| Driving Wheels | 2ft 6ins |
| Weight | 16 tons |
| Boiler Pressure | 120-140psi |
| Cylinders | Outside – 9½in x 18in |
| Tractive Effort | 5,198 lbf |
This locomotive is one of 16 locomotives built in Glasgow between 1873 and 1875 that formed what were known as the little C class or original C class. This was to distinguish them from the C class of 1930.
Six locomotives were built by Dübs and ten by Neilson & Company for the New Zealand Railway (NZR).
At the time there was a need for locomotives on the expanding rail network but train sixes were small and the terrain was difficult. The initial use of the locomotives was to construct lines where the wheel arrangement of 0-4-0 and their light-weight were a particular asset.
The engines were then used to haul general freight and passenger trains on the lines once they were open. They were soon replaced by more powerful locomotives that had greater coal and water capacity.
The locomotives were found to be unstable at speeds in excess of 15mph and by 1880 all of the locomotives had been converted to a 0-4-2 wheel arrangement. At the same time the length of the locomotives frame was altered resulting in a more spacious cab. A coal bunker was added at the rear of the cab to supplement the two side bunkers. This locomotive was converted to a 0-4-2T in 1879.
The class was numbered between C 1 and C 577. Numbering was often illogical and locomotives changed numbers multiple times, partly because the railway network consisted of many isolated sections using different numbering schemes. As the class was used all around the country, from the Kumeu-Riverhead Section north of Auckland to the under-construction Seddonville Branch in Westland, they acquired a range of numbers. Sometimes a locomotive on one section would have the same number as a locomotive on another, or when a locomotive was transferred to a new section it received a new number in line with that section’s numbering scheme. When standard nationwide numbering was introduced, numbers were modified again.
By the start of the 20th century had been sold off to operators of private industrial lines and by 1920 all had been withdrawn from the NZR.
This locomotive was built by Dübs in 1875 as the last member of the C class. At first the locomotive was not numbered but carried the name Pounamu. In 1877 it was given the number C 132 and later in 1882 renumbered C 2.
The locomotive was delivered new to the Greymouth Section in December 1875. The only railway there at the time ran from the port at Greymouth to the Brunner coal mine. Work on the line between Greymouth and Hokitika only started in 1889.
In 1885 the locomotive was transferred to the Public Works Department and was used on railway construction projects. In 1906 the locomotive was renumbered PWD 512. Initially it was employed on the West Coast of the South Island before going north to work on the Gisborne railway. It then returned to the West Coast of the South Island before heading to the East Coast and then north again to work on the Stratford to Okahukura line.
In 1927 the locomotive was sold to J F Macklay who owned it for two years before it was sold to Renown Collieries at Rotowaro. Whilst it was under the ownership of J F Macklay it was overhauled and fitted with a new boiler that was built by Collet and Sons Engineers in Danniverke.
Rotowaro was once a small coal mining township approximately 10 km west of Huntly in the Waikato region of New Zealand. The town was built especially for houses for the miners but was entirely removed in the 1980s to make way for a large opencast mine.
Renown Collieries was taken over by the State Mines Department in 1951. The locomotive worked on both coal and passenger trains around the mine during that time. It was last overhauled in the 1960s when it was fitted with a tank and funnel taken from Neilson works number 1770.
The locomotive remained in service until 1971 when a broken crank pin on the driving wheels forced its retirement.
In 1971 the locomotive was donated by the State Mines Department to the then Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society (later Silver Stream Railway). It was moved to Seaview storage site in May 1972.
Work started later that year on its restoration with view to returning it to service. A lot of work went into repairing the broken crank pin and the rods that were damaged in the incident. A new front headstock was fitted along with several cracks in the smoke box saddle which were ground out and welded up. The boiler was stripped down, cleaned up and reclad. A new mitre dry pipe was fitted and the mitre valves replaced. The injectors were relocated and pipe work refurbished. A new design of grate and ash pan was fitted. The tank and coal bunkers were repaired and a new back was made for the cab fitted. The rear coal bunker was removed making the cab more spacious. The motion work was finished off with a new set of brasses and all the steam valves overhauled or replaced. It was steam tested in February 1984 a entered traffic in May 1984.
In 1985 the locomotive took part in the 125 anniversary celebrations in Christchurch during October 1988
The locomotive was taken out of service in April 2008 and work started on stripping it down at the end of that year. A major problem was discovered with the boiler, after the clack valves had been leaking allowing water to run under the cladding and cause major pitting to the bottom part of the barrel. Work on the locomotives chassis has seen the wheels and trailing truck removed and all springing and valve gear removed. The spring gear was well worn and has been re-bushed and re-attached to the frame. The driving wheel springs were sent away for overhaul.
It is planned to recommence the overhaul at Silver Stream Railway in the Hutt Valley in the next few years once some other work is completed.
Preserved Outside Britain – By Country
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 