Tabletop, New South Wales facts for kids

Tabletop is a small village in the Australian state of New South Wales. It's a quiet place that helps support the farms and communities around it. The village is located on a major railway line that connects the big cities of Sydney and Melbourne. It also sits along the Olympic Highway, an important road for travel.

Tabletop's Railway Line

The railway line at Tabletop is a key part of the village. It has something called a crossing loop. Imagine two trains needing to pass each other on a single track. A crossing loop is like a short extra track that allows one train to pull over and wait while the other passes.

Years ago, there was a plan called Auslink to make the railway line even better. The idea was to add a second track, or "duplicate" the line, between Tabletop and a nearby place called Gerogery. This new section was planned to be about 14 kilometers long.

The goal of duplicating the track was to allow for "running crosses." This means trains going in opposite directions wouldn't have to slow down or stop to let each other pass. It would also help many trains travel through the area more smoothly. However, because of the cost, the length of this extra track was made shorter, about 6.5 kilometers.