Locomotives

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30919, 27 November 1965, Page 4

Locomotives

Cavalcade of New Zealand Locomotives. By A. N. Palmer and W. W. Stewart. A. H. and A. W. Reed. 174 pp. and maps.

This is a new revised and enlarged edition of what has become a standard work with an international reputation. Over 160 locomotive types are clearly illustrated, from the broad gauge tanks of the Canterbury Provincial Railways to the latest 1400 series diesel electrics in current delivery. The locomotives of the Oreti railway, destined to run, skid and slip on wooden rails into bankruptcy appear early. Amongst the engines of the public works era of the 1870’s the double-ended Fairlie patents are striking: it would have been helpful to have a plan of these unusual machines, and their adoption on the Ift Ilin gauge Festiniog railway before being used on Vogel’s 3ft 6in is overlooked, though it must have been influential. These early locomotives were little bigger than contractors’ plant, but from the mid-1870's onwards the steady progression to the 1930’s is documented through ever,’ j step, every false design and every overseas prototype. A historical pattern is repeated from the 1890’s onward whereby motive power is overtaxed, becomes obsolescent, is revitalised by new and more powerful engines adequate for a decade or more, and then slips back again: we are now in a position where over 1000 b.h.p. is expected from a main-line locomotive. Overseas, the prototype automatic-ally-controlled locomotive has appeared, which foreshadows no great further changes in the appearance of power units, but some obvious breaks in the long traditions of operation and staffing.