NZR BC class

{{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{DISPLAYTITLE:NZR BC class}} {{Infobox locomotive | name=NZR BC class | powertype = Steam | image=Bc class steam locomotive, New Zealand Railways number 463 (2-8-2). ATLIB 276308.png | caption=BC class steam locomotive, [[New Zealand Railways Department|NZR]] number 463. Godber Collection, [[Alexander Turnbull Library]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.276308|title=Bc class steam locomotive, New Zealand Railways number 463 (2-8-2).|publisher=[[National Library of New Zealand]]|access-date=20 March 2019}}</ref> | builder = [[Baldwin Locomotive Works]] | serialnumber = 19796 | builddate = 1901 | buildmodel = | totalproduction = 1 | whytetype = [[2-8-2]] | uicclass=1'D1' | gauge={{Track gauge|42in|lk=on}} | driverdiameter={{Convert|43|in|m|3|abbr=on}} | length = {{Convert|55|ft|7|in|m|2|abbr=on}} | locotenderweight = {{Convert|71.4|LT|t ST}} | fueltype = [[Coal]] | fuelcap = {{Convert|4.0|LT|t ST}} | watercap = {{Convert|1660|impgal}} | boilerpressure = {{Convert|200|lbf/in2|MPa|2|abbr=on}} | firearea = {{convert|25|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} | totalsurface = {{convert|1477|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} | cylindercount= 4 (2 HP, 2 LP) | cylindersize= HP {{Convert|11.5|x|20|in|mm|0|abbr=on}} LP {{Convert|19|x|20|in|mm|0|abbr=on}} | tractiveeffort = {{Convert|16080|lbf|kN|2|abbr=on}} | operator=[[Wellington and Manawatu Railway]], [[New Zealand Government Railways]] | fleetnumbers = WMR 17, NZR 463 | withdrawndate=March 1927 }}

The '''NZR BC class''' comprised a single [[steam locomotive]] that operated on [[New Zealand]]'s [[New Zealand Railways Department|national rail network]]. Built for the [[Wellington and Manawatu Railway]] (WMR) and classified as No. 17, it passed into the ownership of the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) when the government purchased the WMR in December 1908, and it was then that it acquired the BC classification as BC 463.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trainweb.org/nzsteam/bc_class.html|title=Class BC|publisher=New Zealand Steam|access-date=20 March 2019}}</ref>

== Introduction == The WMR ordered No.17 from the [[Baldwin Locomotive Works]]. It entered service on 10 June 1902 and was at the time the most powerful locomotive to operate in the country. No.17 was the only [[2-8-2]] "[[Mikado (locomotive)|Mikado]]" to run in New Zealand. At the time of its arrival, it was the largest engine in the country. It was a [[Vauclain compound|Vauclain]] [[compound locomotive|compound]], and its trailing truck bore similarities to the [[NZR Q class (1901)|Q class]], the world's first [[4-6-2]] "Pacific" type then under construction by Baldwin for NZR.{{sfn|Palmer|Stewart|1965|p=96}}

The Baldwin Locomotive Works had taken the design of the locomotive almost directly from the original Mikado, that they built for the [[Nippon Railway]] of Japan in 1897. No. 17 was the Japanese engine fitted with a [[NZR Q class (1901)|Q class]] boiler. It was then only the third Mikado to be built in the world.

The locomotive was designed to haul trains on the WMR's [[Wellington - Manawatu Line|steep main line]] between [[Wellington]] and [[Paekākāriki]], and it proved capable of hauling a 280-ton freight train up the [[Grade (slope)|steep grades]]. This line became the southern portion of the [[North Island Main Trunk Railway]] when acquired by NZR in 1908. [[File:WNR-JP Mikado comparison.jpg|thumb|center|500px|A diagram comparing the Baldwin-built [[Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company|WMR]] 2-8-2 No. 17 with the first Mikado class built for the [[Nippon Railway]] in 1897.{{sfn|Stewart|1974}}]]

== Withdrawal == No.17/BC 463 worked this line its entire life. It operated for nearly two decades in NZR's ownership until it was withdrawn on 31 March 1927 along with fellow surviving WMR locomotives when NZR adopted a rapid locomotive standardisation plan in the 1920s.{{sfn|Palmer|Stewart|1965|p=96}} It did not survive to be preserved. Only the brass bell from the locomotive survived and was placed on display at [[Wellington railway station]]. A decade after it was withdrawn, the steepest section of its former line was bypassed by the [[Tawa Flat deviation]] and became the [[Johnsonville Branch]]. [[File:Builders photo of WMR no.17 or NZR Bc no.463.jpg|thumb|center|400px|Colourised [[Builder's photo]] of WMR no.17/NZR Bc no.463]]

==See also== *[[NZR B class (1874)|NZR Class B of 1874]] *[[NZR B class (1899)|NZR Class B of 1899]] *[[Locomotives of New Zealand]]

== References == ===Citations=== {{reflist}} === Bibliography === {{refbegin}} * {{cite book|title=Uncommon Carrier - The History of the Wellington & Manawatu Railway Company, 1882-1908|last1=Cassells|first1=KR (Ken) |year=1994|publisher=[[New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society]]|ISBN=0908573634}} * {{cite book|title=West of the Tararuas: An Illustrated History of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Co|author=Hoy, Douglas |year=1972|publisher=Southern Press|location=Wellington}} * {{NZR Steam Locomotive}} * {{Palmer & Stewart}} * {{When Steam Was King}} {{refend}}

== External links == * [http://www.trainweb.org/nzsteam/bc_class.html New Zealand Steam - BC class]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nzr Bc Class}} [[Category:Individual locomotives of New Zealand]] [[Category:Steam locomotives of New Zealand|Bc class]] [[Category:3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of New Zealand]] [[Category:2-8-2 locomotives]] [[Category:1′D1′ steam locomotives]] [[Category:Baldwin locomotives]] [[Category:Vauclain compound locomotives]] [[Category:Scrapped locomotives]] [[Category:Railway locomotives introduced in 1901]]