Wombat Creek is a H0 (1:87) scale model of a fictional town situated somewhere in the Victorian Goldfields, Australia.
The time is 1963. Geelong wins the VFL Championship against Hawthorn (109– 60). John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. ValentinaTeresjkova is the first woman in Space. The men behind The Great Train Robbery get £2.6 million from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London.
The town consists of several buildings. The “Wombat Creek Bank and Gold Exchange” is a prominent building in the town centre. You will also find several other commercial buildings; among them the daily newspaper“W.C. Chronicle”(colloquial known as the "Toilet Paper") and “Wombat Creek Brewing Company” (Famous for the “Wombat Bitter”). “The Big Nugget Gold Mine” is situated at the Western outskirts of town near the small Chinatown. The War Memorial is in a small park along East Street.
The town’s mayor Alfred Campbell together with his son David Campbell owns several businesses, including the bank, the pub and the newspaper. AC/DC basically run the town and make most decisions on behalf of the rest of Wombat Creek’s residents, who, on the other hand, are too busy with their own businesses.
The mayor’s latest initiative is Wombat Creek Tramways. Wombat Creek doesn’t really need a tram system, but AC reckons tramways will improve the town’s reputation. Partly because of limited funds the tramways' construction and rolling stock depend heavily on second-hand requirements from other Australian and overseas tramways.
The last week or so has seen some upgrades to Gumnut Gully Station. Grass has been ‘sown’ along track no 3. Between track no 2 and 3 a name board and gravel have been added. A small office (from ScaleScenes) has been erected next to the turntable. Still to come: Ballast, railway staff and passengers.
Six intoxicated punters are on their way home after a day at the races. Looks like the man to the right didn’t have a lucky day and may be out of money for the tram fare. The two guys at the back seem to have had better luck.
Undisturbed by the drunken punters the crowd at the Mug Punter Hotel enjoy the Seekers playing.
The band rotunda is under its way. Still to come are stairs (!), decorative ‘bits and pieces’ and final painting. Everything should be ready for the first concert late May.
People in their cars (or on foot) will enter Gumnut Gully to the left of the photo and without any room for turning around, the main street could soon be clocked with cars. Fortunately a way out of town has been established to the right of the photo. The rather barren space behind the turntable is reserved for the small Scalescenes weight bridge building. Behind the goods shed is the foundations for the band rotunda.
Changed the light globe from ‘warm white’ to ‘daylight. Quite a different!
No, jewellery making is not a new hobby of mine! The beads are for the points controls at the narrow gauge railway.
The picture shows the points controls at Gumnut Gully station. The levers are made from 1mm brass rods inside 2mm brass tubes. The beads are used as indicators with ‘G’ for Gumnut Gully and ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ used for the individual points (couldn’t find beads with numbers). Fairly easy to install since the points are close to the edge. The points at Wombat Creek and the Big Nugget Mine are further away from the edge and will need more flexible ‘rods’ and tubes.
A fellow railway modeller told me the mine is situated in a big slab of ‘chocolate’. The ‘chocolate’ has received a topdressing of teddy bear fur, tea leaves, oregano shrubs etc. Trees are still to come.
All shops on Bridge Road have been finished and rented out.
From left to right:
Holden dealership with the latest model EH. Sparky Electrical. Curl Up & Dye hairdresser. Spotless Dry Cleaning. The Outfitter. Bradman’s Foodland. Pasta la Vista Italian Restaurant.
