NZR WJ class explained

NZR WJ class
Powertype:Steam
Builddate:1904
Builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
Serialnumber:23596
Locoweight:53.6LT
Whytetype:2-8-4T
Disposition:Withdrawn
Numinclass:1
Weightondrivers:38LT
Boilerpressure:2000NaN0
Firearea:16.7square feet
Wheeldiameter:433NaN3
Cylindercount:2
Cylindersize:17x
Totalsurface:1080square feet
Tractiveeffort:21510lbf
Retiredate:31 March 1928
Fleetnumbers:WMR 3 (1904),
NZR 466
Operator:Wellington and Manawatu Railway, New Zealand Government Railways
Fueltype:Coal

The NZR WJ class was a class of one steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for service on New Zealand's private Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR). She acquired the WJ classification when the publicly owned New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) purchased the WMR and its locomotive fleet in 1908.

Introduction

The locomotive entered service in July 1904 with WMR road No. 3 (reused). She was the first WMR locomotive to have piston valves.

A massive 2-8-4T tank engine, known as Jumbo, she was based at Wellington for all her life. She was acquired for banking duty out of Wellington up the Ngaio bank to Johnsonville, which had long grades of 1 in 40 up to Crofton (Ngaio) and Khandallah and tunnels No 1 to 5.

She had worked 67,907 miles by 29 February 1908. Drivers and firemen alike, it has been written, hated Jumbo, but all agreed that for sheer brute strength this engine took a lot of beating. Like all Baldwin locomotives, the locomotive had cast frames of the bar type. In this case, they gave considerable trouble, for they persistently broke immediately behind the smokebox saddle.

When taken into the NZR fleet in 1908, she was allocated her own class and NZR No. 466. With a tendency for breaking the bar frames on the heavy banking duty, she saw little service after 1920.

Withdrawal

The locomotive was withdrawn in 1927 and written off on 31 March 1928. The boiler was sent to the Taumarunui locomotive depot for use as a washout boiler.

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