The
NZR RM class
The RM class was the classification used by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) and its successors gave to most railcars and railbuses that have operated on New Zealand's national rail network. "RM" stands for Rail Motor which was the comm ...
Clayton steam rail motor was a unique
railcar
A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a dri ...
that was operated by
New Zealand Railways (NZR) for
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 ...
's
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 ...
and one of only two steam railcars to operate in New Zealand - the other being 1925's
RM class Sentinel-Cammell.
Background
In the early 20th century, NZR began experiments with railcars as an option to replace unprofitable regional locomotive-hauled carriage expresses and to provide efficient passenger service on rural branch lines that were served solely by slow
mixed train
A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service ...
s that carried both goods and passengers. Such
mixed train
A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service ...
s had slow schedules as they had to load and unload freight regularly, making their stops longer than passenger service would normally require.
Construction
Built in 1926 by
Clayton Carriage and Wagon of
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and assembled at NZR's
Petone Workshops
The Petone Workshops were a government-owned railways maintenance and repair facility located in Petone, in Lower Hutt in the Wellington region of New Zealand's North Island. It took over construction and maintenance of rolling stock in the We ...
, the railcar could seat up to 52 people and its
steam boiler could generate a pressure of 275
psi
Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to:
Alphabetic letters
* Psi (Greek) (Ψ, ψ), the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet
* Psi (Cyrillic) (Ѱ, ѱ), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek
Arts and entertainment
* "Psi" as an abbreviatio ...
. It could be driven from either end and was capable of hauling a wagon or two of freight, and its airy, open design proved popular with passengers. It was not popular with crews or mechanics. Before it even commenced revenue operations, a heavier
firebox
Firebox may refer to:
*Firebox (steam engine), the area where the fuel is burned in a steam engine
*Firebox (architecture), the part of a fireplace where fuel is combusted
*Firebox Records
Firebox Records was a Finnish record label based in S ...
and larger boiler had to be installed, and its poor reliability necessitated regular repairs. Due to these issues, no additional examples of the railcar were built.
In service
After its assembly and improvements were completed, the railcar was transferred to the
South Island and took over passenger duties on the
Kurow Branch
The Kurow Branch (also known as the Hakataramea Branch) was part of New Zealand's national rail network. In the North Otago region of the South Island, it was built in the 1870s to open up the land behind Oamaru for development, and closed in ...
, running from
Kurow
Kurow is a small town in the Waitaki District, New Zealand. It is located on the south bank of the Waitaki River, northwest of Oamaru.
Description
The name is an Anglicised form of the Māori name of the nearby mountain, Te Kohurau.
In the ...
to
Oamaru
Oamaru (; mi, Te Oha-a-Maru) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the rai ...
and return six days a week. Previously, the line's passenger services had been worked by
mixed train
A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service ...
s that carried both passengers and goods and thus would regularly stop for extended periods to load and unload freight. The steam railcar proved to be a vast improvement for passengers, as its schedule was an hour quicker, at just 1 hour 45 minutes. It could maintain a speed of on straight, flat track, but when presented with steep grades or sharp curves, its speed would drop to . One quirk of its operations was that farmers' dogs had to be carried in dog boxes for the duration of the trip rather than lying at their master's feet; as the railcar operated on a rural
branch line
A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line.
Industrial spur
An industr ...
, this policy was not greeted with enthusiasm.
Withdrawal
On 10 November 1928, a regular locomotive-hauled passenger train replaced the railcar, but this was not the end of its life. It was assigned to run various services in
Otago and
Southland Southland may refer to:
Places Canada
* Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia
New Zealand
* Southland Region, a region of New Zealand
* Southland County, a former New Zealand county
* Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...
for a number of years. In 1929 it worked suburban services between
Invercargill
Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...
and
Bluff
Bluff or The Bluff may refer to:
Places Australia
* Bluff, Queensland, Australia, a town
* The Bluff, Queensland (Ipswich), a rural locality in the city of Ipswich
* The Bluff, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a rural locality
* Bluff River (New ...
on the
Bluff Branch
The Bluff Branch, officially the Bluff Line since 2011, is a railway line in Southland, New Zealand that links Invercargill with the port of Bluff. One of the first railways in New Zealand, it opened in 1867 and is still operating. Presently, it ...
. From 1930 it was only used intermittently, and after eleven years of operation, it was withdrawn in 1937 and dismantled in the Invercargill yard.
Railcar technology was improving by the 1930s. The
Vulcan railcars (which had a lavatory) were ordered not long after the Clayton retired, and there was little need or economic justification for an older, somewhat unreliable steam-powered railcar that was not suitable for the rugged terrain that typified many lines in New Zealand. It did not survive to be preserved. Its
sandbox was appropriated for use as a back sand gear on
AB 810.
References
Bibligography
*
*
*
External links
Information and simulation of the Clayton steam railcarAlexander Turnbull Library photos -
Clayton steam railcar when introduced in 1926At Kurow, circa 1927
{{NZR Locomotives
Clayton locomotives
Railmotors
Railcars of New Zealand
Scrapped locomotives
Rail transport in New Zealand