| Cylinders | Outside – 14in x 20in |
This locomotive was built by Andrew Barclay at Kilmarnock and shipped to New Zealand in May 1947. It had been ordered by Challenge Phosphate Company of Otahuhu which is a suburb of Auckland. Otahuhu is from the Māori-language name for the volcanic cone known as Ōtāhuhu / Mount Richmond.
Ōtāhuhu was the largest agricultural town in the Auckland Province, facilitated by the trade of wheat and other agricultural products to the city of Auckland, trading along the Tāmaki River. The agricultural requirements for fertiliser and fact that Ōtāhuhu had been connected to the New Zealand Railway presumably gave rise to the Challenge Phosphate Company being formed in 1927. The company remained in business until 1996.
locomotive was acquired by the Westfield Freezing Works which was a large meat processing facility in the Auckland suburb of Westfield which had been established in 1908. The site was close to South Auckland farms and there were sidings connecting to the main railway line.
In 1972 the locomotive was converted to a diesel engine by A & G Price of Thames who had started building locomotives in New Zealand in 1882.
Economic reforms in the mid 1980s made the works uncompetitive and the site closed in 1989.
There is no record of the locomotive again until 1996 when it was acquired and moved to the Goldfields Railway. The Goldfields Railway is a heritage railway that operates between Waihi and Waikino in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand’s North Island. It operates over a section of track that was part of the East Coast Main Trunk Railway until the Kaimai Tunnel deviation made it redundant in 1978. The Goldfields Railway was formed in 1980 as the Goldfields Steam Train Society to retain a portion of the old mainline and switched to its current name in the mid-nineties.
In 2008 the locomotive was moved to the Rotorua Ngongotaha Rail Trust where it is believed to be now on static display. The Rotorua Ngongotaha Rail Trust which was established in 1995 consists of a 10 acrea Rail Heritage and Railway Theme Park.
Preserved Outside Britain – By Country
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 