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 ...

Westinghouse railcar was an experimental

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 drive ...

built 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 ...

(NZR) in 1914. Although not the first railcar to operate in

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 ...

, it was the first to enter revenue service.David Jones, ''Where Railcars Roamed: The Railcars which have Served New Zealand Railways'' (Wellington: Wellington Tramway Museum, 1997), 4.

Development

In the early 20th century, NZR sought a means of providing economic services on lines with low traffic, including some suburban routes and to provide a faster alternative to

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, servic ...

s on rural lines. It aimed to develop a light self-powered vehicle that could operate economically even with low passenger levels.Robin Bromby, ''Rails That Built A Nation'' (Wellington: Grantham House, 2003), 122-3. The MacEwan Pratt petrol railcar of 1912 did not pass its tests and never entered revenue service. It was dismantled in May 1913; the next experiment with railcar technology did not take place until 1914, when the Westinghouse railcar was developed. It re-used the classification of RM 1 that had been given to the MacEwan-Pratt railcar.

Technical specifications

RM 1 was the solitary example of its type. The traction equipment, underframe, and

bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...

s were provided by

British Westinghouse British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company was a subsidiary of the Pittsburgh, USA based Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. British Westinghouse would become a subsidiary of Metropolitan-Vickers in 1919; and after Metr ...

and were fitted to a wooden body that had been built by NZR at the

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 wooden body largely resembled a railway passenger carriage, though the driving compartments fitted at each end had an appearance similar to contemporary

trams A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

.Jones, ''Where Railcars Roamed'', 8. The six-cylinder petrol engine and

generator Generator may refer to: * Signal generator, electronic devices that generate repeating or non-repeating electronic signals * Electric generator, a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. * Generator (circuit theory), an eleme ...

were housed in a compartment at one end of the railcar, and the current produced was fed to two electric traction motors, one fitted to each

. This allowed the long, railcar to travel at speeds up to , although a contemporary account claimed 40 mph. In its gas-illuminated passenger compartment, it had provisions for 48 passengers.

Operation

The railcar was placed in service on the steep

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 ...

- Johnsonville section of what was then the

North Island Main Trunk Railway The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...

and now known as the

Johnsonville Branch The Johnsonville Branch, also known as the Johnsonville Line, is a commuter branch line railway from the main Railway Station of Wellington, New Zealand to the northern suburb of Johnsonville via Ngaio and Khandallah. Transdev Wellington ...

. NZR intended that it also haul a passenger carriage, to boost its capacity further. However, on steep

grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also r ...

, the railcar was wholly incapable of hauling a carriage: not even small carriages such as those of the long B class variety were within its capabilities. Even without a carriage attached, the railcar continued to face frequent breakdowns and other difficulties. In 1916 it was joined by another experimental vehicle, the Thomas Transmission railcar, and in 1917 it was withdrawn from service. It lay derelict at the back of the Wellington

car yard A car dealership, or car dealer, is a business that sells new or used cars, at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. Car dealerships also often sell spare parts and automotive maintena ...

at the Thorndon station that preceded the present

Wellington railway station Wellington railway station, or Wellington Central station, is the main railway station serving Wellington, New Zealand, and is the southern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk, Wairarapa Line and Johnsonville Line. The station opened in ...

and was eventually

destroyed Destroyed may refer to: * ''Destroyed'' (Sloppy Seconds album), a 1989 album by Sloppy Seconds * ''Destroyed'' (Moby album), a 2011 album by Moby See also * Destruction (disambiguation) Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a ...

References

{{NZR Locomotives Railcars of New Zealand Rail transport in New Zealand Petrol railcars