#2119
NZR RM class (Edison battery-electric)
🇳🇿 New Zealand ·built by Boon & Stevens· from 1926· class of 1 battery-electric railcar
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Edison storage battery New Zealand Railways railcar RM-6 in 1926: Unknown author Unknown author· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The NZR RM class Edison battery-electric railcar was a railcar that ran in Canterbury, New Zealand for eight years. It was built for New Zealand Railways (NZR) as a prototype for battery-electric railcars. While the railcar, classified "RM 6", was considered the first successful railcar in New Zealand, it was later destroyed in a fire, and battery-electric traction for railcars was not developed further in New Zealand.
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 100 years ago, in 1926.
- 16.9 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 8 years (1926–1934).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1926
- in service from
- 1926
- retired
- 1934
- status
- retired
- number built
- 1
- kind
- Battery-electric
- traction
- battery
- origin
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- builders
- Boon & Stevens
- operators
- New Zealand Railways Department
- top speed
- 72 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Bo-Bo
- length
- 16.9 m
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q6956231, Wikipedia: NZR RM class (Edison battery-electric) (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.