- NZR BC class
-
NZR BC class Power type Steam Builder Baldwin Locomotive Works Serial number 19796 Build date 1901 Total produced 1 Configuration 2-8-2 UIC classification 1'D1' Driver diameter 43 in (1.092 m) Length 55 ft 7 in (16.94 m) Locomotive & tender
combined weight71.4 long tons (72.5 t) Fuel type Coal Fuel capacity 4.0 long tons (4.1 t) Water capacity 1,660 imperial gallons (7,500 l; 1,990 US gal) Boiler pressure 200 lbf/in² (1.38 MPa) Cylinders 2 (2 HP, 2 LP) Cylinder size HP 11½ in, LP 19 in Tractive effort 16,080 lbf (71.53 kN) Career Wellington and Manawatu Railway, New Zealand Government Railways Number WMR 17, NZR 463 Withdrawn March 1927 The BC class comprised a single steam locomotive that operated on New Zealand's national rail network. Built for the Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR) and classified simply as No. 17, it passed into the ownership of the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) when the government purchased the WMR in December 1908, and it was then that it acquired the BC classification as BC 463.
It was ordered in 1901 by the WMR from the Baldwin Locomotive Works. It entered service on 10 June 1902 and was at the time the most powerful locomotive to operate in the country, and it was the only 2-8-2 "Mikado" to run in New Zealand.
The locomotive was designed to haul trains on the WMR's steep main line between Wellington and Paekakariki, and it proved capable of hauling a 280-ton freight train up the sharp grades. It was a Vauclain compound, and its trailing truck bore similarities to the Q class, the world's first 4-6-2 "Pacific" type then under construction by Baldwin for NZR.
The locomotive worked the rugged line out of Wellington its entire life. It operated for nearly two decades in NZR's ownership until it was withdrawn on 31 March 1927.
Categories:- Locomotives of New Zealand
- 2-8-2 locomotives
- Baldwin locomotives
- Compound locomotives
- New Zealand rail transport stubs
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.