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TTT #7
| Wheel Arrangement: Boiler Pressure: Total Weight: Tractive Effort: Adhesive weight: Water tank capacity: Coal bunker capacity: Driving Wheel Diameter Cylinder Stroke: Cylinder Bore: LP: HP: Fire Grate area: Water heating surface |
2-4-4-2 180 psi 66 tons 10,500 lbs 54 tons 1000 Gallons 2 tons 32" 14" 16" 10" 15 sq.ft 660 sq.ft |
Builders #: 53970
One of the most interesting and unusual locomotives preserved in New Zealand today is this American built Mallet locomotive.
This 2-4-4-2 tender Locomotive Company was built by the American Locomotive Company Limited and shipped to New Zealand in 1913. For many years it was used by the privately owned Taupo Totara Timber Company as one of their locomotives on the bush railway from Putaruru to Mokai. With other locomotive which included a Heisler, this Mallet TTT Co. No. 7 ceased work after the cutting out of timber in 1945. It remained idle for some time but in 1946 it was overhauled by prices Ltd. Of Thames.
At this time the Public works Department were reconditioning the Putaruru-Kinleith section of the Taupo Totara Timber Company Ltd. Railway for use by the NZR to bring logs from the new exotic pine forest in the Tokoroa area. No. 7 worked for only a very short period and then sat idle. During a boom in scrap metal prices the mallet was sold to a scrap metal merchant for cutting up but he delayed too long for its economic disposal and prices fell. It was therefore possible in 1958 for the Railway Enthusiasts’ Society to acquire the 2-4-4-2 where it stood; for a reasonable sum. This was indeed a chance stroke of luck for this rare locomotive – it was the only one of its kind in New Zealand.
Briefly, the Mallet is essentially a compact semi-articulated type of locomotive. The arrangements was patented by a Frenchman named Mallet in 1884 and developed by United States Railway builders from 1904 onwards. The principle of a Mallet is a locomotive comprising of two engine units arranged for compact working with steam supplied from a single boiler. In 1958 the RES Society arranged for the external refurbishing and display of the Mallet next to the main NZR line at Putaruru. Here the bush loco posed to the public and the elements unit 1975. Years of weather and vandalism took their toll and despite several repaints over the years and the RES was faced with the fact that if the locomotive was not restored it would have to be scrapped. Hence in June 1975 the Taupo Totara Timber Company No. 7 and tender were hoisted by cranes onto large track and trailer units and delivered to the Glenbrook Vintage Railway. No. 4 had arrived!
Work was soon under way on a overhaul of the Mallet. The tender was reconditioned and rebuilt, fillings were refurbished and by early 1977 the GVR No. 4 was ready for steaming and train haulage. The engine became the mainstay of the regular Sunday running days of the GVR and worked many midweek charters. In 1981 and 1986 the engine ventured into Auckland City to work along Quay Street in conjunction with the Great NZ Travel Show. GVR No.4 was withdrawn in 2001 requiring a major overhaul and has since been in storage awaiting her turn in the workshop.
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CONTACT US09 636 9361 (Weekdays - 9am to 12pm)09 236 3546 (operating days) Location Glenbrook Station Road Auckland New Zealand |
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