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Wombat Creek Tramways

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.

New turntable

Text and photos from Wombat Creek Consolidated Mines Pty Ltd Posted by Claus EllefPosted on Sun, February 25, 2024 14:04:14
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The chief engineer has purchased a new turntable for the mining railway. The previous home-build turntable was the right size for the railway but never worked as intended. It couldn’t do a full turn, the rails were not centred and the drive was unreliable. After 18 months of trial and error the time has come to scrap the little turntable. Instead a larger turntable of the brand ‘Peco’ has been installed. The new turntable appears too big for such a small mining railway, but the size is also an improvement. As seen, the small shunter and a wagon fit the turntable, which gives more opportunities for sidings and shunting. The tracks to and from the turntable still have to be fixed. The old turntable will still be a feature. With the high number of hours spent on it, I can’t throw it in the bin.



What happened?

Text and photos from Wombat Creek Consolidated Mines Pty Ltd Posted by Claus EllefPosted on Sat, February 17, 2024 17:09:24

From this:

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To this:

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in 30 minutes!

I hope the chief engineer has a plan!



Last update from the Golden Mile

Text & photos from Wombat Creek Tramways Posted by Claus EllefPosted on Fri, February 16, 2024 17:48:50
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The terraced houses are finished with front fences and steps down. A tree gives some shade for the roses in Mrs. Paterson’s garden.



All done

Text & photos from Wombat Creek Tramways Posted by Claus EllefPosted on Sat, February 03, 2024 17:13:52
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With the cast iron lace installed above the first floor and the second floor the terraced houses are finished. Still need a fence along the footpath.



No. 7, Golden Mile

Text & photos from Wombat Creek Tramways Posted by Claus EllefPosted on Sat, January 27, 2024 12:47:49
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It is afternoon and Mrs. Nelson is in her garden reading a gardening book. She needs some ideas for planting along the south facing wall. How do we know it is afternoon? Look at the sunflowers. They are facing towards north west and the sun. Which leaves us with a conundrum. The sunflowers are quite mature for the time of the year. The date is Sunday the 7th of October. How could we know?

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Well, a worker at the tram shed is reading about Geelong’s defeat of Hawthorn in the Grand Final the day before. Okay, just a not quite right detail!



No 5, Golden Mile

Text & photos from Wombat Creek Tramways Posted by Claus EllefPosted on Wed, January 24, 2024 21:15:32
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Not much to remark about no. 5, the number engraved in the glass above the entrance door. Mr. Smith is clearly fond of riding his bicycle. He has chosen a very bold colour for a 1963’s bicycle, but being parked in front of the house it serves as a focus point for the onlookers.



No. 3, Golden Mile

Text & photos from Wombat Creek Tramways Posted by Claus EllefPosted on Mon, January 22, 2024 21:54:58
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The four terraced houses on the Golden Mile are designed to be unique and exclusive. To keep this exclusiveness certain rules applies to the exteriors. All window and door frames are to be the same shade of green. Well, the McNaught family in no. 3 are not into rules and have painted their windows and doors dark blue! Perhaps a ‘-y’ should be added to the family surname.

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At the back of their property a panel has gone missing in the fence. Did it just fall of or did the kids pull it off? Who knows, but the missing board gives the two kids a good view of the mine and the steam trains.



No. 1, Golden Mile

Text & photos from Wombat Creek Tramways Posted by Claus EllefPosted on Fri, January 19, 2024 19:02:47
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Mr. James greets Mrs. Paterson tending to her roses. Though her garden is rather small Mrs. Paterson is a keen gardener and especially likes roses.

The 10 rose bushes are each made from six stems glued to a base. They are from a Busch kit with a total of 120 individual stems. It requires a very steady hand to glue the flowers to the stems. In an Australian fashion the flower bed is covered in mulch – tea leaves.



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