Books published by the LRRSA
LRRSA publications are the results of years of research, based on field investigations; interviews; and study of written material, including official documents. All (except Modernising Underground Coal Haulage) are printed on art paper, with numerous photographs, maps and diagrams. Wherever possible, the photographs are carefully selected to illustrate all aspects of the industries, tramways, living conditions and scenery. The maps are prepared in great detail. Prices All prices are in Australian dollars and include GST. Overseas purchasers note: the prices include Australian Goods & Services Tax (GST) which amounts to one-eleventh of the quoted price. This will be deducted on all export sales. At current exchange rates (31 May 2009) one Australian dollar is worth 78 US cents, 49 UK pence, or 56 Euro cents, but note that exchange rates vary to some extent every day.
The easiest way to pay for overeas purchases is to quote your credit card number. The credit card company will then do the currency conversion, and the amount will appear on your credit card statement in your own currency. Click here to go to the LRRSA Online shop |
Tall Timber and Tramlines Queensland
By the late John Kerr
To be published in SeptemberThis book describes all the Queensland timber tramways known to the author when the manuscript was released for publication in 2005.For climatic and other reasons Queensland had fewer timber tramways than most other Australian states. As a result it is possible in this book of 100 pages to mention all of those known to exist when the manuscript was prepared. All were closed by the end of the 1930s. They ranged from the engagingly primitive to the well engineered Laheys' Canungra Tramway. See the Table of Contents - click hereSee the index - available shortly. |
|
Soft cover, 100 pages, A4 size, 90 photographs, 28 maps and diagrams, references, bibliography, and index. |
Elrington
The 'Peter Pan Colliery' 1927 - 1962
By Ross Mainwaring
ISBN 978-0-909340-47-6
|
Elrington is a history of a coalmine near Cessnock NSW, established by the Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd in 1927 to supply coal to its Newcastle steelworks. BHP’s intention was to pioneer the use of modern coal extraction methods at Elrington. See the Table of Contents - click here |
|
Soft cover, 96 pages, A4 size, 64 photographs, 9 maps and diagrams, references, bibliography, and index. Price $A25.95 plus postage. |
Shays, Crabs and Phosphate
A History of the Railways of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean
By David Jehan
ISBN 978-0-909340-45-2
|
Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, is located 1300 km south of Singapore and 2600 km north-west of Perth. It is a small island, the length of the coast being only 80 km. It became an Australian external territory in 1958. Prior to that it had been under the administration of the then British colony of Singapore. For most of the twentieth-century the major activity was the mining of phosphate deposits, for the manufacture of superphosphate. To transport the phosphate to the port, a system of industrial railways was built, on gauges of 2 ft (610 mm) and 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm). For such a small island, the variety of locomotives - both steam and internal-combustion - was remarkable. They came from Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the USA. As this book explains operating and maintaining them in such a remote location provided a constant challenge. Included were three 70 ton geared Shay locomotives, a type of locomotive rarely found outside America. But this book does not just describe the locomotives, and the operation of the railway. It explores the way the industry was managed, the living and working conditions, the use of passenger trains, and the unique problems caused by the huge population of crabs living on the island. Locomotives This book gives detailed information on the histories of the forty locomotives which worked on the island. These included twenty-three 2 ft gauge internal-combustion locomotives from Orenstein & Koppel, Robert Hudson, Baguely, and Hunslet, with the oldest dating from around 1912. On the standard gauge there were seven steam locomotives, from Lima, Peckett, and Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn. There were ten standard gauge internal combustion locomotives, from Orenstein & Koppel, Whitcomb, Canadian Locomotive Company, and General Electric. Passenger vehicles ... Although the purpose of the railway was carrying phosphate, there were also some facilities for passengers, including stations. There was a Drewry railcar, and three Wickham