The South Australian Railways introduced Truck Placers from around 1965/66. They were primarily used to replace local railway horses engaged with shunting at busy country locations.
Basically they are a small tractor that has hydraulically fitted railway wheels which can be raised or lowered, to enable it to be used on rail tracks, as well as on the road.
Fitted with a coupling at one end, the Truck Placer could couple to railway wagons and simply relocate and/or position them ready to be attached to a passing freight train. Similarly they could position incoming railway wagons detached from freight trains. This saved a great deal of train running time.
The NRM Truck Placer was used at Keith and Tintinara, where it was busy shunting livestock, fuel tank, grain and fertiliser wagons.
It was donated to the NRM by Roger Size, from Karoonda. It was subsequently fully restored and painted in 2021, and named Nugget - the name of the last railway horse in service at Kapunda.