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New Zealand TR Class Locomotive
The New Zealand TR class locomotive is a type of diesel shunting locomotives built by many different manufacturers. Defined as "shunting tractors" or "rail tractors" by KiwiRail and its predecessors, they are classified "TR" for tractor as a result. Many of these locomotives have been withdrawn, but some are still in service. The first locomotive of this class was built by NZR in 1924. The most powerful were Japanese-built Hitachi TRs, with 138 kW Cummins engines. Operation The typical role of a TR was at small stations where a normal shunting locomotive was not needed due to light traffic. NZR's operating rules allowed TRs to be driven by staff who were not members of the locomotive branch, saving on wages. Other roles have included shunting at railway workshops and depots, and most of the remaining locomotives can still be found at these locations. There are very few stations where they are still in use owing to rationalisations of freight terminals, the trend towards cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand Railways Department
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) 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 corporatised on 1 April 1982 into the New Zealand Railways Corporation. Originally, railway construction and operation took place under the auspices of the former provincial governments and some private railways, before all of the provincial operations came under the central Public Works Department. The role of operating the rail network was subsequently separated from that of the network's construction. From 1895 to 1993 there was a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways. He was often also the Minister of Public Works. Apart from four brief experiments with independent boards, NZR remained under direct ministerial control for most of its history. History Originally, New Zea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Switcher
A switcher, shunter, yard pilot, switch engine, yard goat, or shifter is a small railroad locomotive used for manoeuvring railroad cars inside a rail yard in a process known as ''switching'' (US) or ''shunting'' (UK). Switchers are not intended for moving trains over long distances but rather for assembling trains in order for another locomotive to take over. They do this in classification yards (Great Britain: ''marshalling yards''). Switchers may also make short transfer runs and even be the only motive power on branch lines and switching and terminal railroads. The term can also be used to describe the workers operating these engines or engaged in directing shunting operations. Switching locomotives may be purpose-built engines, but may also be downgraded main-line engines, or simply main-line engines assigned to switching. Switchers can also be used on short excursion train rides. The typical switcher is optimised for its job, being relatively low-powered but with a high ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ministry Of Foreign Affairs And Trade (New Zealand)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) (Māori: ''Manatū Aorere'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with advising the government on foreign and trade policy, and promoting New Zealand's interests in trade and international relations. History The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) was first established as the Department of External Affairs (NZDEA) on 11 June 1943 through an Act of Parliament. This decision was prompted by a need for New Zealand to conduct its own external relations and because New Zealand's neighbour Australia already had its own Department of External Affairs since 1921. Prior to that, New Zealand's interests had been represented overseas by the United Kingdom. The establishment of the External Affairs Department was accompanied by the creation of a foreign service and the establishment of diplomatic missions in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Soviet Union between 1942 and 1944. Like its similarly named Au ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muir-Hill
Muir Hill (Engineers) Ltd was a general engineering company based at Old Trafford, Manchester, England. It was established in the early 1920s and specialised in products to expand the use of the Fordson tractor, which in the pre-war days included sprung road wheels, bucket loaders, simple rail locomotives, and in particular in the 1930s they developed the dumper truck. Later they built high horse power tractors. Company History Muir Hill (Engineers Ltd) and Muir-Hill Service Equipment Co Ltd both appear in the 1920s. The latter being announced in 1921 as appointed as sole distributors for Great Britain and Ireland for Dearborn and Hinckley-Myers service equipment, Whitehead and Kale rubber-tread wheels for Fordson tractors, and Mechan steel tipping bodies and gears. Both Muir Hill (Engineers) Ltd and Muir Hill Service Equipment Ltd appear in patents of 1924 (along with Walter Llewelyn Hill as co-author) suggesting the two companies ran side by side. The business may have started as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fordson
Fordson was a brand name of tractors and trucks. It was used on a range of mass-produced general-purpose tractors manufactured by Henry Ford & Son Inc from 1917 to 1920, by Ford Motor Company (U.S.) and Ford Motor Company Ltd (U.K.) from 1920 to 1928, and by Ford Motor Company Ltd (U.K.) from 1929 to 1964. The latter (Ford of Britain) also later built trucks and vans under the Fordson brand. After 1964, the Fordson name was dropped and all Ford tractors were simply badged as Fords in both the UK and the US. Production years Between 1917 and 1922, the Fordson was for tractors somewhat like the Ford Model T was for automobiles—it captured the public's imagination and widely popularized the machine, with a reliable design, a low price affordable for workers and farmers, a widespread dealership network, and a production capacity for large numbers. Just as the Model T helped the public to appreciate how soon cars and trucks might replace most horses in transport, the Fordson help ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silver Stream Railway
