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. One 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.

Tuesday, 28 July 2026

The Railway Inn Part 17

2nd corner glued together before our morning walk.

3rd corner glued together after our morning walk.

Internally showing the corner fillets used to reinforce the corners (the white bits in the corners) which help to strengthen the corners and roughly maintain a right angle.

13:30pm UPDATE:- 4th corner glued.

5th and penultimate corner glued.

Sited in its final location on the layout to see how it sits.

Viewed from another angle.

Viewed from a third angle.

6th and final corner glued.

Chimney crown added to the tall chimney.

One section of 1st floor floor cut and glued in.

2nd and final section of 1st floor floor cut and glued in.

Keith

Monday, 27 July 2026

The Railway Inn Part 16

Quite a productive afternoon so far with the Railway Inn.

Upper and lower frontage glued together

Upper and lower rear wall glued together

Upper and lower rear side wall glued together

Upper and lower left side glued together (the gap between the 2 upper pieces is for the chimney)

Upper and lower left side glued together

As the upper tiles end without a mitre joint I have cut in ends of tiles

All glued pieces set aside to set overnight

I have mitred the edges of the 2 chimneys, which completes all mitring, and started to assemble the parts of the 2 chimneys

The almost completed central chimney, still needs the chimney cap and pots to be added

Brickwork of the large chimney finished and attached to the side wall

From the other side

Keith

Sunday, 26 July 2026

The Railway Inn Part 15

Not a good start to today's work on the Railway Inn, I discovered that 2 of the gable ends in fancy tiles were incorrect dimensionally 😢

The 2 faulty gable ends

One new correct gable end

The other new correct gable end

First gable end glued to the front and left-hand gable

Scrap piece of offcut used to brace the joint

I then mitred the corners that needed doing.

First sections glued together to form the first corner using my magnetic corners to hold at 90°, will be left overnight for the glue to set.

Keith

Friday, 24 July 2026

Tidy Up and Sort Out Day

I set about tidying up my workbench today

Then started to sort out the 2 boxes of remaining bits left over from the 2 WIlls Craftsman kits of the Black Horse Inn that I have been building as the Station Inn. I was left with a pile of parts still attached to sprues which take up a lot of space so I removed them.

Just a few of the various smaller items on their sprues left over from the recent kits I have built.

All the removed pieces grouped according to type in the 4 drawers

The caddy of 4 drawers now being used

Also sorted the remaining bits and pieces and complete sprues into these 3 drawers of my larger cabinet

The 3 drawers back in the cabinet.

Keith

Thursday, 23 July 2026

The Railway Inn Part 14

This morning I cut out the last 2 sections of roof tiles.

This afternoon I cut out the 2 chimneys, this now completes all the major cutting out, and no fingers cut thank goodness, especially whilst on blood thinners 🤨

The chimney pieces marked up for recognition purposes

Keith

Wednesday, 22 July 2026

The Railway Inn Part 13

Final 4 pieces of fancy wall tiles cut out, and last window glued in. 😊

5 pieces of roof tiles cut and the last 2 marked out ready to cut. 😊

Keith

Sunday, 19 July 2026

Castle Mound Parking Spaces Part 2

Small steps to recovery from my recent stay in hospital, a task I have been dreading, but completed it this morning, marking out the parking bays in the castle mound car park. 😁

Keith

Saturday, 18 July 2026

The Railway Inn Part 12

Finally felt like doing a bit of work on the layout this afternoon, not a lot, just glued the paving slabs flooring for the Station Inn, making use of my wife Jo's small jewellery box and a hand weight whilst the glue sets.

Keith

Wednesday, 15 July 2026

The Railway Inn Part 11

Spent a couple of minutes marking out the final sheet of fancy tiles for the Railway Inn, that was enough effort for one day having been in hospital for a week with initially pneumonia which turned into nodules on my right lung and blood clots on the same lung, so taking it very easy at the moment 😊

Keith

The Railway Inn Part 10

I wasn't very happy with 3 of the windows on the ground floor (circled) having mullions, whilst the other 6 did not, I decided to remove them and to also added a door frame surround to the rear door. First bit of work I have done since 10 days ago before I went into hospital for pneumonia to also discover I also had nodules and blood clots in my lungs 😟

Central window with its mullion removed

The other two mullions removed

The additional rear door frame surround

Keith

Sunday, 5 July 2026

The Railway Inn Part 9

The banister at the top of our stairs up to our bedroom is a very handy place to have the Railway Inn plans laid out so I can lay the pieces of wall and roof on whilst cutting pieces out, it helps so I can see what I have done so far and what needs to be done next.

After yesterday discovering the faulty fancy tile sheets, I have found one sheet of fancy tiles which is usable, so I have cut out one set of tiles from this sheet.

3 pieces cut out

3 windows glued in place

Keith