NZR OC class

NZR OC class
Power type	Steam
Builder	Baldwin Locomotive Works
Serial number	15055
Build date	1896
Configuration	2-8-0
UIC classification	1'D
Length	51 ft 8 in (15.75 m)
Locomotive & tender combined weight	62.8 long tons (63.8 t)
Boiler pressure	200 psi (1.4 MPa)
Career	Wellington and Manawatu Railway New Zealand Railways Department
Number in class	1
Number	WMR 16 NZR 458
Retired	July 1930

The O^C class, built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR) in New Zealand, consists of a solitary steam locomotive. Ordered in 1896 as an externally similar but more powerful version of the O^A class locomotive ordered in 1894, it entered service in June 1897 as No. 16. It was a Vauclain compound locomotive.

In 1908, the WMR and its locomotive fleet was purchased by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) and incorporated into the national rail network, and although No. 16 bore a likeness to members of the O class, it was sufficiently different to warrant separate classification. Technical differences were sufficient that it was not classified with the visually similar WMR No. 13/NZR O^A 457, and accordingly it became O^C 458. It is known to have operated on the line from the Hutt Valley through the Rimutaka Range to the western end of the Rimutaka Incline, and its final depot was at Cross Creek at the eastern end of the Rimutaka Incline in the Wairarapa. It was withdrawn from service in July 1930.

See also

Locomotives of New Zealand

External links

• Baldwin Steam Trust's page of Baldwin locomotives built for the WMR - includes O^C class
• Drawing of an O^A/O^C class locomotive from Derek Brown