Silver Stream Railway is a heritage railway at Silverstream in the Hutt Valley near Wellington, New Zealand. It regularly operates preserved New Zealand Railways Department locomotives along a restored section of the Hutt Valley Line (part of the Wairarapa Line) before a deviation was built in 1954. History The beginnings of Silver Stream Railway were in 1967 when the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society began a collection of locomotives and rolling stock. Tracklaying on the old trackbed, formation of the Hutt Valley Line did not begin until 1977. The collection of locomotives and rolling stock had previously been stored at a site by the Gracefield Branch in Seaview, Lower Hutt, Seaview, and this was transferred to the present Silverstream site in 1984. The official opening of the full track took place on 15 February 1986. List of locomotives Rolling stock The railway owns an assortment of rolling stock, some in operational conditio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand Ministry Of Works
The New Zealand Ministry of Works and Development, formerly the Department of Public Works and often referred to as the Public Works Department or PWD, was founded in 1876 and disestablished and privatised in 1988. The Ministry had its own Cabinet-level responsible minister, the Minister of Works or Minister of Public Works. Historically, the state has played an important part in developing the New Zealand economy. For many years the Public Works Department (which became the Ministry of Works in 1948 and the Ministry of Works and Development in 1974) undertook most major construction work in New Zealand, including roads, railways and power stations. After the reform of the state sector, beginning in 1984, the ministry disappeared and its remnants now have to compete for government work. The Ministry of Works and Development was disestablished in 1988 and a Residual Management Unit continued to oversee the Ministry's operations and assets until formally ending in 1993. It was a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James & Frederick Howard
James & Fred Howard of Britannia Ironworks, Bedford, later known simply as Howards, were one of the largest English makers of agricultural equipment, steam traction engines, and light railway equipment. At The Great Exhibition of 1851 they exhibited a range of horse-drawn implements. After World War I, Howards became part of AGE, Agricultural & General Engineers, along with many of the other British makers of similar machinery. History The original ironmongery business was created by John Howard (1791 - 1878) in 1813. In 1837 he thanked his patrons for 24 years of support and informed them of his move to new premisies, formerly the Barley Mow Inn in the High Street. He invented and patented a two-wheel plough, which won large numbers of awards in 1841 and in successive years, and they also had prize winning harrows (patented by W. Armstrong and John Howard), and a wide range of other agricultural implements. By 1845 his works address had changed to Britannia Foundry, Bedford, alt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashburton, New Zealand
Ashburton ( mi, Hakatere) is a large town in the Canterbury Region, on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The town is the seat of the Ashburton District. It is south west of Christchurch and is sometimes regarded as a satellite town of Christchurch. Ashburton township has a population of . The town is the 29th-largest urban area in New Zealand and the fourth-largest urban area in the Canterbury Region, after Christchurch, Timaru and Rolleston. Toponymy Ashburton was named by the surveyor Captain Joseph Thomas of the New Zealand Land Association, after Francis Baring, 3rd Baron Ashburton, who was a member of the Canterbury Association. Ashburton's common nickname "Ashvegas", is an ironic allusion to Las Vegas. Hakatere is the traditional Māori name for the Ashburton River. The name translates as "to make swift or to flow smoothly". History In 1858 William Turton, ran a ferry across the Ashburton river close to where the Ashburton bridge now lies. He al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Plains Vintage Railway & Historical Museum
The Plains Vintage Railway & Historical Museum is a heritage railway and recreated historic village in the Tinwald Domain, Tinwald, New Zealand. The railway (operating as The Plains Railway) runs on approximately three kilometres of rural railway line that was once part of the Mount Somers Branch. The village and railway are open regularly to the public. The railway utilises preserved and restored locomotives and rolling stock once used on New Zealand's national railway network, while the village shows visitors how life was lived in New Zealand's pioneering past. Overview The Ashburton Railway & Preservation Society Inc. (AR&PS) was founded in 1971 with the goal of purchasing a section of the former Mt Somers Branch railway on which to run restored locomotives alongside preserving heritage farm machinery fast disappearing from the surrounding district. To meet the goal the AR&PS founded The Plains Vintage Railway & Historical Museum and began to acquire exhibits – of both r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand EB Class Locomotive
The New Zealand EB class locomotive was a class of five battery electric (later diesel-electric) locomotives built to perform shunting duties at the workshops of New Zealand's national rail network. Introduction The first (later No. 29) was built in 1925 in the United States, and began its working life at Hamilton railway station in Frankton; then four years later it was transferred to Christchurch's Addington Workshops. That same year, four more were built at Hutt Workshops (No's 25 and 26) and Hillside Workshops (No's 27 and 28); they were stationed at main workshops around the country. Conversion New batteries were required in 1937, and although conversion into diesel-electric locomotives was proposed, rebuilding was not undertaken until the early 1950s. In their new guise, the locomotives survived well into the 1970s. Withdrawal The first to be withdrawn was EB 27 in 1976, and two years later, the class leader, EB 25, was also removed from service. It has been pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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