| NZR K class (1877) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 K 88 at The Plains Railway in 2013. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The NZR K class of 1877 was the first example of American-built locomotives to be used on New Zealand's rail network. [1] Their success coloured locomotive development in New Zealand until the end of steam.
In 1877, the new Chief Mechanical Engineer of the NZR, Allison D. Smith, required additional motive power for the fledgling Government system. It had been intended to order more J Class locomotives that were of English design. American civil engineer Walton W. Evans had been promoting the advantages of U.S.-built engines to railways of South America and further abroad. His efforts, having secured an order of two locomotives for Australia's Victorian Railways the previous year, [2] had enticed Smith (see Vogel railways), and an order was placed with the Rogers Locomotive Works of New Jersey, for two tender locomotives with a 2-4-2 wheel arrangement. The initial two Rogers locos were ordered prior to Smith's appointment as Locomotive Engineer on 10 April 1877 (he had been manager of the Wellington section), and were ordered through Evans. The locomotives were described by R.D. Grant as having the design hallmarks of Roger's Superintendent William H. Hudson, with his truck design innovations and his patented compensated springing throughout from the front bissel truck to the driving wheel springs and to the rear swinging truck. [3]
Upon their arrival to New Zealand, the locomotives attracted attention with their bar frames, Gothic-style wooden cabs, locomotive bell, ornate embellishments and rakish appearances, which were at odds with the traditional English locomotive appearance in New Zealand at the time and were described by journalist Charles Rous-Marten as "a watch with all its works outside". [4] One Christchurch paper suggested that they needed a glass case to protect them from the weather. [1] They looked flimsy because of the bar frames rather than the heavier plate frames of the Js. [5] In addition, this first pair, K 87 "Lincoln" and K 88 "Washington", reputedly wore a brightly coloured livery of green, blue, yellow, red, purple, and gold in addition to their Russian Iron boiler jackets. The Baldwin and Rogers locomotives reflected the styling adopted in the 1870s by American builders with elements from the Renaissance Revival and Neo-Baroque architectural styles, and with Islamic Moorish (from Alhambra) influences. Bold colours and painted decorations were used. [6]
After arrival in the South Island at Lyttelton, the locomotives were quickly put into service. K 87 "Lincoln" quickly distinguished itself by hauling the first bogie-carriage passenger train, and both the locomotives soon earned a reputation as fast and free runners with mild coal consumption. K 88 "Washington" hauled the first train between Christchurch and Dunedin in 1878 on the newly opened Main South Line, [7] assisted by the Double Fairlie "Josephine" south of Oamaru until "Josephine" had to be taken off the train due to mechanical issues – caused by how K 88 was being driven. Six more of the class was ordered from the Rogers Locomotive Works, numbered 92 to 97 before K's 87 and 88 had entered service – the former being ordered in January 1878 [8] while the latter entered service in March that year, such was Allison Smith's faith in the class he had ordered.
The railway authorities regarded the first two K's as "infinitely superior to the English locomotives" [8] operating at the same time. The second batch of locomotives entered service in the South Island and were almost identical to the first two, albeit with no names and a more conventional livery (it is likely K 87 and K 88 had been repainted by this time as well). In 1883, the K class was the only engine class officially permitted to run at 35 mph (56 km/h) in ordinary service. [9]
As more powerful locomotives arrived on the railway system, increasingly from the American Baldwin Locomotive Works, the K class became relegated from the top expresses down to express trains on secondary lines. Two of the K's, K 93 and K 96, were transferred to the North Island during this time. Starting after 1900 the class received new NZR-built boilers to replace their Rogers-built wagon-top boiler. The South Island locomotives gained boilers with a Belpaire firebox, while the North Island pair received round-top boilers. All new boilers were pressed to 160 psi (1,100 kPa), compared to their original 130 psi (900 kPa). By this time the class had also received Westinghouse brake equipment. It was during this time that some of the K class, having been relegated to the Kingston-Gore branch, gained a reputation for the Kingston-Invercargill express train which earned the name "Kingston Flyer". [1]
The K class was gradually with drawn from service in the 1920s. Both the North Island examples, plus K 87 "Lincoln" had been withdrawn as early as 1922. The others remained in operation for a few more years, with K 92 and K 95 not withdrawn until 1927. As was customary at the time, the locomotives were not immediately scrapped but set aside for disposal. [10] All remaining South Island engines lasted long enough to be dumped as embankment protection starting in 1926.
