The NZR

New Zealand Railways Department

The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was reformed in 1981 into the New...

 EW class locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

 was a class of electric locomotive used in Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. The classification 'EW' was due to their being electric locomotives allocated to Wellington.

Introduction

They were built by English Electric

English Electric

English Electric was a British industrial manufacturer. Founded in 1918, it initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers...

 in 1952 and hauled mainly passenger trains on the region's 1500 V DC electrification

Electrification

Electrification originally referred to the build out of the electrical generating and distribution systems which occurred in the United States, England and other countries from the mid 1880's until around 1940 and is in progress in developing countries. This also included the change over from line...

, and banked

Bank engine

A bank engine or helper engine or pusher engine is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grade...

 trains between Paekakariki

Paekakariki

Paekakariki is a town in the Kapiti Coast District in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It is 22 km north of Porirua and 45 km north-east of Wellington, the nation's capital city....

 and Pukerua Bay

Pukerua Bay

Pukerua Bay is a small seaside community at the southern end of the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand. In local government terms it is the northernmost suburb of Porirua City...

.

They were the first class of locomotive in New Zealand to utilise the Bo-Bo-Bo

Bo-Bo-Bo

thumb|Italian articulated Bo-Bo-Bo [[FS Class E656|E656]] locomotive, [[Rome]], June 2, 2006.A Bo-Bo-Bo in UIC classification is a locomotive with three independent two-axle bogies with all axles powered...

 wheel arrangement

Wheel arrangement

In rail transport, a wheel arrangement is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed beneath a locomotive.. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and connections, with the adopted notations varying by country...

, the other classes being the DJ class

NZR DJ class

The NZR DJ class locomotive is a class of diesel-electric locomotive used in New Zealand. The class were purchased from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with a modernisation loan from the World Bank to replace steam locomotives in the South Island, where most of the class members worked most of their...

 and the EF class

NZR EF class

The NZR EF class is a class of 22 25 kV AC electric locomotives that operate on the North Island Main Trunk between Palmerston North and Te Rapa in New Zealand...

. In both cases, this wheel arrangement was used to provide a lower axle-load due to track conditions. The EW class is different though, as the locomotive is articulated

Articulated locomotive

Articulated locomotive usually means a steam locomotive with one or more engine units which can move independent of the main frame. This is done to allow a longer locomotive to negotiate tighter curves...

 in the middle over the centre or Jacobs

Jacobs bogie

Jacobs bogies are a type of rail vehicle bogie commonly found on articulated railcars and tramway vehicles....

 bogie

Bogie

A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...

 where as the two newer classes have sideplay in the centre bogie.

Withdrawal

During the 1960s the tunnels on this section were lowered so that DA class

NZR DA class

The NZR Da diesel-electric mainline locomotive class ran on the New Zealand railway system between 1955 and 1989. With 146 locomotives, it was the most numerous class to operate in New Zealand, just five more than the AB class steam locomotive....

 diesel locomotives could handle trains all the way through to Wellington. With the introduction of the EM class

NZR EM class (Electric Multiple Unit)

The NZR EM/ET class is a type of electric multiple unit used on suburban services in Wellington, New Zealand. They are owned by the Greater Wellington Regional Council and operated by Tranz Metro, a division of national railway operator KiwiRail....

 units in 1982, the class was further displaced. An attempt was made to use two members of the class on the Otira

Otira

Otira is a small township seven kilometres north of Arthur's Pass in the central South Island of New Zealand. It is on the western approach to the pass, a saddle between the Otira and Bealey Rivers high in the Southern Alps...

 - Arthur's Pass

Arthur's Pass

Arthur's Pass is a mountain pass in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand. It marks part of the boundary between the West Coast and Canterbury regions, 140 km from Christchurch and 95 km from Greymouth. The pass lies in a saddle between the valleys of the Otira River, a...

 electrified section in the South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

, but nothing came of this. All were withdrawn from service by 1988. Two remain preserved today, one at Ferrymead

Ferrymead Railway

The Ferrymead Railway is a New Zealand heritage railway built upon the formation of New Zealand's first public railway, the line from Ferrymead to Christchurch, which opened in 1863. On the opening of the line to Lyttelton on 9 December 1867, the Ferrymead Railway became the Ferrymead Branch and...

 in Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

 and one at Mainline Steam

Mainline Steam

Mainline Steam is a New Zealand organisation devoted to the restoration and operation of historic New Zealand Railways mainline steam locomotives. Regular day excursions and multi-day tours are operated over rail lines throughout New Zealand...

 in Plimmerton

Plimmerton

The township of Plimmerton is adjacent to one of the more congenial beaches in the northwest part of the Wellington urban area of Porirua in New Zealand...

, north of Wellington.

Class register

TMS number	Original number	Notes
107	1800	Scrapped
113	1801	Scrapped at Woolston 1988
136	1802	Written off 1981, scrapped
142	1803	Scrapped
159	1804	Scrapped
165	1805	Preserved by Mainline Steam Mainline Steam Mainline Steam is a New Zealand organisation devoted to the restoration and operation of historic New Zealand Railways mainline steam locomotives. Regular day excursions and multi-day tours are operated over rail lines throughout New Zealand...
171	1806	Preserved by Ferrymead Railway Ferrymead Railway The Ferrymead Railway is a New Zealand heritage railway built upon the formation of New Zealand's first public railway, the line from Ferrymead to Christchurch, which opened in 1863. On the opening of the line to Lyttelton on 9 December 1867, the Ferrymead Railway became the Ferrymead Branch and...

External links

• New Zealand Diesel and Electric Traction - Class EW