NZR E class (1906)

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New Zealand E class locomotive (1906)
E66 Petone Workshops 1906.JPG
E 66 at Petone Workshops in February 1906, just after it was built.
Type and origin
Power typeSteam
Builder New Zealand Railways Department, Petone Workshops.
Serial number69
Build date1906
Total produced1
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 •  Whyte 2-6-6-0T
Gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Driver dia.36.5 in (0.927 m)
Length37 ft 2 in (11.33 m) over couplers
Adhesive weight 61 long tons 2 cwt (136,900 lb or 62.1 t)
61 long tons 2 cwt (62.1 t; 68.4 short tons)
Loco weight65 long tons 16 cwt (147,400 lb or 66.9 t)
65 long tons 16 cwt (66.9 t; 73.7 short tons)
Fuel type Coal
Fuel capacity3 long tons 4 cwt (7,200 lb or 3.3 t)
3 long tons 4 cwt (3.3 t; 3.6 short tons)
Water cap.1,250 imp gal (5,700 l; 1,500 US gal)
Firebox:
 • Firegrate area		26.0 sq ft (2.42 m2)
Boiler pressure200 lbf/in2 (1,400 kPa; 14 kgf/cm2)
Heating surface1,540 sq ft (143 m2)
Cylinders 4 HP, 4 LP, Vauclain compound
High-pressure cylinder9.5 in × 18 in (241 mm × 457 mm)
Low-pressure cylinder16 in × 18 in (406 mm × 457 mm)
Performance figures
Tractive effort 24,200 lbf (108 kN)
Career
Operators NZGR
NumbersE 66
NicknamesPearson's Dream
First run1906
Withdrawn1917
DispositionScrapped

The New Zealand E class locomotive comprised a single Mallet steam locomotive operated by New Zealand Railways (NZR) from 1906 until 1917. Classified as E 66 and nicknamed Pearson's Dream after its designer, [1] it was an experimental Mallet locomotive designed to work on the Rimutaka Incline. The "E" classification was previously used by the Double Fairlie E class of 1872-75, but the classification was free as they had all been withdrawn by the time E 66 entered service. After the withdrawal of E 66, "E" was again re-used on the battery-electric E class of 1922. It was the only Mallet locomotive to operate for the NZR

Contents

Origin and design

The Rimutaka Incline opened in 1878, connecting Wellington with the Wairarapa region, and with the completion of the Wairarapa Line in December 1897, it provided NZR's main link to the north as the west coast route was then privately owned by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR). Six special Fell locomotives, the H class, worked the Incline, but after 1897, traffic increases necessitated additional motive power. Initially, two members of the B class were converted from tender locomotives into tank locomotives and reclassified as the WE class; W 192 was also transferred to assist on the Incline. These locomotives proved to be more expensive to operate and used more fuel than the H class. [2] However, they were considered successful enough by the Chief Mechanical Engineer A. L. Beattie that he authorised his Chief Draughtsman, G. A. Pearson, to design another, more powerful locomotive to work the Incline. [1] [3]

To meet Beattie's requirements, Pearson designed E 66 as a Mallet articulated locomotive with a wheel arrangement of 2-6-6-0T under the Whyte notation system. Its cylinders were placed at each end instead of one wheelset behind the other allowing one set to be driving forward at all times. It was a Vauclain compound, re-using materials left over from an unsuccessful experiment in the 1890s on N 27. [3] This compounding encouraged the use of a then remarkably high boiler pressure, 200 psi, which in turn caused the use of a corrugated furnace for strength. [lower-roman 1] This also provided a clear space below the boiler, allowing room for the rear power bogie. The restricted grate area of such a furnace though may have been the cause of some of the steaming problems. The locomotive also used other surplus materials, such as modified F class wheels. [4] The locomotive was built at the Petone Railway Workshops in the Hutt Valley under Pearson's direct supervision and entered service on 23 February 1906. [5]

Rimutaka Incline service

E class locomotive E 66 at the Petone Railway Workshops E class locomotive, E 66, at the Petone Railway Workshops, with William Godber standing on the front.jpg
E class locomotive E 66 at the Petone Railway Workshops

In a trial between Upper Hutt railway station and Summit railway station, the non-Incline portion of the route over the Rimutaka Range, E 66 successfully hauled forty-five wagons up the 1 in 35 grade. [1] This was the equivalent of a load that would have required two WF class locomotives. [5] The locomotive soon began work on the Incline as intended and was based at Cross Creek railway station at the foot of the Incline. It was rated to haul up to 80 tons on the Incline, 15 tons higher than the maximum permitted of the H class, and in a trial it successfully hauled 103 tons from Cross Creek up to Summit. However, it was much more costly to operate than the H class and thus ran only two-thirds the annual mileage of the H locomotives. E 66 consumed 167 pounds of coal per mile, while an H class used 117 pounds, and its operating cost was 54.10 pence per mile compared to 37.73 pence for an H. Furthermore, E 66's crews complained of excessive heat in the cab, especially through tunnels, [2] and firemen had to wear heat-resistant asbestos pants due to the excessive heat. [1]