Three of the Rogers K class have so far been exhumed and entered into preservation. The first and most notable of these locomotives is K 88 Washington, which was removed from the river by the Southland Vintage Car Club on 19 and 20 January 1974. There were a number of loose plans regarding the locomotive's future but these came to nothing. The locomotive wreck was nearly put back into the riverbank until The Plains Vintage Railway & Historical Museum proposed to restore it back to working order.
Starting in July 1974 they completed restoration on the 7 November 1981, proving that restoring other buried locomotive was feasible. It was recommissioned on the 25 November the following year. However on 24 September 1987 K 88's boiler (which was recovered from the Oreti River) was condemned, and it was not until 30 March 2002 that K 88 was once again in working order, this time with a new Belpaire-style all-welded boiler and wearing an approximation of the original colourful livery. [11]
The other two locomotives also unearthed are K 94, removed by a private owner and moved to The Plains Railway on 21 April 1986 (currently unrestored in storage with no active plans for restoration) and K 92, recovered in 1985 by the Fiordland Vintage Machinery Club for their Museum's railway on the shores of Lake Te Anau. Partially restored in Te Anau, the venture fell through before the locomotive had been fully completed and it was subsequently put up for sale, with the restoration being completed in Dunedin. Purchased by Colin Smith in 1998, the K 92's restoration was completed with intent to recreate the old "Kingston Flyer" trains of the early 1900s at the Waimea Plains Railway. While waiting for the railway to be completed, K 92 visited a number of railways in the South Island, with some of the more notable visits being those to the Kingston Flyer route, where it triple headed with the two AB class locomotives present there. It also visited K 88 at the Plains Railway, where both locomotives were used together extensively.
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.
The Kingston Flyer is a vintage steam train in the South Island of New Zealand at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu. It used 14 kilometres of preserved track that once formed a part of the Kingston Branch. Originally, Kingston Flyer was a passenger express train between Kingston, Gore, Invercargill, and less frequently, Dunedin. It was operated by the New Zealand Railways (NZR) from the 1890s to 1957. In 1971, NZR revitalised the service as a tourist venture, later leasing the locomotives and rolling stock in 1982 to a private company. Since then, the Kingston Flyer has been through a number of owners, most recently being owned by the Kingston Flyer Ltd. A group of volunteers has restored the railway, rolling stock and locomotives to service. In July 2021 the Kingston Flyer received resource consent to operate, initially for tour groups.
The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Invercargill via Dunedin. It is one of the most important railway lines in New Zealand and was one of the first to be built, with construction commencing in the 1860s. At Christchurch, it connects with the Main North Line to Picton, the other part of the South Island Main Trunk.
The NZR F class was the first important class of steam locomotive built to operate on New Zealand's railway network after the national gauge of 3 ft 6 in was adopted. The first locomotives built for the new gauge railways were two E class double Fairlies for the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway Company. The F class was the first class ordered by the central government, and between 1872 and 1888, a total of eighty-eight members of the class were constructed.
The NZR A class were a class of steam locomotives built in 1906 with a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement for the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR). The class should not be confused with the older and more obscure A class of 1873. They were designed by the NZR's Chief Mechanical Engineer, A. L. Beattie and his Chief Draughtsman, G. A. Pearson to replace less powerful locomotives struggling with increasing loads on the South Island Main Trunk Railway, and in anticipation of the traffic volumes that would be created upon the completion of the North Island Main Trunk railway.
The Plains Vintage Railway & Historical Museum is a heritage railway and recreated historic village in the Tinwald Domain, Tinwald, New Zealand. The railway runs on approximately three kilometres of rural railway line that was once part of the Mount Somers Branch. The village and railway are open regularly to the public. The railway utilises preserved and restored locomotives and rolling stock once used on New Zealand's national railway network, while the village shows visitors how life was lived in New Zealand's pioneering past.
The NZR AB class was a class of 4-6-2 Pacific tender steam locomotive that operated on New Zealand's national railway system for New Zealand Railways (NZR). Originally an improvement on the 1906 A class, 141 were built between 1915 and 1927 by NZR's Addington Workshops, A & G Price of Thames, New Zealand, and North British Locomotive Company, making the AB class the largest class of steam locomotives ever to run in New Zealand. An additional eleven were rebuilt from the tank version of the AB – the WAB class – between 1947 and 1957. Two North British-made locomotives were lost in the wreck of the SS Wiltshire in May 1922.
