Published by Grantham House, Wellington, 1985, 112 pages.

Trams resplendent in colourful liveries were once the flag-bearers and prized possessions of Municipalities - they were to Councils what an airline is to a Nation today. These lumbering juggernauts were supreme on our urban thoroughfares. New Zealanders rode them to school, to work, to sports, and many to fame. The tramcar passed the corner of the street at regular intervals - the vital link between home and the urban centre. When Trams were Trumps' is an illustrated history of the birth and evolution of the tramcar in New Zealand. The book is divided into three sections. The first, All Fares Please!, illustrates the inception and growth of private enterprise horse, steam, cable, electric and battery tramways. The second, Monarchs of the Road, brings back some of that past era when trams were part of everyday life and gave people mobility in the days before the ascendancy of the automobile. The third. Rust in Peace, commemorates the nostalgic farewells to vehicles that had endeared themselves to generations. The illustrations have been chosen from many thousands of pictures take by photographers through the decades. More than 200 photographs, 40 colour plates, 30 historical tickets, and cartoons, chronicle the passing parade of these classic vehicles through the changing facades of streets in New Zealand cities, and the people who drove and rode them, spanning more than 100 years.