Transfer and withdrawal

In December 1908, the WMR was purchased by NZR and its Wellington - Manawatu Line was incorporated into the national network as part of the North Island Main Trunk Railway (NIMT). Most traffic from beyond the Wairarapa was re-routed via the old WMR route as it was quicker and did not include the time-consuming Incline. Accordingly, by 1909, traffic over the Incline was in decline and primarily served the Wairarapa. The traffic volumes thus became manageable for the H locomotives alone, and E 66 was transferred from Cross Creek to Wellington despite its moderate success on the Incline. The NIMT contained a steeply graded section between Wellington and Johnsonville (now truncated as the Johnsonville Branch due to the Tawa Flat deviation) and E 66 was used to bank trains over this route. However, it had not been designed for this work and became unpopular with crews. Due to these problems, it did not meet the designer's ambitions and thus acquired the "Pearson's Dream" nickname. [5]

Due to its unpopularity in Wellington and increasing tonnages over the Incline due to World War I, E 66 was transferred back to Cross Creek in 1916. However, it was only in steam 23 days that year, sometimes for works trains rather than revenue service, and operated over a distance of just 478 miles. In May 1917, it was withdrawn from service, stored, and then dismantled. Its boiler was transferred to Auckland for use as a depot wash-out boiler and used in this capacity until 1931 when it was condemned and dumped. The locomotive thus did not survive to be preserved. [5]

Related Research Articles

Railway preservation in New Zealand

Railway preservation in New Zealand is the preservation of historically significant facets of New Zealand's rail transport history. The earliest recorded preservation attempt took place in 1925, although the movement itself did not start properly until 1960.

Rimutaka Incline

The Rimutaka Incline was a 3-mile-long (4.8 km), 3 ft 6 in gauge railway line on an average grade of 1-in-15 using the Fell system between Summit and Cross Creek stations on the Wairarapa side of the original Wairarapa Line in the Wairarapa district of New Zealand. The term "Rimutaka Incline" is sometimes used incorrectly to refer to other parts or all of the closed and deviated section of the Wairarapa Line between Upper Hutt and Speedy's Crossing, near Featherston. The incline formation is now part of the Remutaka Rail Trail.

2-6-6-0 Articulated locomotive wheel arrangement

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, 2-6-6-0 is a locomotive with one pair of unpowered leading wheels, followed by two sets of three pairs of powered driving wheels and no trailing wheels. The wheel arrangement was principally used on Mallet-type articulated locomotives. Some tank locomotive examples were also built, for which various suffixes to indicate the type of tank would be added to the wheel arrangement, for example 2-6-6-0T for an engine with side-tanks.

NZR W<sup>B</sup> class

The NZR WB class was a class of tank locomotives that operated in New Zealand. Built in 1898 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the twelve members of the class entered service during the first five months of 1899. Eight were withdrawn by the end of 1935, while four others survived with new boilers until the mid-1950s.

NZR N class

The N class were 12 steam locomotives that operated on the national rail network of New Zealand. They were built in three batches, including one batch of two engines for the private Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, the WMR, by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1885, 1891, and 1901. Previously the N class designation had been applied between 1877 and 1879 to Lady Mordaunt, a member of the B class of 1874.

The NZR NA class was a class of two steam locomotives that operated on the privately-owned Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR) and then the publicly owned New Zealand Railways (NZR). Ordered by the WMR to operate on its line up the west coast of the North Island north of Wellington, the first was built in 1894 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and entered service that year as WMR No. 14. In 1896, a second locomotive that was slightly more powerful was ordered from Baldwin, and it entered service in October 1897. The engines were similar to the two members of the N class ordered in 1891, except they were heavier and more powerful. They were Vauclain compound locomotives.

NZR N<sup>C</sup> class

The NZR NC class was a class of two steam locomotives built by Baldwin Locomotive Works built for service on New Zealand's private Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR). They did not acquire their NC classification until the publicly owned New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) purchased the WMR and its locomotive fleet.

NZR O<sup>C</sup> class

The OC class, built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR) in New Zealand, consists of a solitary steam locomotive. Ordered in 1896 as an externally similar but more powerful version of the OA class locomotive ordered in 1894, it entered service in June 1897 as No. 16. It was a Vauclain compound locomotive.

