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, 20 January 2026

Point Operation Part 4

 A good morning with a task achieved which I was dreading! Creating and fitting the operating rods that pass through the baseboard from a servo and through the small hole in the tie-bar of the point. I took my time with the 1st one, but it was easier than I thought it was going to be.

2 bends in the end of the piece of 0.6mm wire to attach to the servo horn

Wire hooked onto the servo horn

The hole in the point tie bar that the wire has to go through

1st servo refitted with the operating wire passing through the baseboard

The operating wire on the track side of the baseboard

Operating wire cut down to length

1st pair completed, 2nd pair were also completed

I created the 4 jumper wires which will connect the track wiring across the 2 baseboard joints.

One pair of inter-baseboard jumpers made and fitted to one baseboard

Second pair of inter-baseboard jumpers made and fitted to the other baseboard

After lunch I glued 5 pieces of track down onto the baseboard using Evostik, the rest of the track is held in place with the drop wires enough until I ballast the track.

Siding on the left-hand baseboard glued down

Siding on the right-hand baseboard glued down

3 long straight lengths of track on the central baseboard glued down

Keith

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