NZR WJ class
Encyclopedia
The NZR WJ 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 WJ classification when the publicly owned New Zealand Railways Department
(NZR) purchased the WMR and its locomotive fleet in 1908.
The locomotive entered service in July 1904 with WMR Road No. 3 (reused).
A massive 2-8-4T tank engine, known as Jumbo, she was acquired for banking duty out of Wellington up the Ngaio bank to Johnsonville, and was based at Wellington for all her life. She had worked 67,907 miles by 29 February 1908 (Cassells). 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, Jumbo had cast frames of the bar type. In this case they gave considerable trouble, for they persistently broke immediately behind the smokebox saddle (McGavin)
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 frame
s on the heavy banking duty, she saw little service after 1920.
She was withdrawn in 1927 (Cassells) and written off on 31 March 1928 (Lloyd). The boiler was sent to the Taumarunui
locomotive depot for use as a washout boiler.
Baldwin Locomotive Works
The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally, and later in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Although the company was very successful as a producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of...
for service 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 private Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR). She acquired the WJ classification when the publicly owned New Zealand Railways Department
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...
(NZR) purchased the WMR and its locomotive fleet in 1908.
The locomotive entered service in July 1904 with WMR Road No. 3 (reused).
A massive 2-8-4T tank engine, known as Jumbo, she was acquired for banking duty out of Wellington up the Ngaio bank to Johnsonville, and was based at Wellington for all her life. She had worked 67,907 miles by 29 February 1908 (Cassells). 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, Jumbo had cast frames of the bar type. In this case they gave considerable trouble, for they persistently broke immediately behind the smokebox saddle (McGavin)
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 frame
Locomotive frame
A locomotive frame is the structure that forms the backbone of the railway locomotive, giving it strength and supporting the superstructure elements such as a cab, boiler or bodywork. The vast majority of locomotives have had a frame structure of some kind...
s on the heavy banking duty, she saw little service after 1920.
She was withdrawn in 1927 (Cassells) and written off on 31 March 1928 (Lloyd). The boiler was sent to the Taumarunui
Taumarunui
Taumarunui is a town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on State Highway 4 and the North Island Main Trunk Railway....
locomotive depot for use as a washout boiler.