Coal truck at the top of the Dennison Self Acting Incline. Gravity was used to get the full coal trucks down the mountain and the empty ones returned.
The Denniston Self Acting Incline was once described as the eighth Wonder of the World! It was a clever piece of engineering that allowed full coal trucks, each weighing 12 tons, to make the 510 metre descent from the mine at the top of the hill to the Conns Valley railhead below at speeds of up to 8o kph. Denniston was a dangerous mine to work in and the Incline was for a long time the only means for people to get up to and down from the mine. The climate was cold, wet and windy. However the coal was of excellent quality and that made it worth extractin even in those difficult conditions. At the height of its production over 1500 people lived in Dennison with houses, shops, school, church etc. Life in the town can be summed up in the annonymous verse:Damn Dennison, damn the Track, Damn the way, Both there and back, Damn the wind, And damn the weather, God damn Denniston altogether.
Size: 4288px × 2848px
Location: Denniston Mine, near Westport, South Island, New Zealand.
Photo credit: © Brian Hartshorn / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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