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.
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.
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.
