The year is 1963 somewhere in Victoria, Australia

Hi Claus,

Some inspiration for you. What you are looking for is Gauntlet/Gantlet track (interlaced track). Just needs 2 frogs (one at each end), and if you use dead ones no wiring. Melbourne has some of this track - https://railgallery.wongm.com/melbourne-tram-tracks/F134_8689.jpg.html

Best built from scratch, but can be hacked together from some track and 2 points with the blades removed (straight or curved).

Many gauntlet tracks are on curves. The one in Yorkshire that Peter refers to is on the Sheffield Supertram system. Although this looks to have blades as it is a single line diverging into 2 lines using a Gauntlet because of space constraints. S-curve as well.



https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gauntlet_track_at_Hillsborough_Tram_Stop_close_up.jpg (No copyright)

Nigel

Thank you Nigel for the photo and link.
Trams have to slow down before changing the points. Therefore it is common practice to get the start of the points as close to a stop as possible. That could be another reason for the 'long' points in the photo.

[user=2057]TeaselBay[/user] wrote:

Some brilliant work gone in over the last few months! The control area is pretty impressive too!
Are we ready for a running video of the trams yet?

The 'Loop Line' is up and running

The the completion of part of the loop around the future gold mine it is possible to get an idea of running multiple trams simultaneously. Only one of the tracks as been finished and traffic will only run clockwise.



The video also shows what a difference landscaping (cityscaping) make. The view from the Explosives factory is rather bare. A lot of work has to be done!

Click here to watch the video!

Nice video Claus  :thumbs

Ed

Working on the landscape
Watching the latest video (you can find it here) it is clear the area around the Big Nugget Mine and the Explosives Factory lacks landscaping. With pieces of scrap cardboard and A4 prints the embankment along the tram track towards the terminus at the Explosives Factory has been enclosed. 



Next step is 'planting' strips of fake fur (used for teddy bears). The fur has been trimmed down and sprayed with green paint.

Really looking forward to seeing these green teddy bears Claus ...... :cheers

Spot the wombat

In a post from June 2019 'Chubber' mentioned the layout needed a wombat. I replied it would take a few years, but here it is!



'Grass' (fake fur) and a few wombat holes have been added to the embankment. A small platform along the railway makes the interchange between the tram and train somewhat easier. Up the top, part of the street has be sealed and a footpath put down.

Still to come are shrubs and bushes on the slopes, a tram shelter for waiting passengers up the top and perhaps a Mr. Whippy ice-cream van!

Time to do shrubs

With 35+ degrees outside and Test Cricket on the television inside you know, where you want to be. I managed a few shrubs for the embankment whilst Australia managed South Africa!



PS: The wombat is still there.

Doing research

A day in Melbourne saw me riding trains and trams all over the city. First a visit to a model railway shop purchasing joiners and an ice cream van. The joiners are needed to finish off both the narrow gauge line and the tramways. The van will be a centre part of a small cameo on the embankment.

An electronics shop provided me with a 'countdown timer', which (in theory) should extend the journey along the mining line with up to four minutes.



The research involved a trip to Clifton Hill. As seen in the photo a group of youngsters with fancy cars have set their eyes on the corner block between the Fire Station and the Bank. A perfect spot for a jazz club called 'the Bellcord'. As the 'chief architect' I have come up with a design like this:



The former United Kingdom Hotel in Clifton Hill (nowadays a very unusual McDonald's). The time frame for the build will be sometime this year. Well, it will always be this year since time in Wombat Creek has been frozen into 1963.



The research continued to this lovely tram shelter not far from Camberwell station. A perfect fit for the stop at the embankment. The build shouldn't take too long.

Devastation in Wombat Creek





Our five friends of the Bellcord are devastated. Their preferred block of land for the jazz club has disappeared along with the fire station? What is going on?

A sink hole maybe ............. :hmm :cheers

Yes  like that TV show  La Brea ( filmed in Melbourne)

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

A sink hole maybe …………. :hmm :cheers

It turns out to be the caused by the Consolidated Mines doing tunnelling for the narrow gauge railway!

Ah, I was wondering if it was 'cut and cover' tunneling 


Ed


Edit:


Spooky, just read your post on your other thread about cut and cover.



Ed

GWR in Wombat Creek





'You can't have too many Panniers' is a sentence I often see posted on the website.

Well, I may have one too many! I bought the locomotive in July 1989 from Hamley's of London as a memento from a holiday in Ireland and England. The locomotive has hardly had any running time since the purchase. It didn't fit the previous layouts and certainly not Wombat Creek Tramways.

A Mock-up of the Jazz Club





To get an idea of how the 'Bellcord' will fit in on the corner of the Golden Mile and the Main Street, I have printed a photo of the the original building in the approximate scale. It looks a bit flat and the hight probably needs to be increased to correspond with the fire station. 'The Golden Sea Gull' on the front will of course not be part of the model.

The Bellcord – part 1





The construction of the Bellcord (the jazz club) has commenced. The concrete slab (foundation) has be poured (read: cut out of 1.5 mm cardboard). This allows me to see how it fits in on the corner next to the Fire Station and the future Comedy Theatre.

The Bellcord – part 2

Construction is well under way with most of the walls up. The radius of the curved walls is rather small (20 mm). To make sure the curves will be smooth once the bricks come up, small vertical cuts have been made for every 2 mm on the outside.

The Bellcord – part 3

Before I began construction of the Bellcord I searched the internet for an image of an interesting building, which would fit the corner opposite the bank and Fraser & Duncan. I came across a few photos of the former United Kingdom Hotel in Clifton Hill.

Next step was a visit to the hotel (now a McDonald's) to photograph details of the exterior. I was especially interested in smaller details e.g. the yellow and brown bands on the lower walls and the tiles on the front entrance. They could be processed in Photoshop and printed out for the actual model. The trusted Street View from Google will help with other details (I know this from the build of the Bank).

So I felt well prepared and ready to go. Only the front will be more or less a copy of the place. The rest of the building has to be amended to fit the space on the layout. As the construction moves ahead I realise (again), it is impossible to find all the details until you get to them! The brick walls have their own set of tiles at the top; only the top part of the balcony sits on top off the lower part of the building etc. Some details can be incorporated at a later time. For some it is too late.

Anyway, the brick work is done. I am now waiting for the windows to be done by the joiner (me) and the glazier (also me).

Coming on in leaps and bounds, Claus. I love your work on this.