railcars with five trailers. The main purpose of the Wickham railcars was to provide rolling stock for the “School Train”. A few flat wagons were also converted to passenger cars. Amongst other things, these were used for the “Picture Train”, to take people to the island’s cinema. There were also two strange vehicles for carrying passengers on an incline. The author This is David Jehan’s third major book. David is a railway engineer, and his previous books include Rack Railways of Australia, and Men, Steel and Iron. The book has been written using the extensive records held by the National Archives of Australia, and information from numerous former Christmas Island phosphate staff now living in Australia and New Zealand. It documents what and how they operated and taps into the social history of the island to give an understanding of the people that were involved. |
|
Soft cover, 136 pages, A4 size, over 160 photographs, 14 maps and diagrams, references, bibliography, and index. Price $A33.00 plus postage. |
Furnace, Fire and Forge
Lithgow's Iron and Steel Industry 1874 - 1932
By Bob McKillop
ISBN 0 909340 44 7
Contributions by Ray Christison, Ian Holt, David Jackson, Jim Longworth, Bruce Macdonald, Jeff Moonie, Greg Patmore, Jerry Platt, John Prattis, Don Reynolds, Ian Rufus, Frank Stamford and Alan Watson |
This book is the product of a systematic and in-depth research project. It tells the story of Australia’s first and only inland heavy industrial centre, from its beginnings with the opening of New South Wales’ Great Western Railway into the Lithgow Valley in 1869 and the establishment of the first blast furnace there in 1874, to the final closure of the iron and steel works in 1932.
Furnace, Fire and Forge provides new insights into the pioneers of Australia’s iron and steel industry and tells the story of its operations from the perspective of the men (and the handful of women) who toiled at the blast furnaces, the rolling mills, the open-hearth steel furnaces, the collieries and quarries that fed the furnaces, the railways that transported the materials and the administrative offices that supported these operations.
There are separate chapters on the mines and quarries that provided raw materials to the works; and the industrial railways that transported the materials around the site.
The concluding chapters review the lessons that have emerged from the Lithgow experience and how the community responded to the closure of its ‘life blood’.
| One of the twenty locomotives used by G&C Hoskins and its predecessors at Lithgow steel works and associated plants. The works railways, and those of the limestone quarries, iron ore mines, and collieries which supplied the raw materials, are described and illustrated in the book. Hard cover, 320 pages, A4 size, over 250 photographs, maps, diagrams, references, bibliography, and index. $A59.95 plus postage. (Weight 1,650 gm) |
Built
by Baldwin
The Story of E. M. Baldwin & Sons, Castle Hill, NSW
By Craig Wilson
ISBN 0 909340 42 0
This is the history of E. M. Baldwin & Sons, the most innovative and successful builder of diesel industrial railway equipment in Australia, best known for their introduction to the Australian sugar industry of the bogie canefield locomotive.
This book is not only the story of the development of Baldwin canefield locomotives. It also describes underground, shunting, and fairground locomotives, brake wagons, and the diverse range of engineering work undertaken by the Company, from stainless steel vessels to broad-acre agricultural tractors.
From the mid 1950s Australia's sugar millers were rapidly replacing their steam locomotives with diesels, with the market split between two large companies - Clyde Engineering Co. Pty Ltd, and Commonwealth Engineering (Queensland) Pty Ltd.
The family firm of E. M. Baldwin & Sons would seem to have been a most unlikely competitor. Still reflecting its farming origins with large scale egg production, its small general engineering business specialised in custom designed stainless steel food preparation equipment.
But in 1962 the firm was approached to build a small canefield locomotive, and a year later it started its pioneering work with flame-proofed rail vehicles. Numerous diesel locomotives followed. The book includes a detailed production list of the Company's locomotives, and scale drawings of many of its locomotives.
The author has had direct access to the Company's owners, and to many of the records of the Company, so this is the definitive history of the Company, and gives much detail on the performance of individual locomotives.
Hard cover, 160 pages, A4 size, 148 photographs, and 16 diagrams, references, bibliography, and index.
