NZR UC class

The NZR UC class was a group of ten 4-6-0 steam locomotives obtained from the Scottish builders Sharp, Stewart and Company for New Zealand Railways. They were the last new 4-6-0 engines delivered to meet the heavy traffic of the turn of the twentieth century, entering service between August and October 1901. They resembled the builder's earlier UA class but had a longer cylinder stroke and a higher boiler pressure of 200 pounds per square inch against 175, which gave a markedly higher tractive effort. After the Otira Tunnel opened in 1923 all ten moved to the West Coast of the South Island, where they were the most powerful main line locomotives until the 1940s. Seven received superheated boilers, and the class was gone by 1959. The remains of UC 369 and UC 370 were salvaged from the Grey River in 2005 and those of UC 366 were recovered in 2008.