The Remarkable Charles Ross-Marten

摘要

Charles Rous-Marten (1842-1908), a railway journalist, was most likely New Zealand's first railway enthusiast. Charles Rous-Marten's life is fascinating. He gained fame, principally with his stopwatches, in Britain and New Zealand. Roy offers an account of his life and then Noel provides an in-depth study of the man. Noel's article, titled The Remarkable Rous-Marten, appeared in N Z Railway Observer Wo. 88, Winter 1961. As did railway poet Will Lawson, Charles Rous-Marten arrived in New Zealand in 1858 with his emigrating family. He was aged 16. He joined Wellington's Evening Post newspaper around 1876 and later became the paper's editor. He was in New Zealand early enough to meet our railway pioneers, including Allison D Smith who introduced the American tradition to New Zealand with the Rogers K class. Indeed Rous-Marten saw the first of the class, K87 and K88, when they arrived in Christchurch. He says in appearance they 'were like a watch with all their working parts on the outside.'