Another eBay purchase arrived this morning, a summerhouse which will go in the garden of Hadarford House.
I have nearly finished wiring up the layout, but I have run out of wire to complete the fiddleyard, but some has been ordered.
Keith.
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
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.
Another eBay purchase arrived this morning, a summerhouse which will go in the garden of Hadarford House.
I have nearly finished wiring up the layout, but I have run out of wire to complete the fiddleyard, but some has been ordered.
Keith.
I have constructed this fold away work bench attached to the wall of the railway room from one leaf of an unused drop leaf table.
It is folded away against the wall.
Set up as a work bench.
With armchair in place ready to be used.
Keith.
Wiring of the 10 point motors to the switch box.
The switch box wired to a terminal block under the control panel, for ease of wiring up and should it be necessary to replace the switch box.
Busy connecting up the point motors.
The 4 under board point motors at one end of the fiddleyard all wired up and working. The 4 at the other end of the fiddleyard are wired up the same.
Wiring from all 10 point motors to the switch box terminal block.
Also the 2 point motors mounted on top of the baseboard are wired up and working.
This completes wiring up all the point motors for the whole layout.
Keith.
Despite the heat today I managed to fit the final 10 point motors in the fiddleyard.
I have had to mount the rearmost of the fiddleyard point motors on the surface due to the supporting beams under the baseboard not allowing the fitting of this particular one underneath.
These are the four point motor fitted underneath the baseboard. I have repeated the same for the other five point motors at the other end of the fiddleyard.
Keith.
Having wired up the 4 point motors on the layout yesterday, I have started to do further wiring up today.
I have decided to operate the building lights, street lamps, platform lamps, traffic lights and bellisa beacons directly from the boat’s 12v, so I ran the supply from the wall socket to near the switch panel (the screw block can just be seen bottom right corner of the first photo) so it is ready for when I install and need to connect the various lights.
I have now wired up the 3 isolating sections, 2 on the engine shed siding and one on the canal wharf siding.
I have stapled a copy of the switch layout under the baseboard to make life easier whilst working underneath fixed baseboards.
A close-up of the underside of the switch panel. Quite a lot more wiring to be done, but all in good time.
Wiring to 2 of the point motors, at the engine shed end of the station, and the isolating sections.
Keith.
Having laid the final trackwork in the fiddleyard, this has now completed all the track laying for the layout.
Keith.
This morning I filled the 2 holes I drilled in the wrong place as one of the point motor fixing holes lined up exactly with the holes.
A piece of dowel glued in place has solved the problem.
This afternoon I fitted the pointwork in the fiddleyard.
At both ends.
Keith.
Not much done today, morning spent in Warwick, too warm this afternoon.
Earlier this evening I removed the shelf over the fiddleyard to give me access to drill the 2 holes at the back of the fiddleyard for the point motor rods, and drilled all the other point motor rod holes.
Unfortunately I drilled the holes for the two points at the front of the fiddleyard in the wrong place as the timber frame would be in the way of the point motor, so I have had to drill 2 more holes on the other side of the 2 points concerned.
Keith.
This morning I fixed the final pieces of track on the layout.
These form what will be the double tracks through the station.
Next step is to lay and fix the trackwork in the fiddleyard.
Keith.
The last 2 points on the layout at the canal end of the station and the canal wharf siding all fixed in place.
Keith.
This morning I cut the slot in the baseboard for the engine shed inspection pit, and fitted it and the track upto the point.
Closer view of the inspection pit.
Keith.
This evening I fixed the 2nd point in place.
I have positioned the engine siding in place with the engine shed, coal staithes and diesel tank temporarily in place to get an idea of what it will look like.
Keith.
Having recently purchased all the pointwork for the layout, today I fixed the first point in place with it’s connecting track from under the farm hill.
Keith.
Yesterday I fitted all but 2 of the switches in the switch panel for the main layout.
This morning I took delivery of the last 2 remaining switches and fitted them.
Switch panel fixed to baseboard ready for wiring up.
Keith.
Having purchased all the pointwork recently, I spent a bit of time yesterday laying out the remaining trackwork.
Keith.
This morning Jo and I cleared the floor of the railway room and laid the vinyl flooring we bought in Brierley Hill in April.
Keith.