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Trains, tunnels, bridges :
icons of our New Zealand rail history /

Wright, Matthew, 1962-

Trains, tunnels, bridges : icons of our New Zealand rail history / Matthew Wright. - 135 pages : illustrations, some colour ; 23 x 26 cm

Includes bibliographical references (page 130) and index. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Behind the lines: a story of people, politics and steam -- Moorhouse Railway Tunnel -- Nelson's railway bus -- Vogel's Railways -- Symbols of progress: A-class construction locomotives -- Rails classics: F-class saddle tanks -- A & G Price Ltd -- Hawke's Bay branch line -- Hillside Railway Workshops -- Bending to the task: Fairlie locomotives -- A wild western Kiwi: the Rogers K-class -- Tender type: the J-class 2-6-0 -- Getting the right angle: the Rimutaka incline -- A system of gravity: the Denniston self-acting incline -- Across the divide: Midland Railway proposals -- Kiwi backbone: the North Island Main Trunk Line -- No. 8 wire on the job: bush tramways -- Private dreams: Wellington to Manawatu railway -- Making the link: Manawatu Gorge rail -- Bridging the gap: North Island main trunk viaducts -- Kiwi innovation: Q-class Pacific locomotives -- Quest for power: X-class locomotives -- Lateral thinking: the Raurimu spiral -- Southern design: the Dunedin Railway Station -- Pacific classic: the A-class and variants -- Driving through: the Otira Tunnel -- Bush triumph: Percy Burn Viaduct -- Temple of transport: the Wellington Railway Station and reclamation -- Flawed giants: G-class Garratt adventures -- Dizzying heights: the Mohaka Railway Viaduct -- Penultimate steam: the 4-8-4 K-class -- Modernising the line: railcars to the Wairarapa -- Motor rail: railcar standards -- Wellington commuter stalwarts: the English electrics -- Last hurrah: J- and JA-class locomotives -- Essential unglamour: DS-class and other diesel shunters -- Ubiquity by numbers: DA-class diesels -- Fiats at the boil: Drewry RM-class 88 seaters -- Japanese ingenuity: DJ-class locomotives -- From coal to passengers: EA/EO-class electric locomotives -- Stainless steel: the Silver Fern railcars -- Ultra grunt: The DX-class diesels -- Rebuilt classics: DC-class diesels -- Hungarian arrival: Ganz Mavag EMUs -- Zapping it up: North Island Main Trunk Line electrification -- Re-bridging the gap: main trunk line viaducts renewed -- Electric evolution: the class 30/EF main trunk line locomotives -- Troubled entry: Matangi Electric Multiple Units

"The story of New Zealand rail is rich with challenges met by audacious engineering. Railway took its place as the backbone of the nation from the early days, as settlers drove lines through some of the world's toughest terrain. Our very first rail project tunnelled through the side of a volcano. From that project through to the main trunk viaducts that soar to dizzying heights above valley floors, from the modest reliability of our first 'tank' engines to the ultra-grunt of modern diesel-electrics, this book reveals the rail projects and hardware that forged a nation. These symbols of our heritage are icons of New Zealand rail history"--Publisher's information.

9781877327520 (paperback)

Random House NZ


New Zealand Railways--History.
New Zealand Rail--History.
New Zealand Railways Corporation (1982-2008)--History.


Locomotives--History.--New Zealand
Railroads--Design and construction--History.--New Zealand
Railroads--History.--New Zealand

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