The New Zealand DJ class locomotive is a type of diesel-electric locomotive in service on the New Zealand rail network. The class were built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and introduced from 1968 to 1969 for the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) with a modernisation loan from the World Bank to replace steam locomotives in the South Island, where all of the class members worked most of their lives. Nine of the locomotives remain in use, mainly with Dunedin Railways.
The P class was a class of steam locomotives built to haul freight trains on the national rail network of New Zealand. The class consisted of ten individual locomotives ordered from the British company of Nasmyth, Wilson and Company in 1885, but miscommunications about the weight limitations imposed on the locomotives meant they did not start work until 1887. This debacle came at a time when the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) was suffering from a lack of motive power to work on its rapidly expanding network and was part of what prompted a shift towards American and home-grown manufacturers.
The NZR E class of Double Fairlie steam locomotives were two different types of Fairlie steam locomotives, used on New Zealand's railway network.
The NZR BB class of steam locomotives comprised 30 engines operated by the New Zealand Railways (NZR) in the North Island of New Zealand. Ordered to replace smaller locomotives of several classes in the North Island, they were similar in design and appearance to the preceding B and BA classes. The first BB class locomotive entered service in February 1915, with the last to commence operations doing so on 8 March 1917. All were built by A & G Price Ltd of Thames, New Zealand, and as their cylinders had a larger diameter than the B and BA locomotives they were capable of generating more power to haul heavier trains. The most visible difference however was the roundtop firebox in place of the preceding classes Belpaire design. The BB class could haul up to 700 long tons of freight on a level railway line, though they were limited to a top speed of around 40 mph (64 km/h).
The NZR C class consisted of twenty-four steam locomotives built to perform shunting duties on New Zealand's national rail network. It is sometimes known as the big C class to differentiate it from the C class of 1873.
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was corporatised on 1 April 1982 into the New Zealand Railways Corporation. Originally, railway construction and operation took place under the auspices of the former provincial governments and some private railways, before all of the provincial operations came under the central Public Works Department. The role of operating the rail network was subsequently separated from that of the network's construction. From 1895 to 1993 there was a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways. He was often also the Minister of Public Works.
The NZR JA class was a class of fifty-one 4-8-2 steam locomotives operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR). The locomotives were built in two batches; the first batch was constructed at the Hillside Workshops at Dunedin between 1946 and 1956, while the second batch was constructed by the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) of Glasgow, Scotland in 1951. To differentiate between the two batches, the locomotives were identified by their builder.
The NZR G class was a type of Garratt locomotives used in New Zealand, later rebuilt as Pacific type locomotives. They were the only 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. The locomotives lasted longer in rebuilt form as standard Pacific locomotives than they did as Garratts, but their numerous mechanical issues lead to their final withdrawal following a union ban on their use in 1956.
The NZR J class was a class of forty 4-8-2 steam locomotives operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR). Although designed to work on the lighter secondary lines, the class was frequently used on mainline express passenger trains as well as freight. When first introduced, the class boasted distinctive streamlining, which was later removed from 1947 onwards for maintenance reasons. Three of this class remained in service until the end of steam operation on 26 October 1971, when they were withdrawn and entered into preservation. This class should not be confused with the earlier J class from 1874.
The New Zealand DF class locomotive of 1954 was the first class of mainline diesel-electric locomotives built for New Zealand's national railway network, built by English Electric. It should not be confused with General Motors Electro-Motive Division DF class of 1979.
The South Island Limited was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) between 1949 and 1970. It operated over the almost 590 kilometres (370 mi) route between Christchurch and Invercargill. It was replaced by the Southerner.
The NZR 56-foot carriage is a class of 56 ft (17 m) long railway passenger carriage formerly used on almost all long-distance passenger rail transport in New Zealand. 88 carriages have been preserved.
The NZR UC class were a group of ten 4-6-0 steam locomotives obtained from Scottish builders Sharp, Stewart and Company for New Zealand Railways (NZR). Essentially they were developments of the firm's previous batch of 4-6-0s' for NZR.