$A44.00 plus postage. (Weight approx. 950 gm)
[price to LRRSA members $A33.00, plus postage]
The
Aramac Tramway
By Peter Bell & John Kerr
ISBN 0 909340 43 9
One hundred years ago every town in Australia wanted a railway. When the only alternative was horse drawn transport over roads which were often almost impassable, the railway provided a life line. Aramac, almost in the centre of Queensland, was no exception. Aramac township was established in 1869, with the opening of a hotel. Many other business soon followed, and by 1879 one visitor described it as one of the prettiest and best kept towns in Queensland. Its prime reason for existence was to serve the vast sheep stations then being established in this area. With the opening of the first railways to this area in the 1880s, Aramac fought to be connected, but lost. Aramac, with a population of perhaps 400, was unique amongst inland Queensland towns in taking on the task of building its own line. This is the story of the Aramc Tramway, 41 miles of lightly built 3 ft 6 in gauge track, with little traffic. It opened in 1913, and for the next 62 years it provided a major challenge for the Shire Council to keep it going. Miraculously it survived until 1975. By that time all of its traffic could be easily handled by road. Soft cover, 48 pages, A4 size, 49 photographs, 5 maps and plans, references, bibliography, and index. $A15.00 plus postage. (Weight 350 gm) |
Mountains
of Ash
A History of the Sawmills & Tramways of Warburton and District
By Mike McCarthy
ISBN 0 909340 41 2
Sixty-six kilometres east of Melbourne, and nestled deep in a valley below towering timbered slopes, for over a century Warburton has been a popular weekend destination for those attracted by its natural beauty and tranquility.
During the period prior to the First World War it was the centre of Victoria's biggest sawmilling district.
It saw the establishment of 66 major sawmills and many smaller mills in the bush surrounding the town. They were linked to the railway at Warburton, Millgrove, and Wesburn through a complex system of wooden and steel-railed tramways. In total over 320 km of tramways could be found in the bush surrounding Warburton. Horses, locomotives, and rail tractors hauled the timber, and the tramways included many spectacular bridges, cable-worked haulages, sharp curves and steep grades.
The tramways provided picturesque walking tracks for holiday makers, and attracted many first class photographers.
This book includes 320 photographs. Almost all of these have not been published before.
Fifty-two of the photographs are printed as duo-tones, a special process which increases the tonal range of the photograph.
Fourteen of the maps are printed in four colours, whilst most maps and diagrams are printed in two or three colours.
Hard cover, 312 pages, A4 size, 280 photographs, 50 maps, various diagrams, references, bibliography, and index.
$A59.95 plus postage. (Weight 1,500 gm)
[price to LRRSA members $A44.96 plus postage]
Laheys'
Canungra Tramway
By Robert K. Morgan, revised by Frank Stamford
ISBN 0 909340 40 4
This booklet describes Queensland's largest timber tramway. It was originally published as a special edition of Light Railways, (No.54, Summer 1975-76).
The new publication is completely revised, with additional material, more photographs and maps, and a larger page size to give better presentation.
Laheys Canungra Tramway was a 3 ft 6 in gauge timber tramway in south-east Queensland which operated from about 1903 to the early 1930s. It used one B class Climax locomotive, and two A class and one B class Shay locomotives. The tramway ran through superb scenery, and included one tunnel through rock, and a 1 in 12-1/2 (8%) grade for over half a mile.To add more interest, it had a very basic T Ford railcar, an even more basic Commer railcar, and a home-made passenger car.
Soft cover, 32 pages plus 4 page card cover, A4 size, 26 photographs, 3 maps and 2 diagrams, references, and index.
$A9.95 plus postage. (Weight 230gm)
[price to LRRSA members $A7.46 plus postage]
The
Innisfail Tramway
The History and Development of the Geraldton Shire Tramway and the Mourilyan Harbour Tramway
By John Armstrong & G. H. Verhoeven
ISBN 0 909340 38 2 (hard cover)
Innisfail is 80 km south of Cairns, and the largest community between there and Townsville. It is an extremely scenic area situated in the lush coastal belt of tropical North Queensland in one of the wettest parts of Australia. The 2 ft gauge Innisfail Tramway played a major role in the colourful history of the town.
