NZR V Class

NZR V Class were a series 2-6-2 "Prairie" type steam locomotives that were built for the New Zealand railway in 1885 by the Nasmyth, Wilson and Company, of Manchester, United Kingdom.
==History==
The heavy increase in traffic by the early 1880s necessitated a design for a new class of passenger locomotive. The V class was conceived as an enlarged version of the 2-4-2 NZR K class of 1877. Instead of the K class's four coupled wheels, six coupled wheels were used. The order was placed with Nasmyth, Wilson and Company of Manchester. It took seven years for delivery to be made and then it was found that the engines were 5 and a half tons overweight without their tender.
The first withdrawals of the V class began around 1925 and ended in the early 1930s. Normally they would have been scrapped but there was a surplus of metal after WWI. Instead it was decided that the locomotives would be sent to various sites and dumped into the rivers to be used as flood barriers. Most of the engines were dumped as stripped hulks comprising the boiler, frames, cylinders and wheels at the Branxholme Locomotive Dump in 1927. V 126 and V 127 were dumped as substantially more complete hulks at Mararoa Junction, also in 1927, complete with their cabs and tenders. V 132 was dismantled at the Bealey Quarry and its frames dumped there. 
The three WMR engines were withdrawn the same time and their boilers removed for stationary use or sale. The fate of the 3 WMR V's is unknown, though there has been some speculation that one might have been dumped at Branxholme. One of the boilers from these engines was unearthed by KiwiRail in 2009 during construction of the Kai Iwi tunnel bypass.
==Preservation==
In late January 2020, the Lumsden Heritage Trust successfully recovered the 1885 V-class No. 127 from their dump site in the Oreti River after a recovery effort and planning that spanned six years. They had also wanted to recover V-class 126 the same day, but in the words of the Lumsden Heritage Trust, logistics got the better of them on the day, despite a mammoth effort. In February 2020, they returned to site and successfully recovered 126 as well using what they had learned from the previous months recovery. 
The recovered No. 127 and 126 are now both sitting on their wheels and bogies on a specially built siding at the Lumsden Railway Precinct. The recovery of the two V-class locomotives has garnered media attention as far away as the UK and the Trust's Lumsden base has seen an influx of interested tourists and visitors. Cosmetic restoration of the two locomotives has been mentioned as a possibility by Lumsden Heritage Trust at some point in the future. 
==Trivia==
*In 2018 the remains of two V class locomotives were investigated at Mararoa Junction with a view to recovery and static restoration by the Lumsden Heritage Trust.
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:New Zealand Locomotives
Category:2-6-2 steam locomotives
Category:2-6-2 locomotives
Category:Six-coupled locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Nasmyth locomotives
Category:Built in 1885
Category:New Zealand
Category:New Zealand Railway
Category:NZR Locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Restored locomotives
Category:Sunken locomotives