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, 12 October 2026

Not a Good Afternoon!

 Not a good afternoon today ☹️ , I went to run a passenger train round the layout to discover that the long bogied coaches were catching on the back of the Lloyds bank! 🤬  Jo helped me to take out the centre baseboard so I could get to it. I then cut away the offending section of wall, to then discover the same coach caught on the other end of the bank, which I couldn't get to, so I had to remove it from the baseboard, I wish I had done this from the start as I wouldn't have had to remove and refit the centre baseboard, which had its problems reconnecting the jumper wires between the baseboards 🤬🤬🤬. Still all done and fixed, I will have the leave testing carriages and wagons until tomorrow, too pooped now.

Keith

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