Horse drawn wagons

Smaller than you would think (same applies to old lorries)

The army GS waggon (as seen in several photos taken around the time of WW1 was - The GS waggon was about thirteen foot six inches long, the overall width was just over six foot but the width of the cargo bay was only just over three feet.

That would be fairly average for the general run of waggons. Turning circle depends on type, older type with turntable on front axle had either small wheels able to turn under body (to 90 degrees of required) but most could not do this - depends on design of the waggon, hence the 'wasp waisted' farm waggons. Similarly those with ackerman steering had a restricted angle to the wheels.

From memory someone somewhere said it should be thre times the length of the wagon for a full turn-round, although I have seen lots of cases where this was not possible - the waggons would draw up beside the railway wagon, be loaded/unloaded, then proceed to the end of the rake to turn across the track (usually inset for this purpose) and run back down the far side. In those cases just enough room to pass was required between sidings. This seems to have been quite common on multi-siding coal yards in towns, the lorries often seem to have ended up parked herringbone fashion when the coal was being bagged up, so make that three times the wdth of the lorry..

HTH

Mike

"Mike Smith" wrote in news:E8qdnULJ snipped-for-privacy@brightview.co.uk:

Cheers Mike, helps a lot.

Well the wheels are usually 4'8½" gauge! (though that may not be true for drays).

The turning circle is however long the wagon is, plus the horses - you can turn most horse-drawn vehicles at very near 90' to the wagon body (I used to be into carriage driving).

I don't know where you are are geographically, but if you can get to Les Oaks' place just outside Cheadle (Staffs.) there is a huge collection of all types of horse-drawn vehicles that you could inspect - there's no entry charge (his toy museum is also worth a look - you may have to arrange to get the key for that in advance).

Richard

For what it's worth I have (finally) got around to adding the town goods yard drawing to the section on Railway Company Goods Facilities - Goods Yards and Facilities This shows the various points to consider. Main index is at

HTH

Mike

beamendsltd wrote in news:a8944d274f% snipped-for-privacy@btconnect.com:

used to be into carriage driving).

Thanks, but I live "dawn sawrf" now so I'll have to give that a miss. Your pointers well receieved though.