A history of Dunedin's Hillside Railway Workshops This well-researched book covers both the engineering history to interest railway enthusiasts, and a political, economic and social history that will appeal to a wider readership. Beginning in the 1870s until its closure in 2012, the Dunedin Hillside Railway Workshops' personnel, buildings, and jobs undertaken have all been captured in print along with a large number of colour and black and white photographs.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 240

Dimensions: 212 x 300 mm

Publication Date: 02-11-2015

The previously untold story of New Zealand’s iconic railway houses, of which more than 3,700 are dotted around the New Zealand landscape. As New Zealand Railways pushed the rail network about New Zealand, opening new country for development, a challenge presented itself to house railwaymen in country areas where infrastructure didn’t exist or was newly formed. Railways only alternative was to construct houses for their employees. Initially part of the Public Works Department responsibilities, eventually an Architectural Branch within New Zealand Railways was formed under George Troup. This development lead to new designs of railway houses, a design that was to become symbolic in the New Zealand landscape. To manufacture these houses, Railways set up a sawmill and special factory in Frankton, kit-setting houses, delivering them by rail as parts packs and ultimately erecting them about the country. As well as far-flung reaches of the railway system, Railways ended up developing “model” railway settlements at places as diverse as Otahuhu, Newmarket, Frankton, TeKuiti, Taumarunui, Ohakune, Taihape, Palmerston North, Napier, Eastown, Kaiwharawhara, Christchurch, Arthur’s Pass, Otira, Dunedin and other places around the country. These houses were supplemented in later years by newer designs. This book covers the housing scheme, sawmill and house factory, the railway settlements, the maintenance programme, the house numbering system, and as a railwayman and his family, what it was like living in a railway house, and how railway families interacted socially, often located in distant isolation from towns and cities. The book closes with Government’s exit from railway house ownership in the 1990s and a chapter on the railway house survivors that have been lovingly restored by current owners. Complementing the text is a lavish selection of black and white and colour images from the era and current day. Railway houses and the nearby railway environment where they were located are extensively featured.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 142

Dimensions: 273 x 213 x 20 mm

Publication Date: 04-09-2017

Signing on at Greymouth's Elmer Lane depot in 1962, a young Ian Tibbles very quickly learnt the mysteries of "the dark shed". Graduating from labourer to cleaner and then fireman, his apprenticeship takes us on a journey about the West Coast in the 1960's, the golden age of steam. Starting on the wharf and local shunts on Wf's Ian moved onto the main lines, then populated with A, Ab, B, J, We and Ww class engines. Sharing his firing experiences, Ian recounts throughout the chapters what it was like "getting down the road" on the various lines and classes of engine. The vagaries of narrow grate engines through to the "modern" J class are all discussed. managing transfer to various depots on the Coast, Ian recounts his time on all the West Coast lines. The Grey Valley, Blackball branch, Ross line, relieving Reefton, the Tawhai saddle, Reefton to Westport, the Westport to Mokihinui coal railway, Conns Creek branch, Rewanui incline and of course blasting up to Otira on the J class, are all vividly recounted. Complementing the text is a lavish selection of black and white and colour images from the era. Without doubt, this is a book for lovers of NZR steam in the 60s. 163 b&w photos + 99 colour photos

Bind: hardback

Pages: 251

Publication Date: 10-04-2015

The sea-level mountain railway has a long story of dramatic moments and events. The men who completed it in the 1930s and 1940s always referred to it as "The Kaikoura Job". This is the story of the scenic coastal line, from its early beginnings through to the reconstruction efforts following the devastating 2016 earthquake. Lavishly illustrated with historical photos and those taken recently in 2018.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 134

Dimensions: 210 x 300 mm

Publication Date: 01-11-2018

Ces Gledhill hired on with New Zealand Railways in 1925. Forever the rolling stone in search of better money, overtime and promotion, Ces transferred around New Zealand seeking out opportunities within the railway service. Starting as a cleaner, he worked his way up through the ranks of fireman and eventually first-class enginedriver. Working through the Depression years and the boom of war-time rail traffic, Ces recounts with interest his time living at the various towns and cities, working on both isolated sections, branch lines and main trunk trains. Told with passion are many of his footplate escapades. After a wartime absence, he returned from railway military service in the Middle-east, he settled down on the West Coast of the South Island, both operating and keeping operational, run-down locomotives on the post-war railway. This work is well illustrated with images of the period, many taken by the author.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 115

