Operation, Withdrawal, and Preservation
Employed in both islands, the C class satisfied the shunting requirements placed upon it and occasionally also worked local freight services. Not long after its introduction, the very powerful K class began operating, and their sheer power meant they could haul even heavier trains than other locomotives before. It soon became apparent that these trains required a shunter even more powerful than the C, and for this reason, ten members of the BB class were modified for shunting duties.
However, the K class was not ubiquitous like the AB class and there was still plenty of work for the C class locomotives to perform. All twenty-four members worked for over three decades, with the first two withdrawn in July 1963. A total of ten were withdrawn by the end of 1963 and the remainder were progressively removed from service over the next few years. Only three were left at the start of 1968, and in May, C 846 and C 864 were both retired, with the latter saved for preservation by the Ferrymead Railway and it is currently being overhauled. The last to be withdrawn was C 847 in October 1968 and it passed into the possession of the Silver Stream Railway. It is currently operational and in use by the Railway.
Read more about this topic: NZR C Class (1930)
Famous quotes containing the word preservation:
“Men are not therefore put to death, or punished for that their theft proceedeth from election; but because it was noxious and contrary to men’s preservation, and the punishment conducing to the preservation of the rest, inasmuch as to punish those that do voluntary hurt, and none else, frameth and maketh men’s wills such as men would have them.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)