Built one hundred years ago by the Geraldton Shire Council, it was subsequently taken over and operated by the Queensland Railways until they sold it to local sugar mills in 1977. The tramway carried thousands of passengers including shoppers to and from town, wharf labourers to work, racegoers to and from the course, and picnickers on pleasure trips. It carried vast quantities of bananas, timber, coal, agriculture, meat and parcels.
There were 13 steam locomotives, 13 passenger cars, four vans, and about 250 goods vehicles. Over the years the role of the tramway changed, and today the surviving parts of it are operated exclusively as privately owned sugar carrying lines. The authors have interviewed local residents and former members of the tramway staff as well as searched through official documents and newspaper reports, to produce a book which is both historically accurate, and brings to life a vanished era.
The Innisfail Tramway was first published by the Australian Railway Historical Society Queensland Division in 1973.
This new edition published by the LRRSA is completely revised, updated, and produced in the style of LRRSA books. It contains much additional material in text, photographs, maps and diagrams.
Hard cover, 128 pages, A4 size, 99 photographs (12 in colour), 8 maps and 14 rolling stock diagrams, with dust jacket.
$A37.90 plus postage. (Weight 850 gm)
[price to LRRSA members $A28.43 plus postage]
Modernising
Underground Coal Haulage
BHP Newcastle Collieries - Electric Railways
by Ross Mainwaring
ISBN 0 909340 36 6
This book describes Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd's (BHP) Burwood, Lambton, and John Darling collieries in the Newcastle area of New South Wales. It records the introduction of mechanical coal cutters, coal loading machines, and the use of battery and trolley-wire electric locomotives, mostly on 3 ft 6 in gauge track. It also describes the operating procedures and difficulties involved with working trains in confined conditions on steep grades. On a lighter note, it describes the activities of playful train crews, and the unexpected hazards associated with underground tea trolleys!
In the early 1920s BHP decided that modernisation of the notoriously conservative coal industry was essential. Newcastle steelworks had been temporarily closed due to the inability of the Company to meet competition from imports. The high cost of coal was one reason for this. Until this time, underground coal mines used manual coal extraction, and transport by small coal skips hauled by horses and endless rope. BHP made the decision to own their own coal mines, and make the operations as efficient as possible.
Soft cover, 60 pages, A4 size, 18 photographs, 13 maps and diagrams.
$A16.50 plus postage. Weight 245 gm.
[Price to LRRSA members $A12.38 plus postage)
Settlers
and Sawmillers,
A History of West Gippsland Tramways and the Industries they Served 1875-1934
by Mike McCarthy
ISBN 0 909340 37 4
With the opening of the Gippsland railway to Sale, Victoria, in 1879 the dense forest in West Gippsland provided a valuable resource, which sawmillers were quick to exploit. There was an intense burst of timber production as farmers, seeking to clear their land, worked in partnership with sawmillers, to take advantage of a burgeoning demand for timber in Melbourne. In time the process saw the clearing of West Gippsland to the state that we now know it, and the growth of dairy farms across what had previously been densely forested hills. Between 1875 and 1900 at least 130 sawmill sites were worked in this area, between Beaconsfield and Trafalgar. They were connected to the main towns and railway by tramways using mostly wooden rails. This network of trams, and their associated industries, provides the underlying framework of this book, which explores the relationship between the settlers and the sawmillers, which was so important in establishing agriculture in Gippsland.
Settlers and Sawmillers is a soft-cover reprint of the book first published in 1993.
Soft cover, 168 pages, A4 size, 96 photographs - mostly nineteenth century gems, 17 maps and diagrams - including seven in two colours, 6 graphs, one locomotive diagram, and 37 cameo images from the turn of the century.
