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 EW 1805 with DC 4611 approaching Paekākāriki, 21 August 2005. The EW had been purchased for preservation and was later towed to Plimmerton. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The New Zealand EW class [nb 1] locomotive was a type of electric locomotive used in Wellington, New Zealand. The classification "EW" was due to their being electric locomotives allocated to Wellington. [1] For two decades until the advent of the DX class they were the most powerful locomotives in New Zealand.
The EW class were ordered by New Zealand Railways from English Electric through their New Zealand agents Cory-Wright & Salmon in 1951 as a replacement for the earlier ED class electric locomotives on passenger duties. It was felt that the ED class was not suitable for this, and so English Electric was commissioned to build a twin-section articulated electric locomotive for use on the Wellington 1.5 kV DC electrified system. [2]
The new EW class was the first locomotive class in New Zealand to utilise the Bo-Bo-Bo wheel arrangement, which would subsequently be used on the Mitsubishi DJ class and Brush EF class locomotives. However, the EW class was different in that the central Jacobs bogie was placed under the articulation of the two body halves with limited side play, whereas the DJ and EF classes have a single fixed body with side play in the central bogie.
It was intended that the EW class would work on all trains in the Wellington area, as well as banking trains between Paekākāriki and Pukerua Bay.
The EW class predominantly worked on passenger trains, particularly on suburban trains to the Hutt Valley and Paekākāriki. They also ran in regular service hauling Main Trunk expresses between Wellington and Paekākāriki, where they would be exchanged for a steam locomotive for the run north. They also were used to bank trains between Wellington and Paekākāriki, although this work was more usually done by the older ED class which were unsuited for passenger workings.
Less frequently, the EW class also operated suburban shunting services, particularly on the Johnsonville Branch, where their flexible bodies and higher power output of 1,800 hp (1,300 kW) gave them a distinct advantage over the older ED class (and tests showed that the ED class imposed higher stress on the track, particularly on curves). Much of this traffic was stock destined for the Raroa stockyard sidings, from where they would be driven to the Ngauranga Freezing Works nearby, while the remainder was general freight destined largely for Johnsonville.
The class was well-liked by the railway unions as NZR had worked closely with them in the design phase of the EW class. This led to the cabs being laid out in an ergonomic fashion which made them easy to operate, making them a favourite of the unions. They were also fairly reliable and were also capable of generating twice their specified power output as evidenced by an NZR engineer during a test in the 1960s when EW 1806 produced a power output of 3,600 hp (2,700 kW).
With the introduction of the Traffic Monitoring System (TMS) in 1979, the locomotives were renumbered EW96-EW165. [3]
The tunnel floors between Paekākāriki and Wellington were lowered so that DA class diesel locomotives could haul trains through to Wellington without having to stop at Paekākāriki to be replaced by an ED or EW; the work was completed in 1967. The EWs continued to have a role in this, primarily as a banking locomotive.
In 1980, EW159 (EW 1805) was briefly sent to Otira following the Goat Creek washout, which had damaged three of the EO class locomotives. [4] During its time there the locomotive required its own driver as it lacked multiple-unit equipment. When the three rebuilt EOs returned, EW 159 was transferred back to Wellington. The following year, the decision was made by the CME to have EW136 (EW 1802), then under overhaul, withdrawn and scrapped. This was agreed to as the use of the EW class had decreased, and 136 became the first EW to be withdrawn.
The arrival of the EM class units in 1982 locomotive-hauled carriage trains were eliminated, [5] with all carriage-hauled services ceasing in 1983 with the exception of the Masterton and Palmerston North services, which had been diesel-hauled since their inception. The last EW to haul a suburban train was EW142 (EW 1803) from Paekākāriki to Wellington on 11 February 1983. EW142 ran an excursion known as "The Suburban Rail Ranger" to Johnsonville on 14 May 1983.
The EW class finished its working life on mainline goods trains, banking DA or DX class locomotives between Wellington and Paekākāriki with Train 778, the Wellington-Palmerston North petrol tank train, being a common assignment. This was the last service to use the EW class, concluding on 20 December 1983 when EW142 banked DX5477 on the last revenue operation of the EW class. [6] All of the remaining locomotives were put into storage.
As the EW class was not worn out, NZR management decided to have the six remaining locomotives placed into interim storage until a new use could be found for them. It was decided to store the locomotives in available locomotive sheds around the country which would provide secure, and where possible covered, storage.
The locomotives were dispersed as follows:
In 1988, the decision was made to move EW171 north to Christchurch, and it was donated to the Electric Traction Group at Ferrymead, arriving in time to take part in the Ferrymead 125 motive power cavalcade.
As New Zealand Railways was creating its Heritage Fleet at this time, it was decided to select an EW for preservation. EW165 was chosen and was moved to Wellington for remedial work along with DE1389 (DE 508) prior to its official inclusion in the fleet. The remaining locomotives were scrapped; EW107 and EW159 were towed back to Hutt Workshops in 1988 where they joined EW 142 prior to being scrapped. EW113 went to Linwood for a period before it was later towed to a siding at Woolston alongside the South Island Main Trunk where it remained for a short time before being scrapped in early 1990.
The first EW class locomotive to be preserved, EW 1806 (TMS EW171), was donated to the Canterbury Railway Society in 1988. It is based at Ferrymead Heritage Park and is in storage. It has been renumbered as EW 1806, and carries this identity on its headstocks only. [7]
The other, EW 165 (EW 1805), was based in Wellington, originally in the old NZR Parcels depot on Platform 9 of Wellington Station, before moving to the Carriage and Wagon workshop near the Thorndon overpass. It retained its TMS identity of EW 165 throughout until the decision was made to disperse the Heritage Fleet in 2004. The EW was not sold until August 2005 when it was purchased by Ian Welch of the Mainline Steam Heritage Trust. The locomotive made one final run under then-Toll Rail ownership on 21 August 2005 when it was driven by veteran locomotive driver Fred Hamer from Wellington to Paekākāriki. It was then towed by DCP 4611 to Mainline's Plimmerton depot.
