The New Zealand EB class locomotive was a class of five battery electric (later diesel-electric)

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

s built to perform shunting duties at the workshops 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 ...

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 ...

Introduction

The first (later No. 29) was built in 1925 in the United States, and began its working life at Hamilton railway station in Frankton; then four years later it was transferred to

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 / ...

Addington Workshops The Addington Railway Workshops was a major railway workshops established in the Christchurch suburb of Addington in 1877 by the Public Works Department, and transferred in 1880 to the newly-formed New Zealand Railways Department (NZR). The wor ...

. That same year, four more were built at

Hutt Workshops The Hutt Railway Workshops is a major railway engineering facility in the Lower Hutt suburb of Gracefield in the Wellington region of New Zealand's North Island. It is state-owned enterprise KiwiRail's only workshops, and was opened in 1930. ...

(No's 25 and 26) and

Hillside Workshops Hillside Engineering Group is a trading division of the rail operator KiwiRail in Dunedin, New Zealand. Most of its work is related to KiwiRail, but it also does work for the marine industry in Dunedin. On 19 April 2012 KiwiRail announced it was ...

(No's 27 and 28); they were stationed at main workshops around the country.

Conversion

New batteries were required in 1937, and although conversion into diesel-electric locomotives was proposed, rebuilding was not undertaken until the early 1950s. In their new guise, the locomotives survived well into the 1970s.

Withdrawal

The first to be withdrawn was EB 27 in 1976, and two years later, the class leader, EB 25, was also removed from service. It has been preserved by

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Museum of Transport and Technology The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) is a science and technology museum located in Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. It is located close to the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland Zoo and the Western Springs Park. The museum has ...

. The other three locomotives survived long enough to receive TMS numbers – EB 26 became EB 1809, EB 28 became EB 1815, and EB 29 became EB 1821. The latter two were withdrawn in 1980, but EB1809, now stationed in Napier, was reclassified as a member of the TR class, TR1003. After it was withdrawn, it was saved for preservation and is now serviceable at the

Silver Stream Railway Silver Stream Railway is a heritage railway at Silverstream in the Hutt Valley near Wellington, New Zealand. It regularly operates preserved New Zealand Railways Department locomotives along a restored section of the Hutt Valley Line (part of ...

References

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

External links

New Zealand Diesel and Electric Traction – E and EB classes1930 photo of No.26 at Hutt Workshops
{{NZR Locomotives EB class Bo locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1925 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of New Zealand Battery electric locomotives