At first glance the track plan of Crowsnest Tramway seems an unlikely one. In fact it is based on a prototype, albeit loosely. Look in Lewis Cozens book, 'The Mawddwy, Van & Kerry Railways' and you will find mention of the Hendre-ddu Tramway. Where this obscure line connected with the Mawddwy Railway, at Aberangell, there was a similar triangular layout, or nearly so. A raised dock set against a standard gauge loop line allowed unloading of the slate and timber brought down by the smaller line. A crane was provided for handling slab etc.

My modification, required to allow operation as a shunting game, was to extend one of the sidings across another, with a turntable on the intersection. I also moved the tipping dock face inwards, and replaced the railway with a dirt road.

I knew that such a tiny space could never hold a truly operational layout, in 1/4 inch scale at least. However I did think that a working layout was possible and the notion of a 'game' appealed. After studying various shunting puzzles I eventually opted for a railway version of the old 'The Fox, the duck and the bag of corn' teaser. If you recall, the problem was getting the three items across a river in a rowing boat. This would only hold the rower, and two other items. If you left the fox with the duck it would eat it, likewise the duck with the corn. I transposed this into railway terms with wagons of varying compatibilities, an awkward loco and a turntable bottleneck. A good deal of planning went into getting the track lengths just right. In reality the loco (or rather its problems with coupling overhang) made the game largely unworkable. I still persist however, maybe next time...

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