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.

Tuesday, 6 January 2026

Half Relief Bank

This half relief bank arrived this morning, I certainly have never heard of a Bachmann Bank 🤔

So this evening I printed out some new signs and glued them on.

Original sign on the front of the bank

One side of the original projecting sign

New sign for the front of the bank

New signs for the projecting sign

New sign on the front of the bank

New projecting sign on one side 

New projecting sign on the other side

That's a lot better! 😊
Keith

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3 comments:

  1. KevinTOO6 January 2026 at 19:56

    I'm happy to see a branch of Lloyds opening in Hadarford especially as my local branch closed last year... 😉

    ReplyDelete
  2. Keith Lodge7 January 2026 at 15:52

    Ours close too, sign of the times.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Keith Lodge8 January 2026 at 16:58

      But they did open a banking hub which is run by 5 banks each bank on a separate day, Lloyds is a Monday.

      Delete

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