New Zealand Industrial Trams
INTRODUCTION
Industrial tramways generally all had a short life, often in an undocumented location, so researching them becomes extra challenging. The aim with this section of the wiki is to bring together whatever evidence has been found and documented, so that eventually many little bits of information can help build a bigger picture.
Industrial Tramways fall into a few main groups, and each will be dealt with separately. Invariably we will come across overlaps where the likes of mining and logging might share some parts of a tramway for mutual benefit. The main categories are Construction, Logging, Mining and Factory, of which Logging and Mining will generate the most interest and material. In order to manage the organisation of the data, I intend to deal with it by location, breaking the country down into regional areas and then into smaller areas within those as needed. The start page for each of the groups will therefore show a map of the whole country with links to each region taking you to the next level down. Eventually, a few statistics will accompany the regional names to indicate how many tramways have been recorded in each area. The Main page for each group will also have access to lists by name and by the Company operating each tramway. Again for simplicity, Tramways will be numbered, but where they had names, the names will also be clearly indicated. Where a tramway had multiple tracks each track will have a sub number shown as a decimal point, starting with preceding '0's if necessary. Tramway wiki pages will all start with an identifier, either Bush_Tramway, Mine_Tramway, Construction_Tramway or Factory_Tramway, followed by a two letter Province abbreviation, followed by its number.
ADDING TO THIS INFORMATION
The starting point for the data recorded on this and subsequent pages is taken from the Quail Maps, of which the Fourth and last edition was published in 1993. Only so-much could be captured by a publication of that type but the aim here is that the data can be continually added to, and corrected where wrong assumptions might have been made. For obvious reasons the data is very structured so not necessarily easy for most people to edit correctly. The aim is to record every tramway for which there is information, with each of these tramways getting their own wiki page. If a page already exists for the tramway that you have additional data for, anyone will be able to add information to the Discussion Page or the Info Submission page associated with every page on this wiki. They are accessible by clicking the appropriate tab at the top of the page. Additions to the Discussion page should be confined to discussing material that is already on the home page for that topic. Additions to the Info Submission page should be confined to new information that does not appear on the home page for that topic.
| Abreviation | Region |
|---|---|
| NL | Northland |
| AK | Auckland |
| WK | Waikato |
| BP | Bay of Plenty |
| EC | East Cape |
| HB | Hawkes Bay |
| TN | Taranaki |
| MW | Manawatu |
| WG | Wellington |
| MB | Marlborough |
| TM | Tasman |
| WC | West Coast |
| CB | Canterbury |
| OT | Otago |
| SL | Southland |