NZR F class - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The NZR

New Zealand Railways Department

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 reformed in 1981 into the New...

F class was the first important class of steam locomotive built to operate on New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

's railway network after the national gauge of 1067 millimetres (3 feet 6 inches) was adopted. The first locomotives built for the new 1067 mm railways were two E class

NZR E class (1872)

The NZR E class of Double Fairlie steam locomotives were two different types of Fairlie locomotive, and were the first classes to take that designation, followed by the E class Mallet compound locomotive of 1906 and then the E class battery electric locomotive of 1922...

double Fairlie

Fairlie

A Fairlie is a type of articulated steam locomotive that has the driving wheels on bogies. The locomotive may be double-ended or single ended...

s for the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway

Port Chalmers Branch

The Port Chalmers Branch was the first railway line built in Otago, New Zealand, and linked the region's major city of Dunedin with the port in Port Chalmers...

. The F class was the first class ordered by the government, and between 1872 and 1888, a grand total of eighty-eight members of the class were constructed. It was a tank locomotive

Tank locomotive

A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...

with a wheel arrangement of 0-6-0

0-6-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...

, and it proved popular with all involved with the class. It operated essentially everywhere on New Zealand's railway network doing a variety of jobs - it could haul light passenger trains at speeds up to 70 km/h (40 mph) or pull up to 800 tonnes of freight on flat trackage, and the final F class locomotives in regular service worked as shunters into the 1960s. Other members of the class survived into the 1950s after being sold to industries to operate private lines.

Preserved locomotives

Numerous examples of the class have been preserved, including some in full running order.

F 12 - Ferrymead Railway
Ferrymead Railway
The Ferrymead Railway is a New Zealand heritage railway built upon the formation of New Zealand's first public railway, the line from Ferrymead to Christchurch, which opened in 1863. On the opening of the line to Lyttelton on 9 December 1867, the Ferrymead Railway became the Ferrymead Branch and...

, unrestored, used for spare parts.
F 13 - Ferrymead Railway, from the original batch of five built in 1872; under restoration.
F 111 - Ocean Beach Railway
Ocean Beach Railway
The Ocean Beach Railway is a heritage railway that operates in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is located between John Wilson Drive in the suburb of Saint Kilda and sports grounds near Forbury Park Raceway, and runs parallel with the city's main beach, Ocean Beach...

, awaiting restoration.
F 150 - Plains Vintage Railway
Plains Vintage Railway
The Plains Vintage Railway is a heritage railway near Ashburton, New Zealand that operates on three kilometres of trackage that was once part of the Mount Somers Branch before it closed...

, unrestored.
F 163 - Feilding and District Steam Rail Society
Feilding and District Steam Rail Society
The Feilding and District Steam Rail Society, also known as Feilding Steam Rail, is a railway preservation society located in Feilding in the Manawatu region of New Zealand...

, operational.
F 180 - Museum of Transport and Technology
Museum of Transport and Technology
The Museum of Transport and Technology is a museum located in Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. It is located close to the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland Zoo and the Western Springs Park. The museum has large collections of civilian and military aircraft and other land transport vehicles...

, under restoration
F 185 - Bush Tramway Club
Bush Tramway Club
The Bush Tramway Club is a heritage railway 12 km west of Huntly along the Rotowaro Road, in the Waikato region of New Zealand. It regularly operates restored locomotives along a 5.4 km Rotowaro-Glen Afton section of the former Glen Afton Branch...

, operational.
F 230 - Hamilton
Hamilton, New Zealand
Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's fourth largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato Region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...

Lake Park, static display.
F 233 - Glenbrook Vintage Railway
Glenbrook Vintage Railway
The Glenbrook Vintage Railway is a steam railway in Glenbrook, New Zealand. One of New Zealand's premiere rail heritage sites, it is not a museum as such, but rather a fully self-supporting, operating steam railway, built almost entirely by volunteer labour...

, awaiting restoration.

Other F class locomotives survive in deiselised form, including the last built, F 216, built in 1888 as a steam engine, and rebuilt as a diesel-mechanical shunter, in the 1930's. This engine is preserved at the Bush Tramway Club

Bush Tramway Club

The Bush Tramway Club is a heritage railway 12 km west of Huntly along the Rotowaro Road, in the Waikato region of New Zealand. It regularly operates restored locomotives along a 5.4 km Rotowaro-Glen Afton section of the former Glen Afton Branch...

, Pukemiro.

External links

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