The NZR P class was a class of two
ST locomotives built to work on the government-owned
national rail network
In United States railroading, the term national rail network, sometimes termed "U.S. rail network", refers to the entire network of interconnected standard gauge rail lines in North America. It does not include most subway or light rail lines. F ...
of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
in 1876. They were initially ordered by the
Otago Provincial Council
The Otago Province was a province of New Zealand until the abolition of provincial government in 1876.
The capital of the province was Dunedin. Southland Province split from Otago in 1861, but became part of the province again in 1870.
Area an ...
, but they were soon incorporated into the national locomotive fleet when the provinces were abolished. Other examples of the P class were built for industrial service and never came under the ownership of 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 ...
, though one worked on the
Kaitangata Line.
History
The two P class locomotives owned by the Railways Department were known as ''Kiwi'' and ''Weka'' and they soon passed to the ownership of others, allowing the P classification to be
used again in 1885. ''Weka'' was the first to leave the ownership of the Railways Department in 1882, when it was acquired by the
Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company
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 ...
, who used it for construction and maintenance purposes until 1898. It then came into the possession of the Manawatu County Council's
Sanson Tramway
The Sanson Tramway in the Manawatu region of New Zealand operated from 1885 until 1945. Owned by the Manawatu County Council, it connected with the national railway network at Himatangi on the Foxton Branch. It was never part of the national ...
, who operated it until 1922, when it passed into the ownership of Mangawhero Sawmilling Co at Karioi
and was ultimately scrapped in 1932. ''Kiwi'' left the Railways Department's ownership a few years after ''Weka'', just before the arrival of the second P class in 1885. It worked for a number of sawmilling companies throughout 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 ...
for over half a century, but was derelict in 1956.
See also
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NZR A class (1873)
The NZR A class of 1873 consisted of three types of steam locomotives used on New Zealand's railway network of similar specification but differing detail. The first and most numerous were from the Dübs and Company, the next from the Wellington ...
*
NZR C class (1873)
*
NZR D class (1874)
New Zealand Railways Department, NZR D class steam locomotive, steam tank locomotives operated on New Zealand's Rail transport in New Zealand, national railway network. The first entered service in 1874 all had been withdrawn by the end of 1927, ...
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NZR P class (1885)
The P class was a class of steam locomotives built to haul freight trains on the national rail network of New Zealand. The class consisted of ten individual locomotives ordered from the British company of Nasmyth, Wilson and Company in 1885, bu ...
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Locomotives of New Zealand
Locomotives of New Zealand is a complete list of all locomotive classes that operate or have operated in Rail transport in New Zealand, New Zealand's railway network. It does not include locomotives used on List of New Zealand railway lines#Bush ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
History of some P class members
P class
0-6-0ST locomotives
Scrapped locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1876
3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of New Zealand
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