User:NearEMPTiness/Brownlee

Bell Hill mill tramway
Bell Hill mill tramway
	Johnson steam locomotive of Bell Hill mill tramway
Technical
Track gauge	3+1⁄2 feet (1,067 mm)
Route map
	Legend

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Kerry_Timber_Company

Brownlies Band Mill tramway was a bush railway at Brownlies Band Mill at Bell Hill in the Region on the West Coast of New Zealand, connecting to the North Island Main Trunk Railway. The tramway with a track gauge of 3+1⁄2 feet (1,067 mm) was used for at least ten years from 1912 to 1922.^[1]

History[edit]

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-ReeWasI-t1-body-d38.html

CC: Brownlee had for many years been the Timber King of this particular district. First erecting a mill at Havelock, his logging operations had eventually reached the Rai, Ronga and Opouri Valleys, some thirty miles from Havelock, to which port they were connected by both road and Brownlee's railway line. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-ReeWasI-t1-body-d35.html

Accidents[edit]

CC: The hazards of sawmilling are to be seen in the following incident: Some years ago I took my two youngest daughters and a school friend for a trip to our mills; they must see trees felled in the bush, always an exciting experience for city people. Coming back on the locomotive bringing in a load of logs, all went well until reaching a decline down a grade of 1 in 22; drizzling rain had made the rails greasy and when the brakes were applied the locomotive began to skid. Soon the log-train was gathering speed; the driver and fireman, finding they could not hold her, yelled “jump” and both leapt from the engine. Our manager was thus left in the cab of the locomotive with three young girls; my youngest daughter tried to push him aside so that she might jump off, but the imperturbable Tibbles told them to hold on tightly while he tried to slow up the train, but it was too late. Providence alone could now save them. At terrific speed the train raced toward the foot of the hill; near the bottom the loco left the rails, but her bolsters ripped into a clay bank; when clear of this the engine shot off the track and rolled over on its side, couplings broke, away went the trucks, and at the bend logs sixty feet long and weighing about five tons each were scattered over a wide area. With their faces blackened from coal dust and legs burnt by hot cinders, it was a bedraggled party that walked back to the settlement. Tibbles suffered some broken ribs, but had the satisfaction of knowing that while it was an unseen hand that guided their destiny, his prevention of panic also helped to save the lives of his young charges. It was a miraculous escape and never-to-be-forgotten experience. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-ReeWasI-t1-body-d38.html

CC: In the midst of our dilemma we were to suffer another cruel blow. Less than a year after John Craig's death, his brother James, who was in charge of our tram-way gang in the construction of the main line, was caught in an explosion when, in a cutting, he staved behind to light the fuse that was to fire a charge of gunpowder. We were never to know whether it was the match carelessly thrown away, or a spark from the fuse that fired the box of powder he had failed to remove to a safe place. It was as though an apparition had appeared when this page 515 brave man, mortally injured, emerged from the smoke and walked slowly towards his comrades. His hair, eyebrows, and moustache were burnt off, and his shirt torn from his badly burned body. Strong men were moved to tears as they looked upon this distressing sight, and were amazed at the fortitude of the victim of the sad mishap. The effect of the burns made his skin too tender to have them carry him and he managed to walk down to the settlement. There he received such treatment as could be given before putting him aboard the Ketch at anchor ready to cross the bay to Riverton where there was a hospital. He died three days later. James Craig, like his brother, was a fine character; his courage in this moment of anguish will ever be remembered. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-ReeWasI-t1-body-d37.html