The Mount Somers Tramway - Review
New Zealand Railway Observer
“This is a fascinating book. It focuses on the life of a small industrial railway in inland Mid-Canterbury, but surrounding that theme it is also the story of extracting coal, sand, and crushed and burned lime as well as limestone for building, all of which collectively created most of the Tramway's traffic. The book draws a good picture of community life in and around Mount Somers, and especially the privations of winter in the back country. It sets out the commercial and land occupancy history of the valley, and its surrounding hills and paints intriguing pictures of early entrepreneurs, both successful and less so. Above all it sets out in detail the story of the Mount Somers Tramway, from its founding in 1887 to its last struggling years culminating in closure in 1943.
The first edition of this book was published by the Canterbury Branch of the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society in 1971, and written by I. D. Maffey. This new and much- expanded book has drawn together a vast array of research, reports, photographs and other source material, much of it discovered in the years since 1971. lt also describes in some detail the many spurs, sidings, inclines and short narrow gauge lines which left the "main" line to reach lime quarries, coal mines, sandpits and other sources of traffic.
Backing up the text are 146 photographs, and 31 maps, diagrams, and miscellaneous documents. Five appendices deal respectively with steam locomotives, rolling stock, a chronology of mining, all the tramways' chronology, and a list of the lessees of the Tramway, plus a thorough index. And to cater for all those who want to go - as you should - to see what is left of this small piece of New Zealand's industrial history, there is a short guide to what is left today (mainly in local museums, a trail, and preserved sites).
It is one of the most thorough descriptions, records. and analyses to have yet been published about any part of New Zealand's industrial and transport heritage. A few years ago there was Peter Dyer's Puponga, earlier this year there was Bill Prebble's Denniston's Incline; now we have Maffey's The Mount Somers Tramway. Our slender literature about industrial archaeology in New Zealand has suddenly expanded significantly, and with a new level of quality. This book must surely rank close to some of the classic books written about the Welsh slate industry, and the associated railways, albeit taking into account the longer history and bigger scale of the Welsh examples.
This is a crafted book, well laid out, printed on good paper, and showing no signs of haste in reaching a publisher's deadline. It sets a standard for the future. For the reader, it can be browsed, studied, or simply referred to. All will be bound to create pleasure.”
Euan McQueen