Wombat Creek Tramways

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’.

Sunday was a rainy day in Wombat Creek (and Melbourne), but the builders managed to get a roof on the signal box and toilets.

Better get a roof up before the winter rains set in. We can’t have a wet inspector in the signal box!

Windows and a ‘boxy’ structure added to this heritage listed building from Melbourne’s CBD.

This rather unusual structure of a building will, when finished, be very important for the tramways running trams to and from the explosives factory. As seen on the photo the workers has got the walls up and the doors installed. The building is situated in a very tight spot. The footpaths around the building will need to be widened,

In 1962 ten Mr. Whippy ice cream vans were imported to Sydney from England. They were an instant success, and rumours of the vans soon reached Wombat Creek and Mr Di Mascio. With a talent for business and a love of Italian Gelati Mr Di Mascio went to Melbourne and bought an Oxford ice cream van. Back home in Wombat Creek Mr Di Mascio took the vehicle apart, cut out the middle window on one side and installed posters of various ice creams behind the other windows.* Realising a middle-age balding man probably wouldn’t attract a lot of customers he place himself in the driver’s seat and engaged his better looking daughter as the ice cream seller. Judging by the length of the queue the business concept seems to be right – or the ice creams simply too good!

* Of course Mr Di Mascio didn’t take the van apart. He is a fictional figure in fictional Wombat Creek. I did the altering myself!