$A31.90 plus postage. (Weight 700 gm)
[price to LRRSA members $A23.93 plus postage]
Arsenic
and Molasses
A Pictorial History of the Powelltown Tramway and Timber Milling Operations
by Frank Stamford
ISBN 0 909340 34 X (Soft cover edition)
ISBN 0 909340 35 8 (Hard cover edition)
When the railway from Lilydale to Warburton was opened in 1901 it led to the rapid development of the timber industry in that area. Until 1912 this was in the hands of small operators. In that year a large company with major shareholders in Western Australia and New Zealand was formed to exploit the newly developed Powell process of timber preservation.
The process involved the heating of timber in a solution containing molasses, water, and other ingredients, including arsenic to control white ants. To use the process economically involved the building of a large sawmill and a company town. The Company chose a site 10 miles from Yarra Junction, and named it Powelltown. To provide transport the Company built narrow-gauge steam operated tramways through the bush. The Powell process proved a failure, but the timber milling operations centred on Powelltown remained. This book provides an illustrated history of those operations, and an insight into a way of life long since gone.
Arsenic and Molasses is a companion volume to the LRRSA book Powelltown.
It is designed in the same style, but its emphasis is on photographs, with
brief text to introduce each of the eleven chapters, and to explain the
illustrations. It is intended to complement Powelltown.
All the photographs are different to those published in Powelltown.
Many of the photographs are full page windows-to-the-past, from photographers such as John Buckland, Rev. Brenton, Fred Rayment and others.
Hard cover, 88 pages, A4 size, 103 photographs, 7 maps and diagrams,
with dust jacket and end papers. The end papers consist of two different
A3 size photographs depicting Coffee Pot at work in the bush eighty
years ago.
Print run limited to 1,000 and will not be reprinted.
$A36.00 plus postage. (Weight 650 gm)
[price to LRRSA members $A27.00 plus postage]
Soft cover, 88 pages, A4 size, 103 photographs, 7 maps and diagrams.
$A24.00 plus postage. (Weight 470 gm)
[price to LRRSA members $A18.00 plus postage]
Bellbrakes,
Bullocks & Bushmen,
A Sawmilling and Tramway History of Gembrook 1885-1985
by Mike McCarthy
ISBN 0 909340 33 1
Following the opening of the 2 ft 6 in gauge railway to Gembrook (64 km east of Melbourne) in 1900 timber milling became an important industry in the forest to the east of Gembrook. At least sixty sawmill sites were worked in the region, and for some time sawmilling was the largest single employer in the area. Together they produced a huge volume of timber, not only to satisfy the needs of metropolitan Melbourne, but also to provide fruit cases for the district's orchard industry.
A fascinating network of tramways, providing the vital transport link to the railhead, fanned to the east and north of the town. The construction and operation of these lines is covered in detail but it is integrated with the history of the mills that led to their existence, and the people that worked in the industry or lived in the bush at the mills.
Bellbrakes, Bullocks and Bushmen is a reprint of the book first published in 1987, which has been out of print for many years.
Soft cover, 104 pages, A4 size, 71 photographs, 17 maps and diagrams.
$A26.00 plus postage. (Weight 500 gm)
[price to LRRSA members $A19.50 plus postage]
Light Railways News on CD-ROM
Produced by the Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc. exclusively for LRRSA members only.
Contains twenty years of issues of Light Railway News;
- Nos 1 to 121, December 1977 to December 1997
- Over 5000 individual articles or news items
- Over 2400 automatic cross-references
- Extensive search capabilities providing rapid access to a large store of data
- Provision to add your own notes
- Provision to print out individual articles and news items
Light Railway News on CD-ROM provides the full text of every issue of Light Railway News in an electronically-searchable format. This enables a wide range of searches to be made quickly, for example:
- Find every reference to a particular locomotive by entering its builder's number or its name
- Find every reference to locomotives built by a particular builder, by entering the builder's name
- Find every reference to the tunnel on Lahey's Canungra Tramway, by entering "Lahey and tunnel"
- Find every reference to diesel locomotives working in sewers by entering "diesel and sewer"