From when my Parents gave me my first train set for a Christmas present as a child, I have had an interest in model railways. I originally started in "OO" gauge, but have also built in "N" and "O" gauge. The last layout I built was my exhibition layout "Holmehurst" which was in "O" gauge, and I exhibited it around the country. Photos of it can be seen by following this link.

I inherited some "OO9" rolling stock from my late father, including a loco I built from a white metal kit for him, and ever since living on our working narrowboat Hadar I have been thinking about building a "OO9" layout.

For those who do not know, "OO9" is "OO" scale, which is 4mm to 1ft, but the track and rolling stock are narrow gauge, equivalent to 2ft gauge in real life. Modelling-wise this means that I can used standard "OO" scale buildings, people, scenery etc. of which there is a far greater range of ready built items and kits to choose from, but it has the advantage that the reduced size of the track and rolling stock means that curves can be tighter than for standard gauge, without losing a realistic look within a restricted layout size.

I had thought about building a layout in our garden alongside our mooring at the Saltisford Canal Centre, but after much thought decided that this would not be practical. However I built a small layout (now dismantled) which sat on the shelf above the display cabinet, in our saloon, which houses my "O" gauge rolling stock. Having finished it, my wife Jo suggested that when we stop selling coal I could build a layout in the hold. As we stopped selling coal at the end of 2016.

This is a full record of the building of the original layout, and having moved into a flat in Warwick and sold our narrowboat, this will now cover the building of the New Hadarford in our flat.

Please feel free to leave comments, I am always interested in suggestions or questions.

Saturday, 10 May 2025

Percy Donor Chassis

 Today a donor Bachmann N gauge 'Percy' arrived in the post, I removed the 'Percy' body from the chassis, painted the chassis, fitted it in the Bagnall saddle tank, and finally fitted the crew. 😊



New chassis painted and fitted to Melba.


All female crew onboard Melba.


Keith

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Monday, 5 May 2025

Macaw B

On the 8th of March during a visit to Statfold Barn, they were running a freight train which had this Macaw B in it, and I thought it would make an interesting model to make.


 I came across this photo with a loco on it which got me thinking.



I purchased a pair of bogies, fitted some couplings, and a set of redundant brake levers then fitted the wheels.



Having put it aside for a month whilst I thought of a solution for mounting the bogies to the constructed wagon, I came up with the idea of using a pair of cup washers to act a bearings for the bogies.



I sprayed the wagon and bogies with primer paint.



I then painted it.




However, I realised after painting the bogies black that this was wrong, so repainted them in the grey.


Then I added some transfers.




It is seen here amidst the other Statfold Barn wagons.


At the end of April I purchased this Fourdees model of 'Dot' to build as a load for the Macaw B. It comes with a static chassis, but can be fitted with a Bachmann 'N' gauge 'Percy'.


I assembled it and sprayed it with primer.



Then I sprayed the body in British Railways crimson and the chassis I started to spray in satin black, but the spray can ran out, so I had to hand paint it in gloss black instead.






The assembled model looks quite promising, with couplings fitted.





The buffer beams were painted red, the footplate black, the smokebox and chimney were given a splash of matt black and pipes and fittings a coat of copper and brass paint. Real coal was added to the coal bunkers on each side.




Finally lining was applied and a set of nameplates giving it the name 'Melba'. It goes rather well with my Skarloey. 



Keith

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