Wombat Creek Tramways

The narrow gauge railway and the creek both run under the tramway loop. No problem with the creek but the clearance for the steam locomotive is very tight with 1 mm between the the top of the funnel and the underside of the loop. This is too tight so something has to be done. Lowering the railway is not an option because of the risk of the creek flooding the line. Instead I will go for a thinner board under the tramway. Probably not quite right from an engineering perspective but it will not be visible once the sides of the future bridge are in place.

The whole area around the explosives factory, the sawmill and the loco shed has been raised 6 mm to get above the surface of the creek. As seen on the photos the factory has been set into the ground to partly cover up it’s very high concrete foundation.

The track plan has the three points joining each other, but as can be seen from the first photo the track will hit the corner of the factory. Moving the points away from the factory will clear the corner but leave a too short shunt in front of the sawmill. Instead the first and second points will be separated by a slight curve as seen in the second photo.

I have tried an alternative to resin for the Wombat Creek. Instead of resin I have used clear PVC sold as ‘table cover’ at the local hardware store (They get enough advertising, so I will not name the store!). The PVC comes in different thickness. I went for 0.75 mm with the idea of a double layer for additional ‘depth’. It is very easy to cut into any shape. I did two cuts along the template for the creek allowing an extra 5 mm of both sides.

Putting the two layers on top of each other makes them ‘cling’ together but only partially. The result looked like the creek had an oil slick or partly frozen over. So I had to go with one layer, but I think it will be fine in the end. The banks and adjoining land will be made from foam-board. Like the PVC easy to cut into desired shape and no mess!

I pass the local creek every day to and from work and keep an eye out for the colour of the water. After a rainy day the water resembles ‘coffee latte’, but mostly the colour is brown with a hint of green. Along the banks the water is almost black. For Wombat Creek I have gone for a non-rainy day.

The creek bed is down – made from toilet paper and diluted PVA glue. Next step will be painting an appropriate colour.

After a visit to a model train shop the mining railway has procured some rails and one more set of points. As a result of this the track plan has been updated to include a track along the warehouse. The Big Nugget Mine may be without road access (!) and the train will have to bring staff and all equipment to and from the mine.

After 4 or 5 attempts – some even on paper – the current track plan looks like this

The first few plans were either to complicated with reversing loops or with a track under the tramway next to the shed. I think this will work. It will give the opportunity for a few shunting movements around the explosives factory and the sawmill. There is also room for a turntable in front of the shed.

I have decided to have a separate category for the writings regarding the narrow gauge railway connecting the goldmines, the explosives factory and the sawmill.

Wombat Creek still has two working goldmines. The Big Nugget Mine is near the centre of town. The Little Nugget Mine is situated somewhere to the east of town. The Little Nugget Mine only consists of the tunnels, where the gold ore is found. To get the ore processed it has to be moved to the Big Nugget Mine.

This is done by a narrow gauge railway. In mining terms the railway would probably be called a ‘tramway’, but to avoid confusion the term ‘tramway’ will only be used for the cars running at street level. The railway between the two mines utilises two former mining tunnels under the town. It just loops around the Little Nugget Mine but near the Big Nugget Mine and the nearby sawmill and explosives factory the railway has a more extensive layout with passing loop and sidings. The shed and workshop are also situated in this area.

The rolling stock, so far, consists of two steam locomotives and a rake of tipper wagons. This will be supplemented with a carriage for workers and various 4- and 8- wheeled wagons. The workers can transfer between the railway and the tramways at the sawmill.

So far the track work is still on the drawing board, but a track plan will be uploaded shortly.