The NZR L^A class was a class of

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s used by the

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 ...

and the

New Zealand Midland Railway Company The New Zealand Midland Railway Company partially constructed the Midland line between Christchurch and Greymouth and the Nelson railway in the South Island. It was one of the few private railway companies in New Zealand, and it did not match th ...

. They were built by

Nasmyth, Wilson and Company Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company, originally called The Bridgewater Foundry, specialised in the production of Machine tool, heavy machine tools and locomotives. It was located in Patricroft, in Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford England, close to ...

in 1887 for New Zealand Midland Railway Company, and were taken over by NZR in 1900, when the government acquired the incomplete Midland line. The designation also applies to the NZR rebuilds of the Avonside L class of 1875 which were later reclassified L^B after being rebuilt as s.

Midland L^A class

The New Zealand Midland Railway Company ordered five locomotives from Nasmyth Wilson in 1887 for use on their planned railway between

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

Greymouth Greymouth () (Māori: ''Māwhera'') is the largest town in the West Coast region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The population of the whole Grey District is , which accounts for % of the West Coas ...

and

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. These locomotives were built to a standard Nasmyth Wilson design for export, and had double-skinned cab roofs for work in tropical climates. The first three locomotives were named ''Reefton'', ''Christchurch'' and ''Nelson'' on entry into service; the other two locomotives never carried names. The locomotives, numbered as NZMRC N^O's 1–5, were responsible for running all trains over the Midland Railway between

Reefton Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is 44 km south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is 34 km to the north, Maruia is 63 ...

, Stillwater and Lake Brunner, as well as running NZMRC trains over the NZR line between Stillwater and Greymouth. Following the failure of the NZMRC and its takeover by the NZR, the locomotives were renumbered as L^A 310–315. Now based at Greymouth, the engines remained in service until the first withdrawal began in 1920.

Withdrawal

The first Midland L^A to be withdrawn was L^A 311 (formerly NZMRC N^O 2) in March 1920. The remaining locomotives were withdrawn between 1924 and 1928. Two of the withdrawn locomotives were sold for industrial service; L^A 311 was sold to the Auckland Farmers Freezing Company in 1920 and worked as a shunting locomotive at their

Moerewa Moerewa is a small town in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located close to the Bay of Islands five kilometres to the west of Kawakawa. Moerewa is a service town for the surrounding farming industry. Its main ind ...

works between 1920 and 1934, while L^A 314 was sold to the New Forest Sawmilling Company at

Ngahere Ngahere is a locality in the Grey District of the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. The 2013 New Zealand census gave the population of Ngahere and its surrounding area as 363, an increase of 5.2% or 18 people sinc ...

where it worked as the mill's yard engine transferring wagons between the NZR station and the sawmill between 1926 and 1950. The remaining locomotives, L^A's 310, 312 and 313, were written off but not

scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...

ped. Instead, at least one, L^A 312, was dumped at the Omoto locomotive dump in 1929. The remains of L^A 312 were salvaged for preservation in 2006 and are now in storage pending restoration to working order.

Rebuilds

In 1893–94, NZR decided to rebuild three Avonside L class locomotives as locomotives. The conversion, classified by the NZR as the L^A class, did not address the limited fuel capacity, and all further rebuilds were rebuilt as s.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

NZR La class
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nzr La Class La class 4-4-0T locomotives Nasmyth, Wilson and Company locomotives Avonside locomotives 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of New Zealand Railway locomotives introduced in 1887

Midland LA class