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Hutt Valley history 30; erosion and flood protection; traction engine and crane on stop-bank
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PhotographerYork Studios
DescriptionOne of a set of 64 images from what must have been a mid-1950s film-strip presentation by Lower Hutt City Council on over 110 years of progress.
Twin stop-banks, Melling to harbour, were built between April 1901 and January 1903.
Partly from the original description:-
"To top the bank a traction engine with crane attachment was used to lift the box off a cart and up-end the shingle in it onto the top of the bank. This avoided the necessity of shovelling the shingle from a lower level (the cart) to a higher level" (the stopbank) It did not avoid lifting shingle from ground to cart.
Traction engine with crane topping the stop bank at Hutt River. Also workmen with teams of Horses. The box body of the cart has been lifted clear; it was probably emptied by placing it on the ground, unhooking two slings, and then lifting it. Put it down again, attach all slings, and swing it back to the cart.
A second image has a title at its boottom
Other pictures show at least 18 standardised carts lined up, empty, and carts drawn by teams of three horses.
This type of compound traction engine and crane was introduced by Aveling and Porter in 1888
The cable lifting the load is stored around a drum on the back of the boom; the drum is capped by a bevel gear, engaged with a second one which rotates round the vertical post. A second pair of bevel gears, steam-driven, drove the first pair. That second pair is not obvious in this picture.
The second image shows the drive on a similar machine.
Date Taken1902
DescriptionOne of a set of 64 images from what must have been a mid-1950s film-strip presentation by Lower Hutt City Council on over 110 years of progress.Twin stop-banks, Melling to harbour, were built between April 1901 and January 1903.
Partly from the original description:-
"To top the bank a traction engine with crane attachment was used to lift the box off a cart and up-end the shingle in it onto the top of the bank. This avoided the necessity of shovelling the shingle from a lower level (the cart) to a higher level" (the stopbank) It did not avoid lifting shingle from ground to cart.
Traction engine with crane topping the stop bank at Hutt River. Also workmen with teams of Horses. The box body of the cart has been lifted clear; it was probably emptied by placing it on the ground, unhooking two slings, and then lifting it. Put it down again, attach all slings, and swing it back to the cart.
A second image has a title at its boottom
Other pictures show at least 18 standardised carts lined up, empty, and carts drawn by teams of three horses.
This type of compound traction engine and crane was introduced by Aveling and Porter in 1888
The cable lifting the load is stored around a drum on the back of the boom; the drum is capped by a bevel gear, engaged with a second one which rotates round the vertical post. A second pair of bevel gears, steam-driven, drove the first pair. That second pair is not obvious in this picture.
The second image shows the drive on a similar machine.
Date Taken1902Part of
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Hutt Valley history 30; erosion and flood protection; traction engine and crane on stop-bank. Upper Hutt City Library, accessed 18/03/2026, https://uhcl.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/17261