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.

I have now built the layout. This is now a full record of the building of this layout and any new additions along the way.

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

Tuesday, 16 June 2020

Sorting out the last Problem With the Track

Since getting trains running on Hadarford I have had one or two problems with derailments and uncoupling. I have slowly been working through these problems.

Yesterday I fitted Greenwich couplings to the 5 Peco L&B carriages which have been giving me the most problems with uncoupling.

1st test train with all 5 carriages was almost successful, in that there is now no uncoupling, but they still keep derailing at one joint of the long lift-out bridge. There is no obvious reason for this, as the rails align perfectly, and the track gauge is correct.

I know they say you shouldn't use a spirit level on a boat, but having placed it on the lift-out bridge it had become obvious that the bridge should be lower on the right end due to the rise of the boat, but it is higher.


Not by much, but add this to the baseboard of the fiddleyard which does have a natural slope, there is peak at the bridge joint. Closer inspection has shown a gap has appeared between the baseboard and the timber frame of the fiddleyard. The 1st thing to do was to remove this gap.


I have added some screws to pull the baseboard back down onto the framework.


This of course means the bridge is higher than the fiddleyard baseboard.


However for some reason, which I cannot remember why I did it, I added a thin strip of wood to raise the bridge up to meet the baseboard which can be seen in this photo.


Removing this strip of wood has brought the bridge down to the same level as the baseboard.


New positioning piece added.


The track height on bridges needs adjusting a bit before I can run a test train.

Track height has been adjusted and a test rain ran for half an hour and no derailments. 😊

Keith.
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