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Messrs. Smyth Brothers' Tramway was from 1897 to 1908 a bush tramway in New Zealand. [1]
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| Track gauge | 3 ft (914 mm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Messrs. Smyth Brothers' Tramway was from 1897 to 1908 a bush tramway in New Zealand. [1]
Smyth Bros. owned around 1900 a logging operation using a steam tramway at Kennedy's Bay on the north-east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, a few miles north of Mercury Bay. [2]
The 0-4-0ST saddle tank steam locomotive was the first locomotive built in 1885 by A & G Price of Thames. [3] It was a geared locomotive with two cylinders arranged horizontally which drove the axles through spur gears. [4] It had originally been ordered by civil engineer James Stewart to be used on the Waiorongomai or Piako County Tramway, but the deal fell through. [3] The locomotive was instead used from 1886 to 1894 by Mander & Bradley in Pukekaroro. Smyth Brothers tendered subsequently successfully for the locomotive and used it from 1897 to 1908 at Kennedy Bay, before it was sold in 1908 to the governmental Public Works Department as PWD # 511 for railway construction at Picton and Otira, and finally scrapped in 1917. [1]
Gold has been frequently found at Kennedy's Bay. [2] In 1904, Smyth Bros. found gold in one of their driving streams, Omoho Creek, exposed by the action of the floating kauri logs about 4 miles north of the Royal Oak Mine. By driving timber down the Omoho Creek towards Kennedy Bay the creek channel had been scoured clean, thus revealing many fine reefs and leaders. The leader discovered crossed the creek in north-southerly direction. Strong gold was visible in the stone for over 30 feet (9.1 m), the size of the reef being up to 6 inches (15 cm) in thickness, so that an experienced prospector was contracted to retrieve the gold. [5]
Great Barrier Island lies in the outer Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, 100 kilometres (62 mi) north-east of central Auckland. With an area of 285 square kilometres (110 sq mi) it is the sixth-largest island of New Zealand and fourth-largest in the main chain. Its highest point, Mount Hobson, is 627 metres (2,057 ft) above sea level. The local authority is the Auckland Council.
Agathis australis, commonly known by its Māori name kauri, is a coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae, found north of 38°S in the northern regions of New Zealand's North Island.
A geared steam locomotive is a type of steam locomotive which uses gearing, usually reduction gearing, in the drivetrain, as opposed to the common directly driven design.
Thames is a town at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It is located on the Firth of Thames close to the mouth of the Waihou River. The town is the seat of the Thames-Coromandel District Council. The Māori iwi are Ngāti Maru, who are descendants of Marutuahu's son Te Ngako. Ngāti Maru is part of the Ngati Marutuahu confederation of tribes or better known as Hauraki Iwi.
The Powelltown tramway was a 3 ft narrow gauge tramway that operated between Powelltown and Yarra Junction, Victoria, Australia, between 1913 and 1945.
A & G Price Limited is an engineering firm and locomotive manufacturer in Thames, New Zealand founded in 1868.
The Kinleith Branch railway line is located in the Waikato region of New Zealand. The line was constructed by the Thames Valley and Rotorua Railway Company, Taupo Totara Timber Company and rebuilt by the Public Works Department primarily to serve the Kinleith Mill in 1952. It is 65 kilometres (40 mi) in length.
The Waitawheta River is a river of the Waikato Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows from a point south-east of Mount Te Aroha in the Kaimai Range to the Karangahake Gorge at the foot of the Coromandel Peninsula to reach the Ohinemuri River at Karangahake, five kilometres east of Paeroa.
The WAGR G class is a class of steam locomotives operated by the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) from 1889. The class's wheel arrangement varied; 48 were 2-6-0s and 24 were 4-6-0s.
The Coromandel Gold Rushes on the Coromandel Peninsula and around the nearby towns of Thames and Waihi in New Zealand in the nineteenth century were moderately successful. Traces of gold were found about 1842. A small find was made near Coromandel in 1852; and a larger find in August 1867 when there was a modest rush. But Thames acquired a reputation for speculative holding of unworked ground despite regulations designed to check it, and some miners left for Queensland. Most of the gold was in quartz reefs rather than in more accessible alluvial deposits and had to be recovered from underground mines and extracted using stamping batteries.
The Piha Tramway was from 1906 to 1921 a 3-foot (910 mm) bush tramway in New Zealand, the steepest sections of which were operated on inclines by steam-powered cable winches.
The Ellis & Burnand Tramway was from 1922 to 1958 a 37 kilometres (23 mi) long bush tramway near Ongarue in the central North Island of New Zealand with a gauge of 3 ft 6 in.
The Mountain Rimu Timber Company owned and operated a bush tramway near Mamaku, south of the Kaimai Range near Rotorua in the Bay of Plenty Region of the North Island of New Zealand. The tramway, with a track gauge of 3+1⁄2 feet (1,067 mm), was used from approximately 1898, to at least 1935.
The Piako County Tramway was built in 1882-83, just south of Te Aroha. It was a 2 mi 22 ch (3.7 km) long, horse powered tramway. It carried quartz from gold mines in the Kaimai Range to water-powered batteries in the Waiorongomai Stream valley below.
Kūaotunu is a small coastal township at the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula on the mouth of the Kuaotunu River on the North Island of New Zealand.
The Charming Creek Tramway was a 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) long private bush tramway at Ngakawau in Buller District on the West Coast in New Zealand. It was used from 1903 or 1905 to 1958.
Tararu is a former gold-mining village on the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand. State Highway 25 runs through it; Te Puru being about 7 km (4.3 mi) to the north, and Thames about 2 km (1.2 mi) to the south.
Kauaeranga Valley is a valley created by the Kauaeranga River, which flows from the Coromandel Range southwest to the Firth of Thames at Thames, New Zealand in the North Island. It contains the settlement of Kauaeranga on the Coromandel Peninsula. It is located near Thames, in the Thames-Coromandel District in the Waikato region. It covers a land area of 180.51 km2.
George Holdship (1839–1923) emigrated to Auckland in 1855 and became a businessman, mainly involved in timber logging and sawmills. His companies removed much of North Island’s native forest, initially kauri and later kahikatea. He moved to Sydney in 1913.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . Re-published in: Kennedy Bay lumber operations reveal gold deposits. Coromandel Life, Late Spring/Holiday 2014, p. 14. Retrieved on 24 April 2018.