The year is 1963 somewhere in Victoria, Australia

It is hard to believe 2 weeks of holidays are almost gone. It has been a race to finish the tram barn. The weekend will be spent at the Melbourne Tram Museum and at the 'footy'.  
 
 Well, I almost got to the finishing line. The barn is up and running. Compared to the original there is a few adaptations and compromises (sounds better than 'mistakes'). The barn needs bit of weathering to remove the shine of the corrugated iron panels. Rust will be added to show some ageing.

Just discovered this layout and I really love the way it's firmly planted in time and space in 1963 Australia.The tram barn is amazing and I love your shops and bars etc.It's going to be great to watch this one develop.What's the origins of your trams???
Cheers,John.B.

[user=201]georgejacksongenius[/user] wrote:

Just discovered this layout and I really love the way it's firmly planted in time and space in 1963 Australia.The tram barn is amazing and I love your shops and bars etc.It's going to be great to watch this one develop.What's the origins of your trams???
Cheers,John.B.

Hi,
Thanks for the nice words from John. Since my last photo I have done a bit of weathering and 'rust' on the barn. The rolling stock is mainly made up of three Bachmann Brill trolleys. They have been bought on Ebay for a reasonable price. They aren't really of Aussie design but not too far from the Adelaide H Class. But as you can see a new tram has arrived - a Melbourne W6 class. It is from Cooee and un-powered. I plan to scrap one of the Brills to motorise the W6. It doesn't sound too difficult but apparantly it is not straight forward to dismantle the W6. I'll keep you informed.

Bachmann in the USA still has powered and dummy Brill trucks in the spares section.

Nigel

The weathering of the barn has really brought it to life. It looks fantastic!

[user=1632]BCDR[/user] wrote:

Bachmann in the USA still has powered and dummy Brill trucks in the spares section.

Nigel

Thank you, Nigel. I have visited Bachmann's website. It is cheaper to scrap one of my Brills, which was bought for that purpose anyway.

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

The weathering of the barn has really brought it to life. It looks fantastic!

Thank you!

Lately I have been tinkering around the two fibro houses. The 'garden' at the blue houses is mainly made up of grass – very long grass. The residents are not gardeners!
 The grass is made with 'teddy bear' material from 'Spotlight', hairspray and a small and cheap spray bottle with diluted green acrylic paint. The result is not too bad – only a few clumps of grass. I still need to add a couple of gum trees, a garden shed, a Hill's hoist and a few more 'surprises'.



It is a bit hard to photograph the street side of the fibro houses, but with a mobile phone on 'selfie setting' it looks like this:

Work around the Fibro houses has continued. A wooden fence has been erected on top of the bluestone wall along the tram barn area. The garden around the green house has been laid out. As seen on the photo the owners of the green house are better gardeners than the neighbours. The lawn is nicely cut and lined by blue-stones. The garden beds are ready for planting. The concrete slab for the garden shed has also been poured. The tree in the corner is a wattle – probably needs a few more flowers to give it the right yellow colour.
At the back of the tram barn Ray Knott, the local joiner, has loaded his Volkswagen full of left over wood from the construction of the barn. A water tower (yes – the real barn in Elwood had a very distinctive water tower) and a shed for tools are next on the 'to-do-list'.

The tank wagon is a more than 40 years old Jouef track cleaning model. And no – it doesn't advertise the well-known beer VB – Victorian Bitter. In Wombat Creek the only beer to drink is WB – Wombat Bitter!



 

Hi all,

The angle may be awkward but the photos shows the latest additions to the gardens around the two fibro houses – the garden sheds. The family in the blue house are not gardeners, so the lawn has only been mowed in a short strip (explanation will follow) and the door of the shed has fallen off the top hinge. The garden around the green house is much neater and the garden shed is well maintained.
Perhaps you have noticed the red dot in the grass. A Victorian icon – a footy (an Australian rules football). In fact, it is a grain of rice painted red!

 

A night time view of Victoria Street
 
 Saturday August 24 I went by train to my volunteer work at the Melbourne Tram Museum. At Caulfield Station I spotted a sign advertising the nearby Model Railway Exhibition. Fortunately the museum was not very busy so I decided to leave early and visit the exhibition. I was presented with some very fine layouts in both HO and N scale, but my interest was also caught by the different stalls selling model railway 'goodies'.
 
 A bag of  'Clump-foliage' became the first purchase. Nothing special, but something I need for my gum trees. The bargain was three 90 degree crossing for Atlas for just 60 % of the normal retail price. Pretty good, even I couldn't find a fourth one. The crossing are needed for a future extension of Wombat Tramways. A stall had different LED streetlights for sale. Not something I had in mind for the time being but the price was okay. So I ended up buying a set of three for $10.
 
 Back home I had to wait a week before finding time to install the lights. They came with resistors attached so I have hooked them up to a 9V battery. I am quite pleased with the result, so I will order some more online.



In day light the scene looks like this

Lunch time

All trams are out and running and it is time for the an employee at the tram barn to enjoy his lunch. A close up on the newspaper reveals it must be early October 1963. The front page informs the readers, Geelong has won the VFL Grand Final.

[user=2172]Claus Ellef[/user] wrote:

Lunch time

All trams are out and running and it is time for the an employee at the tram barn to enjoy his lunch. A close up on the newspaper reveals it must be early October 1963. The front page informs the readers, Geelong has won the VFL Grand Final.


 

Is that a good omen for 2019 then ?  

[user=606]Sol[/user] wrote:

[user=2172]Claus Ellef[/user] wrote:

Lunch time

All trams are out and running and it is time for the an employee at the tram barn to enjoy his lunch. A close up on the newspaper reveals it must be early October 1963. The front page informs the readers, Geelong has won the VFL Grand Final.


 

Is that a good omen for 2019 then ?  

I hope not! I follow the Tigers!

  The kids in the blue house have been playing a bit of 'backyard' cricket. It is hard to figure out how they could bounce a ball and run in the long grass, but they did. In fact one of the kids batted for a six. The ball went over the back fence and – by closer inspection – through one of the windows (second from the right) in the tram barn. No wonder they all have done a runner and left the stumps and bat behind.

   

[user=2172]Claus Ellef[/user] wrote:

No wonder they all have done a runner and left the stumps and bat behind.

England cricket team, please take note  


Ed

Yes Ed - we're good at that ……………………… doing a runner, I mean !!

Is the broken window painted on Claus ?

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

Yes Ed - we're good at that ……………………… doing a runner, I mean !!

Is the broken window painted on Claus ?

No, I dilled a very small hole in the plastic window .

  It has been rather quiet around Wombat Creek in the resent weeks. The reason for this is the manager's (read my) holidays in Taiwan. After arriving into Chiayi by 'bullet train' (top speed 298 km/h) it was time to explore the Alishan Forest Railway a 2ft 6in narrow gauge railway. Along the line the track winds in and out of 10 tunnels in a way, no railway modeller would even think of!
I have attached a few photos showing the 'layout'. More photos can be found on my Flickr page.




 

G'Day Claus, that has been a fun and enjoyable read, I love the fact that you have given life to your layout with all the stories and information. It sounds like a fun place.Robyn