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.
Wombat Creek Tramways has received a new vehicle. This time it is a trailer for the ‘odd’ Danish tram KS 437.
KS 437 (Kjøbenhavns Sporveie = Copenhagen Tramways) was built in 1918 for the tramways in Copenhagen. The tram was withdrawn from traffic in 1965 and donated to the Danish Tram Museum at Skjoldenæsholm. The trailer is not quite right. In fact it is the same model as the tram itself with the trolley pole removed and extra window sills. Once the route numbers and destination box are removed from the roof, only the number will reveal its origin.
And you may ask, what is a Danish tram doing in Australian Wombat Creek? Well, a Melbourian W class are running at the tram museum in Denmark, so why not? Or is it a matter of nostalgia?
The fleet of trams in Wombat Creek has been extended by Freight Car No. 17.
(Photo: Trams Downunder)
The original tram entered traffic in 1906 as NMETL No. 13. The tram was part of a fleet of five (no. 11-15) single truck open cross-bench trams built by Duncan and Fraser for The North Melbourne Electric Tramways & Lighting Company. When the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (M&MTB) in 1922 took over the NMETL, No. 13 was renumbered as No 214 in the M&MTB roster and classified into the V class. It was withdrawn from passenger service in 1925. Two years later, it was fitted with windscreens and enclosed with a box type body for use as a freight car, and renumbered as No 2A. In this form it was used to carry spare parts and other materials from Preston Workshops to each of the running depots to enable minor tramcar repairs to be carried out locally.
In 1934 it was renumbered to 17. It was further modified in 1959 to carry large advertising panels on its sides, but it continued carrying freight between the depots. ‘Sunkist’ was one of the major advertisers with different side panels showing products like frozen peas and ice-cream.
The freight car was withdrawn from service in 1977 replaced by a lorry. In 1978 it was reconstructed to near original condition as a toast-rack passenger car by Preston Workshops for use on tourist services, numbered as V class No 214. In 2006 it was repainted in NMETL livery and numbered back to 13. It is now on display at the Melbourne Tram Museum as the oldest electric tram.
The model is not 100% correct, but close enough. Since Wombat Creek Tramways only have one depot, there is not much use for a freight car. But the manager saw an opportunity for an extra income from advertising, so the tram will trundle the streets of Wombat Creek. Perhaps it will deliver some freight to the Explosives Factory, which is difficult to reach by road.
A new building has been erected in Wombat Creek. Once gain it is a modified Scalescenes kit. The original kit is a low relief building. I have changed it into a ‘full’ building by adding walls along the sides and at the back. Extra windows at the front (and back) has turned the building into a block of offices except for the ground floor. The entrance is in the middle surrounded by a high end men’s clothes store and a fancy shoe shop. At the moment the shops are still under construction. I haven’t decided if they will be topped by a broad awning or not. The front of the building is not visible from a normal view point, so it will not be very detailed. The ‘ghost’ signs are ‘borrowed’ from the internet and adds some interest to otherwise blank brick walls.
The name ‘Daylesford’ is a nod to a well-known spa town in rural Victoria. The town started as a gold mining town named ‘Wombat’! Later the name was changed to Daylesford. You will not find a creek in town but Wombat Hill still looms at the outskirts.
After three years Wombat Creek’s the sole department store has got a competitor. Foys has opened next to Myer. The building is a modified Scalescenes low relief model. It was planned to be erected further up Bridge Street, but the ‘low relief’ wasn’t ‘low’ enough leaving no footpath at the front. Instead the model got an extended roof and right wall and placed near Myer. The original building came with three pairs of entrance doors. Two pairs have been converted to display windows complete with mannequins. At the top floor a couple are waiting at the lift. At the second floor a customer or employee is enjoying the view from one of the corner windows.
Foy & Gibson, commonly known as Foys and later Cox-Foys, was one of Australia’s largest and earliest department store chains. The company manufactured a lot of the goods (e.g. clothing, leather goods and furniture, hardware and food) sold in the stores.
The first store was established in Collingwood, Victoria by Mark Foy. This business prospered during the 1870s. In 1883 Foy’s son took over together with William Gibson, hence the name Foy and Gibson.
When the business expanded in the late 1880s and early 20th century. The company continued to produce and sell a variety of goods and became one of the largest employers in Victoria. The business expanded to Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide in the early 1900s.
In the 1950s and 1960s branches of Foys were sold off and the company doesn’t trade anymore.
The signal box is operational. Only signage is missing. To the left is the ladies’ toilets. Mr. James is on his way to relieve himself in the gentlemen’s’ toilet to the left. The position of this toilet made the job upstairs quite unbearable. The stench of urine in the real world signal box was quite strong despite the ‘stink pipe’ going through the signal box. Daisy and Matilda are gossiping on the bench in front of the building.
The access to the signal box is via the steps on the side of the building. ‘Health and Safety’ wasn’t around in the early 1900. I have included a mid 1930’s photo from the website Trams Down Under (www.tdu.to).
Apart from the stench the inspectors’ job must have been very warm on hot summer days. Awnings were not put on the building until later. The door under the signal box leads into a room for all the ‘mechanics’.
