DescriptionTROLLEYS
Trolleys were always a big favorite with the Puketahi St kids as we had a big hill at the top of our street, which was a tar sealed road. The only problem was, we had to share the road with the occasional car that would be heading up the hill to the four houses up there. The trolley run would have been about 300 meters. So, once you got going, and due to the steepness, if a car came up the hill, to avoid a head on crash, you just swerved left, off the road and into the blackberry vines, complete with thorns. My trolley consisted of a 6 x 1 board, a pair of rubber tyred pram wheels nailed onto the board. The nails were just bent over to keep the axle attached to the board, a bolt through the board, a piece of rope to steer it with, and a length of broom handle for a foot rest.
The rear axle was the other half of poor Mum’s broom handle, whittled down on the ends, so as to fix on, the pair of cast iron lawn mower wheels. These were kept in place by a couple of nails in each end to stop them from coming off. About twenty nails attached the rear axle to the main sit upon board. At the foot of the hill, the cast iron rear wheels made it great for spinning out to stop, before you crossed Alexander St.
West Coast New Zealand History (18th May 2015). Trolleys. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 9th Apr 2026 13:43, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/942
