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 publication devoted 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"]

to identifying each class of locomotive used by the New Zealand Government Railways was a collaboration by A. N. Palmer and W. W. Stewart and was titled "Cavalcade of New Zealand Locomotives" this is still a useful reference, outlining all the locomotive types from 1863 to 1955 for the 1st edition, and to 1965 for the 2nd edition.

The first attempt to document all the 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.

Further works on the history of NZR steam locomotives were by Tom McGavin author of a number of booklets recording various aspects of NZR history, with several focusing on locomotives. Tom was a driving force in the establishment of the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society and had his early research published in "Bulletin 81" of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society U.S.A. This research resulted in the publication of a series of three booklets Steam Locomotives of New Zealand, with the first written by T. McGavin and the second two by E. J. McClare.

STEAM LOCOMOTIVES OF NEW ZEALAND

Part 1 1863 - 1900

The early history is dealt with in four main chapters

Part 2 1900 - 1930

Part 3 1930 - 1971

These boklets provide a ready reference of the various steam locomotive types used throughout NZR's history