New Zealand Government Railways 0-6-0 Locomotives in New_Zealand

Class F (Locobase 9570)

Data from Howell, Comparative Statistics of the Australasian Railways, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, March 1899, pp. 98-99 and John Garner's [], last accessed 7 September 2008. See also Charles Rous-Marten, "New Zealand Railways: Their History, Engines and Work", The Railway Magazine (December 1899), pp. 567+.The list of British builders that contributed locomotives to this class includes: Avonside Engine Co., Bristol (26), Dubs & Co., Glasgow (21), Neilson & Company, Glasgow (12), Robert Stephenson & Co., Newcastle-on-Tyne (12), Yorkshire Engine Co, Sheffield (11), Vulcan Foundry Ltd., Newton-le-Willows (5), and Black Hawthorn & Co., Gateshead-on-Tyne (1).

Garner notes that "Despite being a light engine,", [o]n level track, even an 800 ton load was not beyond their capabilities." Moreover, the small drivers churned up speeds of up to 40 mph (56 km/h). Charles Rous-Marten saw them first-hand and characterized them as "Most sturdy and useful little chaps they were and are. I doubt if smarter or more capable 'servants of-all-work' were ever seen on any railways, within their limits of power. I have known church-Dunedin on its Palmerston-Dunedin stage-and skip along gleefully at 40 miles an hour; while up long steep banks, often 1 in 50 on the latter section they 'climbed like a cat,' to quote the expression of one driver. Also on their proper duty, hauling goods trains, they would walk away with such loads that I used simply to stare at them in blank astonishment."

Well-suited to a variety of demands, most of the class operated for decades and the last didn't retire until 1964.