NZR F class

The NZR F class was a class of 0-6-0 saddle tank steam locomotives built for the New Zealand Railways network, and it was the first important class designed for the 3 ft 6 in gauge adopted as the national gauge. Eighty-eight were constructed between 1872 and 1888, beginning with three prototypes from Neilsons of Glasgow in 1872, and it was the first class ordered by the central government. The engines were first given names from the novels of Sir Walter Scott. They could haul light passenger trains at up to 70 km/h or freight of up to 800 tonnes on flat track, and they worked on essentially every line New Zealand Railways operated before larger engines pushed them onto branch lines and shunting. Many were later sold to coal mines, sawmills and freezing works, and two similar engines went to Spain's Riotinto Railway and two to the Western Australian Government Railways. The class was extinct in railway ownership by 1968, but nine steam examples survive, among them F 13 Peveril at the Ferrymead Railway, the oldest operating steam locomotive in New Zealand.