Turntable wheels in place

Not only has the turntable had its new area prepared, boxed and concreted plus the blocks placed and concreted, it now sports a pair of wheels at either end to ensure smooth rotation under load.

Some local & visiting drivers regularly pack their loco for transport in their vehicle to our track the wrong way round for the tracks direction of travel. While it suits how the loco is handled in transit, it has been awkward at times to halt mainline traffic while the diamond crossing is operated to enable loco's to be "turned". The driver had to head out of the steaming bay pointing in the wrong direction, reverse 30 metres over the diamond crossing, have the points reset for main line by someone else (this is a full size lever that requires a full lift before it can be thrown), then go almost a complete circuit of the mountaintop before picking up carriages. The process needed to be repeated at the end of the Running Day if the loco was about to head home.

When the turntable becomes fully operational, rotating loco's will be able to be done away from main line operations, and in a shorter timeframe.