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.
Gumnut Gully still appears very quiet and abandoned. Not much of activity is to be seen. However, the still to be named creek has started to form. The creek bed is made from toilet paper (!) which has been painted with green and blue paint. The water is a 2mm thick plastic table cover.
With an outside temperature of 30+ yesterday was too hot for gardening. Instead, I spent some time in Gumnut Gully. As seen on the photo a simple control panel has been installed. Three sliding contacts control tracks 1 – 3. A push button provides power to the turntable. Two push buttons to the right are for a future shed used by the upcoming tourist railway providing services between Gumnut Gully and Wombat Creek. The turntable is turned manually by the white disc to the left of the panel.
The narrow gauge railway is up and running again. Only one wire snapped during the move and is now re-soldered. The extension from Wombat Creek to Gumnut Gully is also temporary wired except for the turntable. In the background the sawmill has been turned 180 degrees and an 50+ years overhead crane added.
The kit from my neighbour is very nice with all major part being diecast metal. Unfortunately the gauge is 12 mm and not 9 mm . I’ll hand the kit back!
As you may know from some of my previous posts, my wife and I have recently moved to our new house. A couple of weeks ago our neighbours came in to introduce themselves. They got quite excited then the discovered Wombat Creek. Geoff next door has his own model railway. What are the chances?
Geoff is modelling broad gauge Victorian Railways and by mistake bought an American narrow gauge locomotive kit. With no use for it, Geoff gave my the kit to be used on the Mining Railway. The locomotive is too big for the Mines, but I will give it a go.
The elevated track bed is in place and the outline of the landscape is along the edges.
Occasionally I find a little time to work on the extension of the Mining Railway. The photo shows the progress as of late January 2025. The pencil lines to the left show the course of an unnamed (so far) creek.
The surveyors Burke and Wills have been to Gumnut Gully to ascertain a possible route for a railway connecting the remote township to Wombat Creek. Back in the office Burke and Wills put the coordinates into Anyrail and out came this map.
