NZR BC class
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- The correct title of this article is NZR BC class. It appears incorrectly here because of technical restrictions.
| NZR BC class | |
| Power type | Steam |
|---|---|
| Builder | Baldwin Locomotive Works |
| Build date | 1901 |
| Configuration | 2-8-2 |
| Length | 55 ft 7 in |
| Total weight | 71.4 tons |
| Tender capacity | 4.0 tons of coal 1,660 gallons of water |
| Boiler pressure | 200 lbf/in² |
| Tractive effort | 16,080 lbf |
| Career | Wellington and Manawatu Railway, New Zealand Government Railways |
| Number in class | 1 |
| Number | WMR 17, NZR 463 |
The BC class comprised a single steam locomotive that operated on New Zealand's national rail network. Built for the Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR) and classified simply as No. 17, it passed into the ownership of the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) when the government purchased the WMR in December 1908, and it was then that it acquired the BC classification as BC 463.
It was ordered in 1901 by the WMR from the Baldwin Locomotive Works. It entered service on 10 June 1902 and was at the time the most powerful locomotive to operate in the country, and it was the only 2-8-2 "Mikado" to run in New Zealand.
The locomotive was designed to haul trains on the WMR's steep main line between Wellington and Paekakariki, and it proved capable of hauling a 280-ton freight train up the sharp grades. It was a Vauclain compound and its trailing truck bore similarities to the Q class, the world's first 4-6-2 "Pacific" type then under construction by Baldwin for NZR.
The locomotive worked the rugged line out of Wellington its entire life. It operated for nearly two decades in NZR's ownership until it was withdrawn on 31 March 1927.
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