NZR Locomotives

A summary of published research

The history of the locomotives used by the New Zealand Railways (NZR) is both intriguing and complex, particularly during the early years. This is brought out in several published works which attempt to unravel the complexities of early numbering and classification systems. This page and its sub-pages are intended as a summary of some of that research.

Up until 1878, was the year the Railways Department and the Public Works Department were split, leaving the Railway Department in charge of running trains and the Public Works Department in charge of building railways, among other things.

The earliest formal publication devoted to NZR locomotives was curiously published in the U.S.A., the work of Tom McGavin, summarising the results of the work of several NZR&LS members to whom it had been presented in 1950. The work was entitled ["The Steam Locomotives of New Zealand Government Railways 1872 - 1949"]. From this came the first New Zealand publication, "Steam Locomotives of New Zealand Since 1863" (1st edition 1950) with a second revised and enlarged edition in 1961. A complete update of the material covered by these early publications resulted in a set of three new volumes, Part one by T.A. McGavin dealing with 1863 - 1900, the other two by E.J. McClare, Part two dealing with 1900 - 1930 and Part three 1930 - 1971. These booklets still provide a ready reference of the various steam locomotive types used throughout NZR's history

The first attempt to document all the steam locomotives used on New Zealand railways was carried out by Bill LLoyd, and presented in a publication "NZR Steam Locomotive Lists 1880 - 1957". This was issued by the Railway and Locomotive Society as Supplement No.5 to their quarterly publication "The New Zealand Railway Observer". This first list was however not a complete story as it used the 1880 locomotive list (issued as an appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives) as a starting point, with no attempt to unravel the earlier numbering systems. A further 10 years of research resulted in the publication of the first formal attempt to provide a complete register. The "Register of New Zealand Railways Steam Locomotives, published in 1974. 27 years later after much further research, an enlarged and revised edition was published in 2002. Both these edition are serious reference works, listing every locomotive of every class that worked on Government railway lines.

At the time of the centenary of New Zealand railways, a new work was published as a historical record of all classes of locomotives used by the New Zealand Government Railways, including Steam, Electric and Diesel. This was a collaborative effort by A. N. Palmer and W. W. Stewart and was titled "Cavalcade of New Zealand Locomotives" this is still a very useful reference, outlining all the locomotive types from 1863 to 1955 for the 1st edition, and to 1965 for the 2nd edition with a convenient Locomotive index and list of builders at the back.

During the early 1960's, Peter Dyer was compiling data on the Public Works Department steam locomotives, a more challenging task given the loss of many of the early records. He subsequently published a booklet in 1966 titled "Steam Locomotives of the New Zealand Public Works Department"

A separate branch of locomotive research was carried out by Gerald Petrie, looking at steam locomotives in New Zealand other than those operated by NZR. This resulted in the publication of "New Zealand Steam Locomotives by Official Number" in 1993. This was followed 3 years later by "In the Beginning", a detailed look at all locomotive data between 1863 and 1877 in an attempt to unravel some/most of the mysteries that surrounded certain old locomotives. Then in 2007 a detailed analysis of all available data relating to the early numbering of New Zealand Railways locomotive numbering

A completely up to date reference titled "The NZR Steam Locomomotive" was published by Sean Miller in 2011. This is a fine reference work covering each locomotive type including a short section on unclassified locos and steam railcars etc. It has many fine illustrations but lacks some details you would expect to find in such a well presented publications.

In 2018 Sean Millar published another book titled "Classifying New Zealand's Locomotives" being a more serious look at the classification issue than an earlier publication "From A to Y excluding I".