In the early part of 2011 Robert Schwandl ventured his furthest yet and toured Australia and New Zealand. This book is the result. There is a brief introduction to each country and its (rail) transport structure and a chapter on each of Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Melbourne is, of course, the world’s largest single-operator tramway. The greatest coverage is of the urban rail networks, then tramways, actual or under construction (Gold Coast), tramway museums, the one trolleybus system in Australasia and the one cable car (both Wellington) and busways, of which Australia has several operating successfully. Some of the railways have a distinctly British look about their rolling stock, such as the “E” class of train in Wellington, actually built in Hungary, and we are also told that that city’s trolleybuses are the only ones in the world that drive on the left! It is a pity that when Australia’s railways were being built, they could not have settled on a uniform gauge- conversions and dual-gauge track are the result.
As usual with this series, the standard of production is excellent, and the book is right up-to-date. It is a superb taster of (primarily railed) transport in the two countries and if this doesn't make you want to go there, nothing will! The only criticism of these books as guides is that they are too large for most pockets.
144 pages on gloss paper plus laminated card covers, 170mm wide by 240mm. 319 colour photographs and 16 maps. German and English text equally.

GJB