#1745
NZR AB class
🇳🇿 New Zealand ·built by New Zealand Railways Department· from 1915· class of 141 New Zealand 4-6-2 locomotives
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. NZR Ab Class 778 hauling the Kingston Flyer: Brian Snelson· CC BY 2.0
what is it?
The NZR AB class are a class of 4-6-2 Pacific tender steam locomotive that operated on New Zealand's national railway system for New Zealand Railways (NZR). Originally an improvement on the 1906 A class, 141 were built between 1915 and 1927 by NZR's Addington Workshops, A & G Price of Thames, New Zealand, and North British Locomotive Company, making the AB class the largest class of steam locomotives ever to run 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 111 years ago, in 1915.
- 18.9 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 56 years (1915–1971).
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1915–1927
- in service from
- 1915
- retired
- 1971
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 143
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- builders
- New Zealand Railways Department, North British Locomotive Company, A & G Price, Addington Railway Workshops
- operators
- New Zealand Railways Department
- top speed
- 97 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 4-6-2
- length
- 18.9 m
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q6956172, Wikipedia: NZR AB class (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.