British steam engine a piece of New Zealand history 17 Apr 2011
Joseph Hoye
The Dominion of New Zealand steamed out of London’s King’s Cross on Saturday morning en route to Newcastle in the north of England.
The refurbished locomotive pulled out of platform seven hauling a trainload of steam enthusiasts and travel lovers at 8:50am.
Presiding over a brief launching ceremony, His Excellency Derek Leask, New Zealand’s High Commissioner to the UK, spoke to a group of well wishers at the end of the platform. He spoke about the honour of being present at the unveiling of a piece of history and how his predecessor, Sir William Jordan, presided over the ceremony that originally commissioned the Dominion of New Zealand in 1937.
Mr Leask also spoke about the Christchurch earthquake in February in acknowledgement of a donation made by the companies involved in the restoration.
The steam engine, one of only six in its class, was adapted from the A4 Pacific class to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VIII. The newly created class was dubbed Coronation Pacific.
The engine will remain in its livery of blue with the New Zealand coat of arms emblazoned on its cab for the next three years until the locomotive is due for another refit.
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Your Comments:
Actually there were 35 engines in this class, the A4 cless. One was destroyed in a wartime air raid on York. One of the class, "Mallard" holds the world speed record for steam traction at 126mph. and is preserved in the National Railway Museum at York. The 'new' "Dominion of New Zealand" is actually "Bittern" adopting a new identity for a period of time - the original, sadly, was scrapped in 1966.
"New Zealand" was one of five A4s named after Commonwealth countries and built to haul a prestigious streamlined train, "The Coronation", which they did from 1937 to the outbreak of war in 1939. This was the fastest regularly scheduled train in Great Britain at the time.