NZR B<sup>C</sup> class

The BC class comprised a single steam locomotive that operated on New Zealand's national rail network. Built for the Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR) and classified simply as No.17, it passed into the ownership of the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) when the government purchased the WMR in December 1908, and it was then that it acquired the BC classification as BC 463.

NZR G class (1928)

The NZR G class was a type of Garratt steam locomotive used in New Zealand, the only such Garratt type steam locomotives ever used by the New Zealand Railways (NZR). They were ordered to deal with traffic growth over the heavy gradients of the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) and to do away with the use of banking engines on steep grades. They were one of the few Garratt designs to employ six cylinders. A mechanical stoker was used to feed coal into the locomotive.

NZR H class

The NZR H class steam locomotive was a unique class of Fell locomotive used by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) on the Rimutaka Incline, the 3-mile (4.8 km) section of 1 in 15 gradient between Cross Creek and Summit, over the Rimutaka Ranges.

Wairarapa Line

The Wairarapa Line is a secondary railway line in the south-east of the North Island of New Zealand. The line runs for 172 kilometres (107 mi), connects the capital city Wellington with the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line at Woodville, via Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Masterton.

<i>Napier Express</i>

The Napier Express was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department initially between Napier and Palmerston North and later between Napier and Wellington. It ran from 1891 until 1954.

The Wairarapa Mail was a passenger train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) between Wellington and Woodville, continuing on to Palmerston North as a mixed train. It ran from 1909 until 1948 and its route included the famous and arduous Rimutaka Incline.

The Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust is a non-profit, charitable trust in New Zealand that was established in 2003 with the objective of reinstating an operating heritage railway over the Remutaka Ranges using the original route of the Wairarapa Line between Maymorn and Featherston, including the world-famous Rimutaka Incline.

The Petone Workshops were a government-owned railways maintenance and repair facility located in Petone, in Lower Hutt in the Wellington region of New Zealand's North Island. It took over construction and maintenance of rolling stock in the Wellington region from the Pipitea Point facility, starting in 1876, and became the only such facility in the region from 1878 until the opening of the replacement Hutt Workshops facility in 1929.

Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company

The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company was a private railway company that built, owned and operated the Wellington-Manawatu railway line between Thorndon in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, and Longburn, near Palmerston North in the Manawatu, between 1881 and 1908, when it was acquired by the New Zealand Government Railways. Its successful operation in private ownership was unusual for early railways in New Zealand.

NZR W<sup>J</sup> class

The NZR WJ class was a class of one steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for service on New Zealand's private Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR). She acquired the WJ classification when the publicly owned New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) purchased the WMR and its locomotive fleet in 1908.

NZR W<sup>H</sup> class

The NZR WH class was a class of three steam locomotives built by Manning Wardle in 1884 for service on New Zealand's private Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR). They did not acquire their WH classification until 1908 when WMR was nationalised and incorporated into the New Zealand Government Railways (NZR). A total of five locomotives were purchased by the WMR but two had been sold by the time NZR took over the company.

Railway electrification in New Zealand consists of three separate electric systems, all in the North Island. Electrification was initially adopted by the New Zealand Railways for long tunnels; the Otira Tunnel, the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel and the two Tawa Tunnels of the Tawa Flat Deviation. Electrification of Wellington suburban services started with the Johnsonville Line and Kapiti Line out of Wellington from the 1930s. Auckland suburban services were electrified in 2014–2015. Electrification of long-distance services on the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) dates from 1986. New long tunnels, for example the Rimutaka Tunnel and the Kaimai Tunnel, were operated by diesels, and the Otira and Lyttelton Tunnels have converted to diesel operation.

References

Footnotes

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Palmer & Stewart 1965, p. 83.
  2. 1 2 W. N. Cameron, Rimutaka Incline: Extracts from "A Line of Railway" (Wellington: New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society, 1992), 83.
  3. 1 2 McClare 1988, p. 95.
  4. ↑ McClare 1988, p. 97.
  5. 1 2 3 4 McClare 1988, p. 98.

Bibliography

  • McClare, E. J. (1988). Part Two: 1900 to 1930. Steam Locomotives of New Zealand. Wellington: New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society. ISBN   0908573499.
  • Millar, Sean (2011). The NZR Steam Locomotive. Wellington: New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society. ISBN   978-0-908573-89-9.
  • Palmer, A. N.; Stewart, W. W. (1965). Cavalcade of New Zealand Locomotives. Wellington: A H. & A W. Reed. ISBN   978-0-207-94500-7.
  • Stewart, W. W. (1974). When Steam was King. Wellington: A. H. & A. W. Reed Ltd. ISBN   978-0-589-00382-1.
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