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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 Eight were withdrawn by the end of 1935, while four others survived with new boilers until the mid-1950s.
In the late 1890s, New Zealand's national network was expanding at a great rate and demand for services on existing lines was rising. However, the size of the locomotive fleet was inadequate to handle the demand - this was at least in part due to the economic difficulties created by the Long Depression. The New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) had built the WA class in its own workshops, but desperate for more engines, went shopping overseas for more. High prices and workers' strikes in England meant that the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Pennsylvania was contacted in 1898 to provide twelve locomotives built to similar specifications as the WA class. Delivery was swift and the locomotives entered service between January and May 1899. Although initially classified as WA, they were re-classified WB in 1900–01 to avoid any confusion with the earlier locomotives constructed in New Zealand.
Most were initially based at Wanganui's East Town depot, but two each went to Wellington and Westport and one to Whangarei. By World War I, they were equally distributed between Westport and Whangarei.
In their early years, WB locomotives ran all kinds of trains from their main base in Wanganui - the prestigious New Plymouth Mail passenger express, goods trains to Napier and through the Wairarapa, and local mixed trains of passengers and freight from Wanganui to Hāwera and Palmerston North. Within a few years, more powerful locomotives displaced the WB class from many of these services and they were sent to join their classmates in Westport and Whangarei.
On the isolated Westport section, the dominant traffic was coal from the various inland mines served by rail, and the WBs worked these services for a number of decades until they were displaced in the 1950s by the WW class. During their years of operation, the WB class was seen as ideal for operations on the lines that fanned out from Westport, and four were overhauled and given new boilers in the mid-1920s to prolong their lives.
The first withdrawals of WB class locomotives occurred in the late 1920s, when Whangarei-based WB 301 was retired in March 1928. By the end of 1932, all six WBs that had been based in Whangarei were withdrawn - they were 290, 293, 295, 296, 297, and 301. In Westport, the two that did not receive new boilers were withdrawn around the same time: WB 291 ceased operations in December 1931 and was followed by WB 294 in May 1935. Until the Westport section was linked to the national network in 1943, the remaining four had secure roles; although members of the superior WW class had been introduced to Westport in 1929–30, they did not arrive in sufficient quantities to seriously displace the WBs until the opening of the Stillwater - Westport Line. During the 1940s, the extent of the operations of the WBs decreased markedly, and by 1955, they were little more than shunters in Westport's yard. In the second half of 1955, WB 298 and WB 300 were withdrawn, and during the next year, the final two, 292 and 299, were removed from service, though they were not officially withdrawn until January 1957. WB 300 was towed to Dunedin to be scrapped, but this was not an economical procedure and the other three were dumped in two Westland rivers to stabilise river banks and halt erosion. WB 298 was dismantled in Westport and its boiler was dumped at the "locomotive graveyard" in Omoto, near Greymouth, while in 1958, WB 292 was taken to Seddonville and toppled into Coal Creek. Eventually, it was joined by WB 299 on 1 January 1960. [1]
Inspired by the recovery of locomotives from riverbeds such as K 88 from the Ōreti River in Southland, the Baldwin Steam Trust was established to recover WB 292 and WB 299 from their resting place near Seddonville. The Seddonville Branch between Seddonville and Mokihinui Mine had closed in 1974, and by the late 1980s, nature had grown over the old formation and there were no roads within a mile of where the two locomotives lay. Nonetheless, a plan was formulated and in mid-1989, the engines were successfully recovered. The Baldwin Steam Trust ultimately plans to restore both locomotives back to full operational condition. 292 & 299 are at the Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust's Maymorn depot being restored.
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.
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The NZR WD class was a class of tank locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works to operate on New Zealand's national rail network.
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The NZR JA class were a type of 4-8-2 steam locomotive used on the New Zealand railway network. The class was built in two batches, the first batch was built at Dunedin's Hillside Workshops between 1946 and 1956 and the second batch by the North British Locomotive Works in 1951. To distinguish between the batches, locomotives are identified by their maker.
The NZR K class of 1932 was a class of mixed traffic 4-8-4 steam locomotives built by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) that operated on New Zealand's railway network. The locomotives were developed following the failure of the G class Garratt locomotives. The class should not be confused with the much earlier K class of 1877-78, the first American-built engines to arrive in New Zealand.
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The NZR FA class was a class of tank steam locomotives that was built as a larger version of the NZR F class 0-6-0T. The requirements were for larger water and coal capacity on a locomotive that could handle grades better than the F class. Due to costs involved in producing new machines, NZR chose to rebuild existing machines with larger coal and water capacity, larger boiler and firebox, higher boiler pressure and larger diameter pistons. Seven F class engines were rebuilt between 1892 and 1897. Another seven were built new, one at Newmarket Workshops in 1896 and six at Addington Workshops in 1902–03.
The NZR U class, the first tender locomotives built in New Zealand, were a class of 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler locomotive designed to the requirements of Mr T. F. Rotherham and built at NZR Addington between 1894 and 1903. They were amongst NZRs' longest lived tender engines.
The NZR WA class locomotives were a class of Tank locomotive built by New Zealand Railways (NZR). Eleven were built at NZR's own Addington Workshops in Christchurch and Hillside Workshops in Dunedin. Four more were converted from old J class 2-6-0 locomotives.
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.
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The New Zealand WW class was a class of 4-6-4T tank locomotives that operated on the New Zealand national railway network. They were built for New Zealand Railways Department (NZR), and were the final development of the six-coupled tank engine in New Zealand, the penultimate class of tank locomotives to be built for NZR, and the first class of tank locomotives to be built with superheaters.
The NZR Y class was a class of three 0-6-0T tank steam locomotives. Built by the Hunslet Engine Company for the Public Works Department in 1923, all three were sold to NZR between 1938 and 1945.
