NZR E class (1872)
| NZR E class (1872) | |
| Power type | Steam |
|---|---|
| Builder | Vulcan Foundry and Avonside Engine Company |
| Build date | 1872, 1875 |
| Configuration | 0-4-4-0T |
| Gauge | 1067 mm |
| Length | 15.7 m (34 ft 1½ in) |
| Total weight | 34 tons |
| Boiler pressure | 130 lbf/in² (900 kPa) |
| Top speed | km/h |
| Career | Port Chalmers Railway Company, NZGR |
| Number in class | 8 |
| Nicknames | Josephine (175) |
| First run | 1958 |
| Disposition | 1 preserved |
The NZR E class of Double Fairlie locomotives that operated in New Zealand was the first class to take that designation, followed by the E class Mallet compounds of 1906 and then the E class battery electric locomotive of 1922. The class was built in two separate batches and thus can be divided into two distinct groups: the first two, built by the Vulcan Foundry, and the later six, built by the Avonside Engine Company. It was one of two Double Fairlie classes to operate in New Zealand, the other being the B class, and there were also the Single Fairlie R and S classes.
History
In 1872, two locomotives were ordered by the Otago provincial government to operate trains on the newly built Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway. They were built in England by the Vulcan Foundry and shipped to New Zealand for final assembly, arriving in August of that year. One of these locomotives was nicknamed Josephine and it became the first locomotive to run on 3 foot 6 inch (1,067 mm) narrow gauge track in New Zealand - this gauge had just been adopted as New Zealand's national standard and the entire network today is built to the gauge.
Josephine was one of two locomotives to haul the first train on the Main South Line between Dunedin and Christchurch; the other, K 88, was famously restored to operational condition after lying in a riverbed for a number of decades.
In 1874, two more Double Fairlies of the B class joined Josephine and the other 1872 locomotive, and in 1875, the national government placed an order with Avonside for six locomotives that would become the E class. The Avonside locomotives were more powerful than their Vulcan counterparts, though when the provincial governments were abolished and the two 1872 Vulcan Double Fairlies passed into national ownership, they were classified as being in the same class as the Avonside engines. All eight of the locomotives gave good service, but the complexity resulting from the fact that they had double the moving parts of a normal locomotive led to maintenance difficulties. By 1906, all nine had been withdrawn from service on the national railway network, freeing the E classification for re-use, though that was not the end of their working lives as private lines and the Public Works Department required motive power.
Preservation
Only one member of the E class has survived to be preserved, and fittingly, it is Josephine. When it was removed from service by the Railways Department, it was acquired by the Public Works Department and utilised as motive power to aid in the construction of railway lines before they were handed over to the Railways Department. In this capacity, Josephine was transferred to the North Island and utilised in the construction of the North Island Main Trunk before it returned to her former home to help out on the Otago Central Railway project. The locomotive's working life ended in 1917 and it was sold for scrap to the Otago Iron Rolling Mills, but nine years later, it still had not been scrapped by its purchasers and was instead displayed at the New Zealand South Seas Exhibition of 1926 and placed in the ownership of the Otago Settlers Museum. This is believed to be the first example of railway preservation in New Zealand.
Today, Josephine is the oldest preserved locomotive in New Zealand and the only surviving provincial government locomotive, and it resides as a static display in a protective glass room near the famous Dunedin Railway Station. There are no current plans to restore Josephine to operational condition.
See also
External links
- Drawing of an E class Double Fairlie from Derek Brown
- Josephine's 130th birthday
- New Zealand Railways Steam Locomotives - Class E
- Otago Settlers Museum
- Weka Pass Railway's page on Josephine
Reference
- Heath, Eric, and Stott, Bob; Classic Steam Locomotives Of New Zealand, Grantham House, 1993
