A Story of Sydney in the Wild Days of the Steam Trams
Sydney once operated, reputedly, the world's largest steam tram network. Beginning with a temporary line to the International Exhibition of 1879, the system rapidly spread into the far corners of the city. Today's long-established suburbs such as Coogee, Bondi Beach, Dulwich Hill, Leichhardt and Rozelle took shape along the tracks of those quaint little hissing, whistling Yankee "steam motors" hauling ungainly double-deck cars. At the turn of the century (the eve of electrification) steam trains were making 1200 daily journeys through the City and carrying some 70 million passengers each year.
More than just a convenient means of transport, the "Juggernauts" and "Manglers" became an indispensable part of the city's social fabric: a bloody accident rate, the nefarious deeds of larrikin conductorss, wolf-whistling drivers and the Bondi tram that "shot through" - these were all daily incidents of growing up of a great city.
'Juggernaut!' is not a book for steam buffs alone, as a vivid portrait of the confident and bustling metropolis that was Victorian-era Sydney, anyone with an interest in the city and its history will delight in its entertaining revelations.
