NZR WJ class

NZR WJ class
Power type	Steam
Builder	Baldwin Locomotive Works
Serial number	23596
Build date	1904
Configuration	2-8-4T
Gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Wheel diameter	43 in (1.092 m)
Weight on drivers	38.0 long tons (38.6 t)
Locomotive weight	53.6 long tons (54.5 t)
Fuel type	Coal
Boiler pressure	200 psi (1.4 MPa)
Cylinders	2
Career	Wellington and Manawatu Railway, New Zealand Government Railways
Number in class	1
Number	WMR 3 (1904), NZR 466
Locale	Wellington - Johnsonville section
Retired	31 March 1928
Disposition	Withdrawn

The NZR W^J class was a class of one steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for service on New Zealand's private Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR). She acquired the W^J classification when the publicly owned New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) purchased the WMR and its locomotive fleet in 1908.

The locomotive entered service in July 1904 with WMR Road No. 3 (reused).

A massive 2-8-4T tank engine, known as Jumbo, she was acquired for banking duty out of Wellington up the Ngaio bank to Johnsonville, and was based at Wellington for all her life. She had worked 67,907 miles by 29 February 1908 (Cassells). Drivers and firemen alike, it has been written, hated Jumbo, but all agreed that for sheer brute strength this engine took a lot of beating. Like all Baldwin locomotives, Jumbo had cast frames of the bar type. In this case they gave considerable trouble, for they persistently broke immediately behind the smokebox saddle (McGavin)

When taken into the NZR fleet in 1908, she was allocated her own class and NZR No. 466. With a tendency for breaking the bar frames on the heavy banking duty, she saw little service after 1920.

She was withdrawn in 1927 (Cassells) and written off on 31 March 1928 (Lloyd). The boiler was sent to the Taumarunui locomotive depot for use as a washout boiler.

References

• Cassells, K.R. Uncommon Carrier: The History of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, 1882-1908 pp. 108,156,169 (Wellington, NZRLS, 1994, ISBN 0-908573-63-4 )
• Lloyd, W.G. Register of New Zealand Railways Steam Locomotives, 1863-1971 pp. 38,64 (Wellington, NZRLS, 1974)
• McGavin, T. A. The Manawatu Line (Wellington NZRLS, 1958, 2nd edn 1982) ISBN 0 908573 35 9

External links

• Baldwin Steam Trust's list of Baldwin locomotives used on the WMR - includes the W^J class
• Writing off, 1927