelling Services 2mm and 6mm ones for the straw colour in the mix as the longer Noch ones didn’t seem to go through the tea-strainer as well.