Wombat Creek Tramways

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.

While the surveyors are out to ascertain a possible extension of the railway into Gumnut Gully, the chief engineer has already bought two more locomotives. The Garrett will probably be used as spare parts for the similar locomotive already based at the railway. The blue Darjeeling locomotive will be an interesting addition. Perhaps for future tourist trains into the Gully. And how much did the two locomotives cost? $15! Bargain, but the both need a major overhaul (read: installing a motor).

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.

The guards van for the narrow gauge railway in Wombat Creek is finished (OK, almost finished. The body hasn’t been glued to the chassis). The 3D printed body and chassis has been painted and extra features added like the ‘brass’ doorhandles. They are a striking feature on the original wagons.

Van no. 2 was built in 1899 and lettered N2BD^BD . A very impressive lettering painted on the body. I liked it very much, but it was changed to 2 NBC in 1910, so quite a few years before the van turned up in Wombat Creek. At the same time the lettering was moved down to the chassis. Also, my version has a step all the way across the doors. Then built a shorter step only reached halfway across the doors.

At a Model Railway Exhibition in the beginning of August I came across a stand selling 3D printed locomotives, carriage and buildings. The items were mainly in HO and N scales, but a few were Hoe (OO9) scale. The mining railway in Wombat Creek needs a couple of guards van. My intention has always been a self-build, but I got tempted. The price was right, so why not buy and save time. I wanted two but unfortunately only one NBC guards van with passenger compartment was left. On the upside the body came with two chassis. The bogies were not including but came from Peco. The couples are rather long, but could probably be shortened a a later stage. Now it is time for painting.

The workers at the saw mill have cut another stack of fire wood. It has been loaded on the NQR and ready for the next train to the Big Nugget Goldmine.

After a few days with the focus on the narrow gauge railway it is time to relax and enjoy the progress.

A watermill used to pump water into the water tank but it looks like, it has seen better days. It is built from scratch, A bit fiddly but it came out all right. Of course it is an example of the ‘Southern Cross’ windmill.

The water tank is now filled by a diesel pump housed in the little shed. The water comes straight from the creek through the cast iron pipe. The shed worker is having a little time off trying his luck with his fishing rod. The pole with its little cabinet is clearly inspired from the photo in a previous post.

The fourth photo shows the new pavers along the big shed. The steps from the platform are still in the making. The oil drums on the NQR wagon are branded ‘Golden Fleece’. The colours are right but not sure, if the oil company ever had drums this size.

The steam locomotives at the narrow gauge mining railway need coal and water.

The water tank is made from a piece of corrugated styrene shaped around the cork from a bottle of mead. The base is balsa wood and the legs a four length of rails. The ladder is made from a thin slice of corflute. The inlet is a short length of wire. The water is 1 mm clear table protector and the outlet is a bit of cord from a Venetian blind.

The coal stage is 1.5 mm balsa wood, a piece of ladder from Plastruct and real coal from the State Coal Mine in Wonthaggi.