Dimensions: 210 x 296 mm

Publication Date: 16-08-2019

Napier’s tramway system was tragically cut short by the Napier earthquake. Graham Stewart now tells the full story of this interesting tramway This is the story about a provincial tramway system which battled to serve its citizens with the latest form of urban transport in the early years of the 20th century, the electric tramcar. To extend the tramway to the expanding residential suburbs to the west and south became an impossibility because of the numerous railway lines to cross. One suggestion was that tram conductors should go ahead of each tram with a flag at railway crossings! The gauge of the tracks chosen, 3-foot 6-inches, the same gauge as the Government railways, was also to become another obstacle when more tramcars were required. A former London tram would have become part of the fleet if nature had not shattered the city. After 18 years of service to its Napier residents, it all ended when a 7.8 earthquake struck at 10.47am on Tuesday 3 February 1931. “The tram was shaken like a fox terrier playing a rat” said motorman Jim Minto, who was driving a tram back from Port Ahuriri at the time. The tram was uplifted and shaken violently. A municipal tramway with so many problems and struggling financially to balance the books, the earthquake of 1931 gave the city fathers a convenient way out.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 88

Dimensions: 200 x 250 mm

Publication Date: 26-08-2019

The Charming Creek story is one of West Coast pioneering enterprise. Bothers Robert and George Watson, at the turn of the century set about extracting timber from the Charming Creek valley by way of an incline over the Radcliffe Ridge. Slow, and hard on horses tasked for the job, they subsequently blasted a ledge through the spectacular Ngakawau Gorge for a new tramway. Morphing into a coal railway with the opening of the Charming Creek mine, this tramway ferried miners and workmen to the mine each workday in open coal trucks. The story of the men, this fledgling company, and how they coped with the Depression and war years, successive bridge failures, runaway trains, and a riot, add intrigue into an otherwise fascinating operation. Personal accounts from those that worked both the Charming Creek line and mine are well documented, together with photographs on some of these exploits. The final chapter features the current DOC walkway, written as a guide for those visiting this fabulous site, one of the little-known wonders of the West Coast.
77 B&W + 31 colour photographs

Bind: paperback

Pages: 188

Dimensions: 210 x 260 mm

Publication Date: 19-11-2012

Keith G. Brown documents Addington Workshops rich history from formation to closure and details his own experiences working as a tradesman carpenter at Addington from 1949 to 1987. The first book to document Addington's leading role in the manufacture and repair of rolling stock for New Zealand Railways, this is a fascinating look behind the fence of this once-famous facility. Lavishly illustrated with colour and black and white photographs, the workshop buildings, manufacture and repair of locomotives, carriages and wagons are all extensively covered.

Pages: 112

The complete history and operation of Denniston's Incline. With much new information and many previously unpublished photographs, this work details the incline and its supporting industries. Chapters include the history, functional operation of the incline, operation of the Conn's Creek branch railway, the people that made it work, rolling stock, Westport wharves, and the current attractions at Denniston today.

Pages: 96

Reprinted due to popular demand! Between 1863 and 1971 the steam locomotive was the best known part of railways, and these steel kings of the steel road touched everyone’s lives. Stories abound regarding the steam locomotive and what made them special. This is a history of the steam locomotives owned by New Zealand’s national railway system. Numbering more than a thousand, they were enormously varied – ranging from little over five tons to almost 148 tons in weight, and from the occasional failure to trend-setting designs of international significance. This stunning book combines the best available research with the largest collection of photographs on the subject ever assembled. The book is not the full story of each class; that would be an impossible task given the limits of a single volume. Each locomotive is described by class beginning at A and ending at Y with brief specifications, builders and years built and operated begin each section. The text then describes the circumstances that led to the acquisition or building of the class, the type of work they performed, significant modifications made, the decline and withdrawal of each class, and the existence of any preserved examples. Along the way we are informed about the basic structure of the NZR numbering system and the variations made over the years. Interesting mention is made of average annual mileages run by the various classes, and the running cost per mile travelled. Locomotives that did not receive a classification by NZR and steam railcars are also covered. The illustrations form a vital part of this volume. They have been sourced from a variety of collections, and they support the text fully. Photographs show what the author has written about, guiding the reader in his learning. Where a member or members of a class have been preserved or restored for running on private or main lines there’s invariably an illustration, appropriately placed last in the section. This lavishly illustrated and very informative book will soon become an essential reference work for all interested in the railways of New Zealand. 336 pages of black and white photographs case bound with dust jacket

Bind: hardback

Pages: 336

Publication Date: 01-09-2011