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Wombat Creek Tramways

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.

WCsT

Text & photos from Wombat Creek Tramways Posted by Claus EllefPosted on Mon, September 23, 2024 10:38:18
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Current and former employees of Wombat Creek Tramways have formed a group called Wombat Creek steam Trams, WCsT. The purpose is to re-introduce steam trams to Victoria and Wombat Creek. Unlike New South Wales steam trams were rare in Victoria. Only Bendigo and Sorrento operated steam trams. Unfortunate no original steam trams have be preserved. Instead the group will convert foreign trams into Victorian ‘look-alikes’. The board of Wombat Creek Tramways supports the efforts and generously allowed WCsT access to the small shed, which will served as a workshop.

In reality the workshop looks like this:

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From left to right is an electric tram (belongs to the Tramways) of unknown brand. The tram will be rebuilt as a Melbourne U class. The yellow chassis belongs to WCsT and will be used for transport of coal. The boiler and green body are from an Atlas model of steam tram from Bern, Switzerland. After a thorough reconstruction the model will re-appear as an example of a steam tram from Bendigo. The 3D printed model to the right is based on a narrow gauge Baldwin 0-4-0 locomotive used by the Sorrento Tramways. However, this version has been re-gauged to standard gauge.



11 NPH – Powder and Goods wagon

Text and photos from Wombat Creek Consolidated Mines Pty Ltd Posted by Claus EllefPosted on Mon, September 23, 2024 10:18:18
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1 NPH was built and issued to traffic June 1910. Its purpose was to carry explosives and general goods. There were two compartments: a 10ft 8¾ inch (3,270 mm) section for explosives and a 13 ft 7 in (4,140 mm) section for general goods.
The sides, ends and doors were covered in sheet metal. The van was stationed on the Moe – Walhalla line. Walhalla was a gold mining town and the rail line had been built from Moe to provide a faster means of transportation than bullock teams from the sailing boats from Melbourne to Port Albert/Sale via Heyfield.
In 1911 the van was converted to all goods transport and recoded to NH. With the closing of the mines at Walhalla the need to carry explosives ended and both compartments were used for general goods. The doors were replaced with NU type louvre doors for ventilation.

At Wombat Creek the wagon is classed 11 NH (will be changed to NPH) instead of 1 NH. The reason for the extra ‘1’ is the classification system at the gold mines. Passenger carrying vehicles have one digit. Freight wagons have two digits. First digit ‘1’ for covered wagons and first digit ‘2’ for open wagons.