Sloane, New South Wales facts for kids
Sloane, New South Wales is a small place, also called a locality, found in the Federation Council area of Australia. Its main purpose and importance come from its railway station and a large building called a wheat silo. A wheat silo is like a giant storage tower for grain, especially wheat. The area was named after Alexander Sloane. He was one of the early settlers, known as pioneers, in the Riverina region. Alexander Sloane owned big farms for raising animals, called grazing properties, named Savernake Station and Mulwala Station.
Sloane's Railway and Transport
Sloane is located on the Oaklands railway line, which connects to Victoria. When this railway was first built, it used a wider track width called "broad gauge." Imagine train tracks; the distance between the two rails is called the "gauge."
What is Track Gauge?
Train tracks around the world can have different widths, or gauges. This means trains built for one type of track might not be able to run on another. A "broad gauge" track is wider than a "standard gauge" track. Most railways in Australia now use standard gauge.
Changing the Railway Tracks
In 2008, a big decision was made to change the width of the tracks on the North East railway line. This process is called "gauge conversion." They changed the tracks from broad gauge to standard gauge. Soon after, it was decided that the Oaklands line, which goes through Sloane, should also be changed. This important work was finished in 2009. Now, trains can travel more easily across different parts of the railway network.
