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.

Monday, 10 August 2026

Small Tasks Day

 Today I have started to tackle a number of small tasks now the major building work is completed on the first baseboard.

First I sprayed with primer the walkway which will go in front of the signal box so staff can cross safely over the point rodding

On my old layout I cut strips of bricks to create borders between the flowerbeds and pathways/drives/lawns

So I have cut similar strips of bricks ready to create borders for the large house

I haven't been happy with the joint of the 2 halves of half-relief banks I joined together

I have cut a piece of emery cloth to fit over the roof

I then glued it down with Evo Stik using a handy weight to keep it pressed down

I joined to half downpipes together and sprayed them with primer

Once the glue had set on the roof I used Polyfilla to fill the gaps in the low parapet

After an hour I painted the downpipe gloss black

I painted the walkway brown

I rubbed the PolyFilla down on the bank roof and painted the low parapet grey
I fitted the downpipe I made and painted earlier, it's main objective was to hide the join between the 2 parts of the bank, the join at the other end of the bank is hidden by a chimney.

Walkway weathered and glued in front of the signal box

Roof of the bank weathered as recommended by some fellow modellers

Keith

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