X-Nico

8 unusual facts about New Zealand Railways Department


Addington, New Zealand

The New Zealand Railways Department's Addington Workshops were situated here until their closure in the 1980s; the historic concrete water-tower survives, next to the new Christchurch railway station.

Aussie Malcolm

As Associate to Colin McLachlan, Malcolm's focus was on New Zealand Railways.

Edward McKenna

He joined the New Zealand Railways as a clerk and soon rose to be Station Master at Kaiapoi, Ashburton, Invercargill, Gore, Greatford, Halcombe and in the early 1880s Palmerston North.

Henry Cleary

Cleary answered accusations of an undue Catholic representation in the public service by publishing statistical surveys of employment by religion in the Railway Department and the Post Office.

Murray Robert Smith

Formerly a Public Trust accountant, he was made managing director of the Development Finance Corporation and executive chairman of New Zealand Railways by Labour.

New Zealand Railways Department

Bedford Vehicles Supplied a record 1260 Bedford SB chassis (largest fleet of Bedford SB buses in the world).

Schofield tank

The armour plating was provided by the New Zealand Railways.

The Press

Roads at the time were difficult, and the New Zealand Railways Department was unwilling to re-schedule any of its ordinary passenger trains to operate at the early morning times desired by The Press as patronage would have been uneconomic, and freight trains did not provide a desirable measure of swiftness.


Christchurch tramway system

Little River was eventually served by rail when the Railways Department’s Little River Branch opened to its namesake terminus in 1886.

Linden Railway Station

Built by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR), the full line to Longburn was completed in 1886 and trains were operated by the WMR until December 1908, when the New Zealand Railways Department purchased the WMR and incorporated its line into the NIMT.

Norman Frederick Hastings

After serving with British military units during the Second Anglo-Boer War in South Africa, he worked as an engineering fitter with the New Zealand Railways Department workshops at Petone.

NZR X class

The NZR X class was a pioneering class of eighteen 4-8-2 steam locomotives designed by A. L. Beattie that operated on the national rail network of New Zealand.

Palmerston North–Gisborne Line

The first sod had been turned in Napier in 1912, but delays meant the line was not opened to Eskdale by the PWD until December 1922 and handed over to the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) on 23 July 1923.

Redwood Railway Station

The WMR built the original route of the NIMT between Wellington and Longburn and it was purchased by the New Zealand Railways Department in December 1908.

Rotorua Express

The Rotorua Express was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department between Auckland and Rotorua.

Taneatua Express

The Taneatua Express was an express passenger train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department that ran between Auckland and Taneatua in the Bay of Plenty, serving centres such as Tauranga and Te Puke.


see also

N class

NZR N class, a class of steam locomotives used by the New Zealand Railways Department and the Wellington and Manawatu Railway