The Era of the Bush Tram in New Zealand. By Paul Mahoney
The Era of the Bush Tram in New Zealand BY Paul Mahoney.
Publisher: IPL Books, 1998, First Edition.
Very good hardback with jacket. No inscriptions; rubbing and bumping to edges, knock to top of spine that has caused compression; pages excellent. Jacket has light shelf-wear with a little creasing at edges. 192 pages, illustrated.
An industry established early in New Zealand was the milling of its vast areas of native bush providing timber of the highest quality and suitable for multiple uses. As the industry developed so did the technology supporting it. As distances between fixed milling sites and the felling of the trees increased a replacement for the teams of bullocks or horses that hauled the logs to mill became necessary. Steam power provided the answer and the bush tramway had arrived. This important book on the development, progress and disappearance of the bush tram locomotives has covered a significant aspect of industrial progress now long forgotten and almost overlooked historically before his book filled the gap -- after two decades of research, interviews, record studies and locating illustrations. With more than 500 bush trams operating in NZ the author has tracked down most of these, including those using wooden rails before the steel track was introduced to most. The steam locomotives ran on the bush trams from 1870 till the last ended the era of the steam bush locomotive in the late 1950's early '60's. Initially replaced by diesel powered tractors, these in turn, gave way to the logging truck. All elements of operating a bush tram are considered by the author with rail tractors included along with the ubiquitous "jiggers" (often converted motorcars) used for line maintenance, passenger or freight transport.
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