Takapuna Tramways & Ferry 0-4-0 Locomotives in New_Zealand

Class Bayswater (Locobase 13876)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 39, p. and Vol 63, pp. 184+. See also David Verran, "When Trams ran on the North Shore", North Shore History at [], last accessed 17 February 2012. Works numbers were 37168 in November 1911, 52128 and 52205 in August 1919.

The first of these was a steam dummy that was an outlier in several respects. It was ordered late in the tramway era, the buyer deliberately chose steam over electricity, the Baldwin engine was big and powerful compared to others in the same service, and the track was laid on the standard gauge in a country where virtually every foot of rail was laid on the Cape Gauge (3 ft 6 in). Perhaps even more surprising is the TT&F's decision to order two more in 1919 (works 52128 and 52205 in August 1919), which weighed in at 51,500 lb (23,360 kg).

The original specification of 140 brass tubes (and 408 sq ft total) was changed to allow the fitting of 6 #12 WG Steel stay tubes.

The Milford-Bayswater tram opened on 22 December 1910. Verran says the tramway ran "...along Bayswater Avenue into Belmont, then Takapuna, looping round Hurstmere Road through Milford and back along Taharoto Road." It served the ferry that connected Auckland and Bayswater, which made money, but itself ran at a loss. Verran questions what the fate of the tramway might have been had it been electrified from the start: "Certainly, the trams were remembered more for their noise, smoke, traffic accidents along the route, a lack of punctuality and slowness."

When the last tram ran on 24 April 1927 -- to be replaced by buses -- the three Baldwins were sold for use as stationary boilers.