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Price's Bush Tramway

Coordinates: 41°02′27″S 175°04′15″E / 41.040718°S 175.070717°E / -41.040718; 175.070717 (Price's Flat)
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Price's Bush Tramway
Bush tramway with a wooden Fell rail, Price's Bush at Akatarawa, circa 1903
Wooden rails of the bush railway in Price's Bush at Akatarawa, circa 1903
Technical
Track gauge3+12 or 4 ft
1,067 or 1,219 mm
Route map

Price's sawmill at Akatarawa
Incline
Tracks in the bush

Price's Bush Tramway was a bush tramway built around 1903 near Akatarawa in the Tararua Range of New Zealand's North Island. It was built with a raised Fell third rail for braking the loaded trucks, as used by the Rimutaka Incline.

History

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Price's Bush was an area owned and milled by Thomas Price (1838–1906), who owned milling operations in Lower Hutt and Petone.[1] It lay in the upper reaches of the Hutt Valley to Waikanae on the Kāpiti Coast in a rugged hill country.[2]

The tramway had wooden rails with a track gauge of 3+12 or 4 feet (1,067 or 1,219 mm) equal to that of the main line or Wellington tram respectively. Between the two rails, on which the wheels ran, there was a raised wooden rail. This was used for braking the loaden trucks downhill, as known from the Fell mountain railway system on the Rimutaka Incline.

Additional literature

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References

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  1. ^ Bush tramway showing wooden rails, at Akatarawa, Price's Bush, circa 1903. A P Godber Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library.
  2. ^ Tracks and Trails: Price's Flat – Area near old Hukinga Village Site along Hukinga Road. Akatarawa Recreational Access Committee Inc. Retrieved on 8 May 2018

41°02′27″S 175°04′15″E / 41.040718°S 175.070717°E / -41.040718; 175.070717 (Price's Flat)