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.
Two more wagons have arrived at the narrow gauge railway. They stand out with their European look. But they were cheap! $8.50 for the two of them!
Only a joint in the middle of the floor reveals they are shortened versions of a general Liliput open wagon. From a side-on view the shortening is not visible. The wagons will be put into service as they are, but at a later stage they will be rebuilt.
The four open NQR wagons have been finished. The colour is very close to the colour used at the Victorian Railways’ narrow gauge railways. The numbers are 21 – 24, with the 10’s reserved for covered wagons (only the powder wagon is planned at the moment). The one digit numbers will be used for carriages and brake vans.
The wagons are rather light and prone to derailments. I have cut some steel to add as weight. This makes the wagons far more stable but unfortunately too heavy for the locomotives to pull. I will reduce the steel and load the wagons with firewood and other mining necessities.
To get an idea of how the ‘Bellcord’ will fit in on the corner of the Golden Mile and the Main Street, I have printed a photo of the the original building in the approximate scale. It looks a bit flat and the hight probably needs to be increased to correspond with the fire station. ‘The Golden Sea Gull’ on the front will of course not be part of the model.
The narrow gauge mining railway is up and running again. As mentioned in an earlier post, the original siding at the Big Nugget Mine wasn’t long enough for three wagons.
By moving the points into the siding closer to the entry points the siding can take three wagons. Now it is possible to shunt two loaded wagons and a brake van for two empties and the same brake van.
In 1899 the Victorian Railways began constructing rolling stock for their narrow gauge railways. It was decided all carriages and wagons should have the exact same dimensions. All are 27′ 3 ¾” long and 6′ 3” wide with 17′ between the bogies.
With this in mind I designed the track plan for the mining railway in Wombat Creek. The area with the Big Nugget Mine is rather constrained but calculations showed the loop should just be long enough for three wagons. Unfortunately the couplers are longer than expected. Only two wagons will allow the locomotive to run around. The ‘standard’ train will consist of one or two wagons plus a brake/guards van. A shunting puzzle has been created.
Shunting to and from the siding can be done, if the siding can take three wagons. Again, the couplers are just too long! Somehow the siding has to be extended, which can only happen by moving the points into the siding closer to the entry points.
After I have pulled up the tracks involved, I did some ‘line drawing’ and I have a new track plan for the mine. Exchanging two wagons already in the siding with two other wagons will be a challenge but can be done.
The inaugural four NQR wagon train passing the Explosives Factory bound for the Big Nugget Mine.
Hang on! The loop can only take three wagons!
Time to fire up the small 6-wheeler for the rescue.
The 6-wheeler has arrived and will take the wagons back to the depot area.
The train has arrived. Later the big locomotive will come back as a light engine.
The first open NQR wagon is ready to run. It still needs to be painted and and have a few details added. The body is made from 0.5 mm polystyrene sheets and 1.5 mm polystyrene angles. With another three wagons the fleet of NQRs should be big enough to serve the sawmill and mines
With the tracks finished, the narrow gauge railway definitely needs rolling stock. At the moment the entire fleet consists of three steam locomotives, one big passenger coach and four ore wagons. None of this is typical for a narrow gauge railway in Victoria, so it is time to get constructive!
Almost 50 years ago I bought four scale N wagons (made in Yugoslavia) for $1.60 each! The purpose of the purchase has always been to use the chassis and bogies for HOe/OO9 stock. Finally this is going to happen.
The sawmill supplies the mines with fire wood and props and will need open wagons like the Victorian Railways NQR.