Since arrival, EW 165 has been restored as EW 1805 complete with replica number plates. It is intended that the locomotive will be used to operate suburban railfan trips around Wellington when the overhaul is finished, although this is pending certification and the construction of a suitable length of overhead into the depot to allow 1805 to move around. The locomotive was revealed as EW 1805 over Labour Weekend 2008 when it was towed to Feilding to take part in the NIMT centenary celebrations.
The EW class have been involved in four major accidents during their service lives:
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 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.
This is a list of jargon commonly used by railfans and railway employees in New Zealand.
The New Zealand DC class locomotive is a type of diesel-electric mainline locomotive on the New Zealand rail network, operated by KiwiRail on freight trains, and formerly on long-distance passenger trains. The class was rebuilt from the DA class in the late 1970s and early 1980s, mainly in Australia. After the DA class, they were the most numerous class of diesel locomotive on New Zealand's railway network and remained numerically dominant until the mid-2010s when withdrawals began.
The New Zealand DA class locomotive were a class of diesel-electric mainline locomotives operated on the New Zealand railway system between 1955 and 1989. Consisting of 146 locomotives, it was the most numerous class to ever operate in New Zealand, with five more than the AB class steam locomotive.
The New Zealand DB class and DBR class locomotive is a type of diesel-electric locomotive built for service on New Zealand's rail network. They were built by General Motors Diesel (GMD) of Canada as a narrow-gauge version of the EMD G8 model, with seventeen locomotives constructed. Ten of these were later rebuilt into the DBR class.
The New Zealand DE class was a class of fifteen diesel-electric shunting locomotives, introduced by the New Zealand Railways (NZR) with an intention to replace steam locomotives on shunting duties with diesel power. The class was physically similar to the Tasmanian Government Railways X class, which was also of English Electric design.
The New Zealand DM/D class electric multiple unit were a type of electric multiple units used on the suburban rail network of Wellington, New Zealand. Formed of DM power cars and D trailer cars, the first units were ordered from English Electric in 1936 and introduced on 2 July 1938 operating the electrified Johnsonville Line service. Additional units were ordered in 1942 for the line, and in 1946 as the other Wellington suburban lines were to be electrified.
The New Zealand EM/ET class electric multiple units were used on suburban services in Wellington, New Zealand from 1982 to 2016. They were owned initially by the New Zealand Railways Corporation and finally by the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) and operated by Tranz Metro, part of national railway operator KiwiRail.
The NZR WF class were steam locomotives designed, built and used by New Zealand Railways (NZR). Their wheel arrangement is described by the Whyte notation 2-6-4T and the first members of the class entered service in 1904. The locomotives were tank engines designed by the Railways Department's Chief Mechanical Engineer A. L. Beattie, and were mainly built for suburban duties such as those between Christchurch and Lyttelton. They also saw main-line service in the Taranaki region, but most of the class members were assigned to branch line and local services throughout the country. Two were experimentally converted to oil burners in 1909-1910. The tests were satisfactory, but as coal was much cheaper than oil at the time, no further conversions took place.
The 8.38 miles (13.49 km) Tawa Flat deviation is a double-track section of the Kapiti Line just north of Wellington, New Zealand with two tunnels; the southernmost section of the North Island Main Trunk railway (NIMT) between Wellington and Auckland. It was built to bypass a limited capacity single track section of the original Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR) line which ascended from Wellington to Johnsonville and then descended to Tawa Flat. The original name of Tawa Flat was changed to Tawa in 1959.
The New Zealand EA class of electric locomotives were used on the New Zealand rail network between 1968 and 1997 on the Otira – Arthur's Pass section of the Midland line in the South Island, through the Otira Tunnel. Following reconditioning, three were used by KiwiRail's Tranz Metro in Wellington from 2008 to 2011 to top and tail Metlink suburban passenger trains as an interim measure before new rolling stock arrived. Four of the five locomotives were scrapped in 2013 with one being set aside for preservation.
The NZR ED class locomotive was a type of electric locomotive used in Wellington, New Zealand. They were built by English Electric and the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) between 1938 and 1940, and hauled mainly passenger trains on the Wellington region's 1500 V DC electrification, and banked freight trains on the steep section between Paekākāriki and Pukerua Bay.
Lyttelton Line is a name sometimes used to refer to the section of the Main South Line in New Zealand's South Island between Lyttelton and Christchurch, and can also be used to refer to the operations on this section. As it has always been part of the Main South Line, this name has never been officially used to refer to the track itself.
The NZR DS class locomotive is a type of 16 diesel shunting locomotives built by the Vulcan Foundry and supplied by the Drewry Car Co from 1949–1955, for New Zealand Railways (NZR).
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.
The Ferrymead 125 celebration was an event to celebrate 125 years of Rail transport in New Zealand. The event was held over a week from 17 to 24 October 1988, with trains running in, and to and from Christchurch.
Railway electrification in New Zealand consists of three separate electric systems, all on 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.
The North–South Junction is a section of single-track rail line about 7 km long, north of Wellington, New Zealand between the closed (2011) Muri railway station and the (lower) Paekakariki railway station to the north. It is part of the Kapiti Line section of the North Island Main Trunk line between Wellington and Auckland, and part of the Wellington–Manawatu Line, built by the Wellington & Manawatu Railway Company (WMR).
