January 2021
CENTRAL HAWKE’S BAY BRANCH of the VINTAGE CAR CLUB of NZ (Inc) Lamb Country Branch Email: centralhawkesbay@vcc.org.nz
POSTAL ADDRESS
CHB Branch of the Vintage Car Club (Inc) c/-18 Wilder Street, Waipukurau. 4200
Club Nights—7.30pm 3rd Wednesday of every Month
The 1912 TSS Earnslaw—the only Coal Fired Steam-Ship in the Southern Hemisphere
TSS Earnslaw—shortly after launch in 1912.
TSS Earnslaw–in December 2020
The TSS Earnslaw is a 1912 Edwardian coal fired steamship based at Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown. It is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Central Otago, and the only remaining commercial passenger-carrying coal fired steamship in the southern hemisphere. At the beginning of the twentieth century, New Zealand Railways (NZR) awarded a £20,850-pound contract to John McGregor and Company shipbuilders of Dunedin to build a steamship for Lake Wakatipu at their Otago foundry and engineering works. The Earnslaw was designed by naval architect Hugh McRae and was based on a SiemensMartin steel hull design and using Kauri for the decking. Propulsion was provided by twin coal-fired triple-expansion, jet-condensing, vertically inclined engines. The keel was laid on 4 July 1911. In 1936 a road was built between Kingston and Queenstown. The demand for transport by rail and ship declined but both The Kingston Flyer and the TSS Earnslaw would swing into action during the holiday seasons. The TSS Earnslaw continued to service the people around the lake twice weekly until 1968 when she was leased to Fiordland Travel who would later become Real Journeys.