75 years of the DC-3

75 years after the first one rolled off the production line in 1935, hundreds of one of the world's most legendary aircraft - the DC-3 - are still in service. This book brings together the largest collection of photographs of the DC-3 from inception to the present time, in both civilian and military service. The author has gathered some 250 high quality photographs from around the world.

A rich history surrounds the DC-3. As the aircraft of choice for the world's major air carriers it helped spur the tremendous growth in airline travel in the late 1930s, and even more so after WW2. General Dwight D Eisenhower identified the DC-3/C-47 as one of the keys to the Allies' victory in WW2. The aircraft even served as a potent gunship in the Vietnam conflict. This book captures this history, bringing this workhorse to life for readers through its particularly dramatic photographs.

For those seeking more details on its use in NZ civilian service, the book The Aircraft of Air New Zealand and Affiliates since 1940 has plenty of information and photos.

Bornholm ferry coming to NZ

Bornholmstrafikken - which operates ferries to the Danish island of Bornholm from Køge in Denmark, Ystad in Sweden and Sassnitz in Germany - has sold their ropax ferry Dueodde to New Zealand's Strait Shipping in accordance with the future plan for the traffic to Bornholm.

Dueodde will be delivered after docking shortly after 1 October and will be replaced by the Povl Anker on the Ystad-Rønne run until a new fast ferry is delivered from Tasmania. The Rønne–Køge service is performed by the sister vessel Hammerodde, which has been rebuilt by STX Europe Shipyard in Helsinki. The capacity has been extended with some 300 lane-metres plus extra accommodation for passengers.

Dueodde was built at De Merwerde Shipyard in Hardinxveld in Holland in 2005. The ship is powered by a double MaK-plant with a output of 8,640 kW to a service speed of 18 knots.

On Cook Strait runs the Dueodde will replace the Monte Stello.

Anatomy of a rural mountain railway

The 51 km scenic railway line through the hill country of lower Silesia from Waldenburg to Glatz in Germany needed a lot of perseverance by those who fought for its construction. However, their ambition was achieved in 1880.

After 1945, with Stalin's redrawing of the maps of Eastern Europe, the railway found itself in Poland, and the termini were renamed Walbrzych and Klodzko respectively.

This new book on this undulating, twisting railway line gives the story of its construction, engineering, stations and sidings and discusses the functioning of the line and its connections from inception until its renovation and re-launch in 2009. Today diesel railcars take an hour and a half to traverse the 51 km.

For those who don't read Polish, the book has over 200 photographs (some in colour), many line drawings and timetables from 1917 to 2009.

1:12 scale Morris Minor model now available

This 1:12 scale highly detailed model of a 1956 Morris Minor convertible should appeal to fans of this well-known British marque, the subject of the book The New Zealand Morris Minor Story published by us.

The model by Sun Star sells in the USA for $148; we don't know what retailers in NZ sell it for.

British family cars of the 50s and 60s

The three decades following WW2 saw a big dominance of British vehicles on NZ roads, a result of government trade policies of the time which supported 2-way trade with the 'old country'.

After the UK joined the EEC (now EU) at the beginning of 1973 and NZ's exports there suddenly faced big obstacles, this changed. The Kirk government and its successors sought to develop reciprocal trade with other countries, particularly Japan and Korea, and as a result better engineered Japanese cars quickly replaced British ones.

This A5 format book takes a fond look at the dinky cars that many NZers will remember from those years, probably because they owned one. They certainly kept repair shops busy but they were a major part of the 'scene'. The book has 64 pages (8 of them allocated to 'outsiders' i.e. continental European cars), and about half the illustrations are in colour. Card covers.

Railway atlas of Italy and Slovenia

This new atlas contains a wealth of detail about the railway and tramway (extra-urban) lines that exist, and have existed, in these two countries - as well as details of aerial cableways, stations, tunnels, traffic types, voltage systems, altitudes, distances, particulars of operators and much more - on colour map pages. You also get the same details in areas of neighbouring countries near the borders: France, Switzerland, Austria and Croatia.

It is obvious that this book must have involved a lot of research and cartographic work, and is a must-have for anyone interested in the transport history of Italy and Slovenia. Legends are in Italian, German, French and English while the accompanying body text is in Italian and German (well, Slovenian isn't exactly spoken by many people and German is an official language in the South Tirol part of Italy).

It has 192 pages in 280 x 240 mm format, hardcover.

From Lightning train to InterCity

That is the translation of the title of this book marking 75 years of Danish high speed train services between major cities in the country. The first Lyntog diesel-powered multiple unit sets were introduced in 1935, undoubtedly influenced by the Flying Hamburger sets introduced on German railways two years previously.

The famous DSB poster from 1937 made a feature of the sets' 120 km/h speed, which has been increased about 50% in Denmark in the years since, and a lot more by the electric multiple unit high speed trains in France and Germany, the TGV and ICE respectively. Transport in Denmark has always been hampered by the expanses of water between its many islands; 1935 also saw the opening of the Lillebælt (Little Belt) bridge between Jutland and Funen -- but it was another 63 years before the Storebælt (Big Belt) bridge between Funen and Zealand was opened, thus enabling trains to travel from Copenhagen to Jutland without the need for a ferry trip. This was further improved with the opening of the Øresund bridge between Copenhagen and Malmö (Sweden) in 2000.

In its 192 pages this hardback book manages to present an impressive number of historic and more recent photos, plans and memorabilia in colour and b/w which provide a visual feast of railway interest for those who can't read the Danish text.

All shook up

Although Wellington has been the focus of major earthquake preparation for a number of decades, as it straddles a faultline, a 'biggie' has hit Christchurch instead. The risk for Wellington remains, of course.

Having a large number of old brick buildings it is not surprising that the city streets there were covered with rubble, and aftershocks may yet bring more down.

The silver lining in the cloud, apart from the amazing absence of fatalties, is that the country's building industry, which has been in the doldrums recently, will now be extremely busy for the next several months.

50 years of the Australian Ford Falcon

In September 1960 Ford Australia released the XK series Falcon. It was initially offered only as a four door sedan, in both Falcon and Falcon Deluxe trim levels. The XK was essentially a right hand drive version of the North American model, although local country dealers often included modifications such as heavy duty rear suspension (5 leaves) and larger 6.50 x 13 tyres. Ford finally had a serious contender to the Holden in the family car category. The first Falcon was exceptionally popular – half a million people packed Ford dealerships to see the sleek newcomer. Plus, XK Falcon sales doubled Ford’s share of the Australian car market!

The American Falcon was phased out over 1969-71 but the Australian Falcon has continued to the present day, exclusively for Australia and New Zealand, and over 3 million have been sold.

above London at night

A fascinating variation on the standard 'from the air' books is this new book featuring photos of London taken at night or in twilight. New digital cameras now provide opportunities that were never available with film.

Naturally many details visible during the day disappear, but nearly all streets are lit up at night with streetlights, as are most landmarks while buildings become patterns of connected light dots and most are recognisable. The result is a literal overview of one of the world's most vibrant cities during its night-time persona.

The book has 160 pages in 255 mm square format, hardcover.