The NZR L class were a series of ten small tank engines built in

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for the

New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining Rail transport in New Zealand, New Zealand's railway infrastruc ...

(NZR) during the early years of the development of New Zealand's railway network.

Origin and design

The L class were designed to provide improved performance over the successful F class on faster passenger services and were built by the Avonside Engine Co. All entered service in 1878 and were used on important passenger trains on the Auckland and Wellington Sections. Although the G class, designed with a similar purpose in mind suffered from poor adhesion, the L was more successful in terms of performance. They were used intensively and provided solid service, although they were not used on passenger services for long due to their small size.

Modifications

NZR began an intensive programme of rebuilding older tank locomotives to attempt to extract improved performance. Parts from seven locomotives were used in this programme, being initially fitted with a leading bogie turning them into L^A Class s then later with larger coal bunkers to s. The remaining three unmodified locomotives were sold to the Public Works Department (PWD) in the early 1900s.

Sales and disposals

While all of the rebuilt L class had been officially withdrawn by 1939, the three unmodified locomotives sold to the PWD went on to have much longer careers. No. 507 (formerly 207 in NZR service) was sold to the Taranaki Harbour Board in 1931, and numbers 508 and 509 (formerly 208 and 219) were sold to Wilson's Portland Cement, an industrial plant south of

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. All three ended up working at Portland until the 1970s, when they were around 95 years old. They were then all donated for preservation where all three remain operational.

Preserved locomotives

Three L Class locomotives have been preserved: * L 207 -

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Operational, took part in

North Island Main Trunk The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...

centennial celebrations in 2008 * L 208 -

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Operational, named Gertie * L 219 - Silver Stream Railway Operational, took part in

centennial celebrations in 2008

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *W.G.Lloyd (2002), ''Register of New Zealand Railways Steam Locomotives 1863 - 1971'', Otago Railway & Locomotive Society/Triple M Publications * * *

External links

Photos of L Class locos
{{NZR Locomotives Steam locomotives of New Zealand 2-4-0T locomotives 1B n2t locomotives Avonside locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1877 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of New Zealand