The year is 1963 somewhere in Victoria, Australia

Italian restaurant



Instead of the hair salon, which has moved next door, an Italian restaurant will soon open in the Toole's Buildings. The interior has been made using chatGPT. You are limited to generate five pictures a day for free. I try to make the first prompt as descriptive as possible and edit along the way. Generating a picture takes quite a few seconds. Enough time to make you excited about the result. The final prompt for the interior of the Italian restaurant is:

1963 vintage Italian restaurant Melbourne front on view deep perspective bar sign at the back entrance to the left tables to the right with people dining waiter chianti wine bottles hanging from the ceiling no windows Italian posters on walls red checked table cloths width greater than height

chatGPT isn't perfect. You will get spelling mistakes in signs. In this case, I couldn't prompt chatGPT to leave the pictures without tables to the left. That is the reason the restaurant will move into the Toole's Buildings. Here the entrance is in the middle lining up with the restaurant interior.

You must spend quite a bit of time crafting those prompts with all those details!!

D_Will said

You must spend quite a bit of time crafting those prompts with all those details!!

From “Post #293,047”, 14th January 2026, 3:34 pm

Perhaps 10 minutes or so. If it is not quite right you add more details in the edit. You should try just for the fun of it!

Whilst it's all down to ChatGPT Claus, your ability to use it in this way is very impressive.

I might give it a go myself to see if I have any success.  I recall trying, very unsuccessfully,  to find a suitable interior shot of an office some years ago to put behind a window.  I think I ended up moving my time frame to just after they'd all gone home and turned the lights off !!

Can you also ask it to show the image in 4mm : ft scale ?     Re-scaling is something else I've never had much success with………….(for 'never had much success with' read 'no idea how to do it' ……………………

Help needed


With the second building at Bridge Road coming along, I need some help from the members of YMRC. I am running out of ideas for possible Wombat Creek businesses and shops. Can I have your inputs, please. What kind of businesses and shops will you find in a gold mining town like Wombat Creek in 1963?

New buildings in Bridge Road


With the 'Royal Arcade' relocated Bridge Road now consists of three buildings. The Toole's Buildings houses the Italian restaurant 'Pasta la Vista' and 'Bradman's Foodland'. The inspiration for 'Bradman's Foodland' come from a photo of the namesake in 1960's Footscray.


The overall photo shows how far back of the layout the buildings are. Very hard to reach, unfortunately. The black cord to the left is a temporary connection between two sections of track. It will eventually be replaced by soldering a cord to the track at towards the left. Not sure how to reach! The buildings will be set into a footpath/pavement, which will stretch all the way out of the photo to the right. This can be finished before a wye set of points is replaced by a right hand set of points resulting in a smooth curve behind the bank. Again, an area very hard to reach.

A few ideas for shops in Wombat Creek Claus - I think you've already got a hairdresser/barber, a supermarket and a bar/restaurant.  Have you thought of these ……

Butcher

Baker

Hardware Store/Ironmonger

Dress shop/Gents outfitter

Shoe shop

Work clothes - overalls, boots, waterproofs etc. etc.

Sport shop - tennis, squash, that game England is so good at beginning with 'G' and ending in 'T' and, if they're allowed in Australia, shotguns and cartridges etc.

Farm supplies - other than those stocked by the hardware store, e.g. animal feeds, animal medications, sheep dip etc. etc.

Pet shop.

Model railway shop …………………………..

 

Petermac said

A few ideas for shops in Wombat Creek Claus - I think you've already got a hairdresser/barber, a supermarket and a bar/restaurant.  Have you thought of these ……

Butcher

Baker

Hardware Store/Ironmonger

Dress shop/Gents outfitter

Shoe shop

Work clothes - overalls, boots, waterproofs etc. etc.

Sport shop - tennis, squash, that game England is so good at beginning with 'G' and ending in 'T' and, if they're allowed in Australia, shotguns and cartridges etc.

Farm supplies - other than those stocked by the hardware store, e.g. animal feeds, animal medications, sheep dip etc. etc.

Pet shop.

Model railway shop …………………………..

From “Post #293,097”, 28th January 2026, 5:34 am

Thank you very much for your input, Petermac.
Over the years Wombat Creek has grown quite a bit. A lot of shops and businesses have come to town. Apart from the 'Work Clothes' the other shops are already present in Wombat Creek (Like in real life, The model railway shop 'Hearns' is a basement next to the Bank), but there is nothing wrong with some competition. I am not sure I know a game starting with 'G' and ending in 'T', but I sure know oned with 'C' and 'T'. They are very good at that game in Gumnut Gully! Anyway, I have the feeling one of the vacant shops will be an outfitter for miners and amateur gold seekers.

 

Have you got a Post Office Claus, I can't remember

Ed said

Have you got a Post Office Claus, I can't remember

From “Post #293,113”, 30th January 2026, 6:53 pm

Yes.

Outfitter

Petermac gave me the inspiration for this:

Need a new car?


The car maker 'Holden' has opened a new dealership in Wombat Creek. They a selling their latest model EH. According to my neighbour, who is a car enthusiast (and model railway modeller), puts the time into late 1963. The shop front still needs an awning. Also, the exhibited cars appears to be out of scale compared to the family in the shop. At a later stage I will try to generate a more suitable background. The building to the right of 'Holden' is the last building to fill out the space along the backboard.

Finally


All shops on Bridge Road have been finished and rented out.


From left to right:

Holden dealership with the latest model EH. Sparky Electrical. Curl Up & Dye hairdresser. Spotless Dry Cleaning. The Outfitter. Bradman's Foodland. Pasta la Vista Italian Restaurant.

Looks good, Claus. I see Sparky's electrical, which is exactly where I'm off to in Caboolture, to get new remotes for fans and lights.

peterm said

Looks good, Claus. I see Sparky's electrical, which is exactly where I'm off to in Caboolture, to get new remotes for fans and lights.

From “Post #293,297”, 15th March 2026, 6:03 pm

I guess, Caboolture is closer than Wombat Creek 😉

Looks good Claus 
 

Change of light



Changed the light globe from 'warm white' to 'daylight. Quite a different!

Looks really nice 

What he said. 

Drunken punters


Six intoxicated punters are on their way home after a day at the races. Looks like the man to the right didn't have a lucky day and may be out of money for the tram fare. The two guys at the back seem to have had better luck.

Undisturbed by the drunken punters the crowd at the Mug Punter Hotel enjoy the Seekers playing.