The NZR N^A class was a class of two

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 that operated on the privately owned

Wellington and Manawatu Railway The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR or W&MR) was a private railway company that built, owned and operated the Wellington-Manawatu railway line between Thorndon in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, and Longburn, near Palmers ...

(WMR) and then the publicly owned New Zealand Railways (NZR). Ordered by the WMR to operate on its line up the west coast of the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

north of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, the first was built in 1894 by the

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

and entered service that year as WMR No. 14. In 1896, a second locomotive that was slightly more powerful was ordered from Baldwin, and it entered service in October 1897. The engines were similar to the two members of the N class ordered in 1891, except they were heavier and more powerful. They were Vauclain compound locomotives. In 1908, the WMR was incorporated into the national network and the government's Railways Department reclassified the engines as the sole members of the N^A class: No. 14 became N^A 459 and No. 15 became N^A 460. They operated for roughly another two decades; N^A 459 spent its final days working in Frankton near

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

and was withdrawn from service in March 1929, while N^A 460's last depot was Cross Creek at the Wairarapa end of the Rimutaka Incline and it was withdrawn in July 1929.

External links

New Zealand steam locomotives — N^A classDrawing of an N^A class locomotive by Derek Brown

References

Bibliography

* * * {{NZR Locomotives Na class 2-6-2 locomotives Baldwin locomotives Vauclain compound locomotives Scrapped locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1894 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of New Zealand