Shays, Crabs and Phosphate: A History of the Railways of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean by David Jehan

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges. Some minor foxing marks on inside front cover and half-title page. Binding is still very good.

Christmas Island is located 1300 km south of Singapore and 2600 km north-west of Perth. It is a small island, the length of the coast being only 80 km. It became an Australian external territory in 1958. Prior to that, it had been under the administration of the then British colony of Singapore.

For most of the twentieth century, the major activity was the mining of phosphate deposits, for the manufacture of superphosphate. To transport the phosphate to the port, a system of industrial railways was built, on gauges of 2 ft (610 mm) and 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm).

For such a small island, the variety of locomotives – both steam and internal combustion – was remarkable. They came from Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the USA. As this book explains operating and maintaining them in such a remote location provided a constant challenge. Included were three 70-ton geared Shay locomotives, a type of locomotive rarely found outside America.

This book does more than describe the locomotives and the operation of the railway. It explores the way the industry was managed, the living and working conditions, the use of passenger trains, and the unique problems caused by the huge population of crabs living on the island.

The book has been written using the extensive records held by the National Archives of Australia, and information from numerous former Christmas Island phosphate staff now living in Australia and New Zealand.

It documents what and how they operated and taps into the social history of the island to give an understanding of the people that were involved. (back cover)

Over 160 photographs, 14 maps and diagrams, references, bibliography and index.