I can remember a drive in the family car when I was in primary school, down along the South Coast of New South Wales (NSW) towards Kiama. Rounding a long and sweeping corner along the Princes Highway, passing rocky cliff faces and rolling hills, I was suddenly looking out across the Pacific Ocean. It was a sunny day, but I vividly recall the waves being choppy and wild along the beach that day. The only thing between the road and this beach was a single mainline leading into a quiet train station, standing as a silent sentinel with a commanding view of this utterly captivating scene. This was my first look at Bombo and, looking back now, I suppose that moment had left an imprint upon me!
Bombo Beach is framed by the Bombo Headland Quarry Geological Site to the north, and Pheasant Point to the south (with the iconic Kiama Blow Hole Point further south behind it). There are also two small rail bridges nearby; one to the north atop the access road that connects to the beach carpark and close to a small tidal lagoon, and the more substantial bridge across Spring Creek to the south.
Design concept
If I were to stay true to the prototype, all of these features would stretch across 15 metres in HO scale, and could have just fit in between the front and back doors of my house if I knocked out a few interior walls first (and on the very poor assumption that my wife would let me get away with this!).
The area I have available is little more than a double garage, and one in which at least one sedan is expected to have regular access. My layout of Bombo is an attempt to capture the essence of the prototype in the relatively tiny space that I had to work with – it allows for
