In 1899 the Victorian Railways began constructing rolling stock for their narrow gauge railways. It was decided all carriages and wagons should have the exact same dimensions. All are 27′ 3 ¾” long and 6′ 3” wide with 17′ between the bogies.
With this in mind I designed the track plan for the mining railway in Wombat Creek. The area with the Big Nugget Mine is rather constrained but calculations showed the loop should just be long enough for three wagons. Unfortunately the couplers are longer than expected. Only two wagons will allow the locomotive to run around. The ‘standard’ train will consist of one or two wagons plus a brake/guards van. A shunting puzzle has been created.
Shunting to and from the siding can be done, if the siding can take three wagons. Again, the couplers are just too long! Somehow the siding has to be extended, which can only happen by moving the points into the siding closer to the entry points.
After I have pulled up the tracks involved, I did some ‘line drawing’ and I have a new track plan for the mine. Exchanging two wagons already in the siding with two other wagons will be a challenge but can be done.
