NZR F class
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The F class was the first important class of steam locomotive built to operate on New Zealand'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 double Fairlies for the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway. 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 with a wheel arrangement of 0-6-0, 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. Numerous examples of the class have been preserved, including some in full running order. One of these locomotives is F 13 from the original batch of five built in 1872, and it is the oldest operational steam engine in New Zealand.
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[edit] Reference
- Heath, Eric, and Stott, Bob; Classic Steam Locomotives Of New Zealand, Grantham House, 1993
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