#1320
NZR A class
🇳🇿 New Zealand ·built by A & G Price· from 1906· class of 58 New Zealand 4-6-2 locomotives built 1906–1914
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. NZR A class No. 428 at Glenmark Station in Waipara: TrainboyMBH· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The NZR A class were a class of steam locomotives built in 1906 with a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement for the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR). The class should not be confused with the older and more obscure A class of 1873. They were designed by the NZR's Chief Mechanical Engineer, A. L. Beattie and his Chief Draughtsman, G. A. Pearson to replace less powerful locomotives struggling with increasing loads on the South Island Main Trunk Railway, and in anticipation of the traffic volumes that would be created upon the completion of the North Island Main Trunk railway.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 120 years ago, in 1906.
- Weighs about as much as 9 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 17.4 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 63 years (1906–1969).
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1906–1914
- in service from
- 1906
- retired
- 1969
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 58
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- builders
- A & G Price, Addington Railway Workshops
- operators
- New Zealand Railways Department
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 4-6-2
- length
- 17.4 m
- weight
- 51.8 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q6956179, Wikipedia: NZR A class (1906) (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.