NZR R Class - Retirement

Retirement

The R class were gradually withdrawn from NZR service between 1919 and 1936. In July 1919, R 29 was sold to the Manawatu County Council and it worked on the Sanson Tramway through to its 1946 closure. Three more Rs went to the Manawatu County Council for use on the Sanson Tramway, two of which were given away free by NZR for use as spares. Another branch of government, the Public Works Department, acquired R 33 in August 1919. Five more were withdrawn in March 1922, and withdrawals continued throughout the 1920s, with only three surviving in NZR ownership into the 1930s. The last, R 271, was retired in March 1936 and dumped at Oamaru at the forshore. A number, however, operated into the middle of the 20th century in private industrial use. Ironically due to its 1907 wharf accident, R 28 was sold to the Timaru Harbour Board in 1934. Until 1940, it was for shunting the Timaru wharves. It was later sold to Burkes Creek Colliery, Reefton for use on their mining railway. Laid up in 1948, R 28 was later placed in Reefton's town park for static preservation. In 2000 a working group took over care for the locomotive, where it will be moved into the restored Reefton engine shed for ultimate resoration to working order. It is the only original single Fairlie left anywhere in the world.