the NZR A class

A423 on its delivery run from Greymouth to Te Awamutu (now at the Glenbrook Vintage Railway) on a photo stop near Cora Lynn in September 1970.

One of the most appealing and distinctive NZR steam locomotive designs, particularly as it was initially used on express passenger trains and later a common sight on rural branch lines (along with the later Ab) after WW2, the Pacific type A class from 1906 was an NZ built engine; 8 by the NZR Workshops at Addington and 50 by the firm of A. & G. Price in Thames. The first four had Stephenson valve gear inside and Walschaerts valve gear outside, while the following had just Walschaerts. They were initially de Glehn compound locomotives, but complications with the compounding led to their being superheated and then converted to two-cylinder simple locomotives.  Only 2 survived, and only one A428, is operational, on the Weka Pass Railway (see earlier posts).

A plaque on the wall of our vestibule