NZR WB class
NZR WB class | |
---|---|
Wanganui , Napier | |
First run | 1899 |
Retired | 1935–1950 |
The NZR WB class was a class of tank locomotives that operated in New Zealand. Built in 1898 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the twelve members of the class entered service during the first five months of 1899. Eight were withdrawn by the end of 1935, while four others survived with new boilers until the mid-1950s.
History
In the late 1890s, New Zealand's
Operation
Most were initially based at
In their early years, WB locomotives ran all kinds of trains from their main base in Wanganui - the prestigious New Plymouth Mail passenger express, goods trains to Napier and through the Wairarapa, and local mixed trains of passengers and freight from Wanganui to Hāwera and Palmerston North. Within a few years, more powerful locomotives displaced the WB class from many of these services and they were sent to join their classmates in Westport and Whangarei.
On the isolated Westport section, the dominant traffic was coal from the various inland mines served by rail, and the WBs worked these services for a number of decades until they were displaced in the 1950s by the
Withdrawal
The first withdrawals of WB class locomotives occurred in the late 1920s, when Whangarei-based WB 301 was retired in March 1928. By the end of 1932, all six WBs that had been based in Whangarei were withdrawn - they were 290, 293, 295, 296, 297, and 301. In Westport, the two that did not receive new boilers were withdrawn around the same time: WB 291 ceased operations in December 1931 and was followed by WB 294 in May 1935. Until the Westport section was linked to the national network in 1943, the remaining four had secure roles; although members of the superior WW class had been introduced to Westport in 1929–30, they did not arrive in sufficient quantities to seriously displace the WBs until the opening of the
Preservation
Inspired by the recovery of locomotives from riverbeds such as
- WB 292 Baldwin No. 16172 of 1898
- WB 299 Baldwin No. 16175 of 1898
See also
- NZR W class
- NZR WA class
- NZR WD class
- NZR WE class
- NZR WF class
- NZR WG class
- NZR WW class
- NZR WS / WAB class
- Locomotives of New Zealand
References
Citation
- ^ Palmer & Stewart 1965, p. 66.
Bibliography
- Churchman, Geoffrey B; Hurst, Tony (2001) [1990, 1991]. The Railways of New Zealand: A Journey through History (Second ed.). Transpress New Zealand. ISBN 0-908876-20-3.
- Palmer, A. N.; Stewart, W. W. (1965). Cavalcade of New Zealand Locomotives. Wellington: ISBN 978-0-207-94500-7.
- Stewart, W. W. (1974). When Steam was King. Wellington: ISBN 978-0-589-00382-1.