History
Following the success of the K class, there was a need for more similar locomotives in the North Island. The new locomotives incorporated a number of improvements, including a re-designed plate frame to eliminate the cracking issues the K class were experiencing; roller bearings on all wheels; hydrostatic lubrication throughout; and the inclusion of the ACFI feedwater heater system as pioneered by K 919. As the ACFI equipment was criticised for its aesthetic appearance, it was obscured with shrouding fitted to both the KA class and contemporary KB class.
Building of the locomotives commenced in 1939, just prior to the Second World War. Main construction and assembly took place at Hutt Workshops. Hillside Workshops largely constructed - but did not assemble - ten of the class (No.'s 940-944, 960-964) and built a further five KA boilers. The primary reason why the ten KAs were not assembled at Hillside was because there was no way of transporting complete locomotives between the North and South Islands at the time (the first Railways Department rail ferry didn't commence until 1962). The Vulcan Foundry, of the United Kingdom supplied parts for fifteen locomotives, including most chassis components, tender bogies, and boiler foundation rings. The General Casting Corporation of Pennsylvania, USA supplied trailing bogie and rear end framing. A company in Auckland also constructed up to 10 tenders for the class. While the imported components were intended for specific locomotives (and in some cases were stamped for the locomotives they were intended for) in practice, and due to wartime pressures, the imported components were used indiscriminately for any KA locomotives in the programme.
Nineteen locomotives were built between 1939 and 1941, but wartime circumstances meant construction of the remaining sixteen lasted from 1941 to 1950, a period much longer than NZR management anticipated. The first of the locomotives to be completed was KA 945. All but two members of the class were constructed by 1946. The final pair, No.'s 958 and 959, differed somewhat from the rest of their class due to being fitted with Baker valve gear instead of the Walschaerts valve gear fitted to all other members, and were oil burners from new. Like some of the other later KAs, they were not built with shrouding, although the front shrouding and many front-end components had been built for KA 959 for display at an exhibition. These were ultimately used on KA 939.
Read more about this topic: NZR KA Class
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