ABOVE: The stokers at the twin locomotive boilers
VIP.WB12
BELOW: Engineer Ben Ditmer beside his engines
ENGINEERING
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NZ WORKBOAT REVIEW 2013
VIP.S89
70,000 to 80,000 rivets were used in the prefabrication,
holding some 140 plates and 78 frames together.
Following construction she was dismantled and
transported by rail to Kingston at the southern end of
Lake Wakatipu, where the keel was once again laid on
November 28 at a temporary shipyard at Kingston. By
December 14 the last frames were set and the hull replated
with her finishing rivets.
TSS Earnslaw, takes her name from Mount Earnslaw,
the 9,250 foot peak at the head of Lake Wakatipu. She was
launched on February 24, 1912. There was little fanfare at
this stage while the hull was moored at the Kingston wharf
where final construction, along with the installation of the
engines, boilers and internal fittings, was carried out.
On August 3, TSS Earnslaw made a successful sailing
as far as the entrance to Queenstown Bay, and plans were
made for her maiden passenger voyage from Kingston to
Queenstown on October 18, and from Queenstown to the
Head of the Lake on October 19.
A large crowd gathered on the purpose-built Queenstown
wharf now known as the steamer wharf, to welcome the
elegant new steamship carrying parliamentarians, local MPs,
and other officials, as well as people from all over Otago and
Southland who were keen to be part of the historic voyage.
The following day a public holiday was declared for her
debut trip to the head of the lake and around 550 people
paid the 2s6d fare to make the journey.
TSS Earnslaw officially went into service under the
NZR banner on October 21, 1912, operating two days a
week to Kingston, and three days a week to the head of the
lake, calling at lakeside stations en-route picking up coal
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