NZR W^J class

The NZR W^J class was a class of one steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for service on New Zealand's private Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR). She acquired the W^J classification when the publicly owned New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) purchased the WMR and its locomotive fleet in 1908.[2]

NZR W^J class
The former WMR second No. 3 locomotive as NZR 466, W^J class. Godber Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library.[1]
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Baldwin Locomotive Works Serial number 23596 Build date 1904
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 2-8-4T Gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Wheel diameter 43 in (1.092 m) Adhesive weight 38.0 long tons (38.6 t; 42.6 short tons) Loco weight 53.6 long tons (54.5 t; 60.0 short tons) Fuel type Coal Firebox:  • Firegrate area 16.7 sq ft (1.55 m^2) Boiler pressure 200 psi (1,379 kPa) Heating surface 1,080 sq ft (100 m^2) Cylinders 2 Cylinder size 17 in × 20 in (432 mm × 508 mm)
Performance figures Tractive effort 21,510 lbf (95.7 kN)
Career Operators Wellington and Manawatu Railway, New Zealand Government Railways Number in class 1 Numbers WMR 3 (1904), NZR 466 Locale Wellington - Johnsonville section Retired 31 March 1928 Disposition Withdrawn

Introduction

The locomotive entered service in July 1904 with WMR road No. 3 (reused). She was the first WMR locomotive to have piston valves.[3]

A massive 2-8-4T tank engine, known as Jumbo, she was based at Wellington for all her life. She was acquired for banking duty out of Wellington up the Ngaio bank to Johnsonville, which had long grades of 1 in 40 up to Crofton (Ngaio) and Khandallah and tunnels No 1 to 5.[4]

She had worked 67,907 miles by 29 February 1908.[5] Drivers and firemen alike, it has been written, hated Jumbo, but all agreed that for sheer brute strength this engine took a lot of beating. Like all Baldwin locomotives, the locomotive had cast frames of the bar type. In this case, they gave considerable trouble, for they persistently broke immediately behind the smokebox saddle.[2]

When taken into the NZR fleet in 1908, she was allocated her own class and NZR No. 466. With a tendency for breaking the bar frames on the heavy banking duty, she saw little service after 1920.

Withdrawal

The locomotive was withdrawn in 1927 and written off on 31 March 1928.[6] The boiler was sent to the Taumarunui locomotive depot for use as a washout boiler.[7]

References

1. "The former WMR second No. 3 locomotive as NZR 466, W^J class". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
2. Palmer & Stewart 1965, p. 97.
3. Hoy 1972, p. 69.
4. Cassells 1994, pp. 110,155,166.
5. Cassells 1994, p. 155.
6. Lloyd 1974, p. 45.
7. Palmer & Stewart 1965, p. 96.

Bibliography

• Cassells, Ken (1994). Uncommon Carrier: The History of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, 1882-1908. New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society. ISBN 0-908573-63-4.
• Hoy, Douglas (1972). West of the Tararuas: An Illustrated History of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Co. Dunedin: Southern Press.
• Lloyd, W. G. (1974). Register of New Zealand Railways Steam Locomotives 1863-1971 (2nd ed.). ISBN 0-9582072-1-6.
• McGavin, T. A. The Manawatu Line (Wellington NZRLS, 1958, 2nd edn 1982) ISBN 0-908573-35-9
• Palmer, A. N.; Stewart, W. W. (1965). Cavalcade of New Zealand Locomotives. Wellington: A H. & A W. Reed. ISBN 978-0-207-94500-7.
• Stewart, W. W. (1974). When Steam was King. Wellington: A. H. & A. W. Reed Ltd. ISBN 978-0-589-00382-1.

External links

• Writing off, 1927