Re: Hated diamond stacks...and Mudfences.

Kelly Anderson Wrote:
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> Beauty is in the eye of the foamer.
>
> It my opinion, the lower than center smokebox
> front, oversize headlight, red end beam, and
> sloped in cab sides make your otherwise handsome
> example a candidate for the rolling mud fence
> award. So there.
>
> No one can win this kind of debate.

I wasn't trying to win the debate, the NZGR J class without a doubt beats that oddball K-28 no contest in the looks dept.. I just included the K class to show the initial idea of shrouding the air-pumps.
And you would not be wrong about calling the K a mudfence(what ever that is)....there was considerable outcry over the outline back when they were new, hence the Casing applied to hide the feedwater heater.

But not for the reasons you say.

•The smokebox door had to be lower than centre to allow for the Headlight. When it was coming at you 5 times faster than the average D&RG n.g. freight I guess you wouldn't notice that minor issue.

•The Headlight over large, well NZR ran very fast, you need the light in our wet sub-tropical climate to look for mudslides among other obstacles. The Headlight was grafted back into the Smokebox by order of some official, I have mis-laid the reference.

•The Red Headstock was a safety feature, in today's pc world it would have to be yellow no doubt. More effective than painting Keep Off on the beam.

•The sloped in Cab-sides: an 8ft6in wide cab dictated to fit our cramped loading gauge. 11ft 6in high.



We had hundreds of these ratholes, you could sit in the cab with your elbow on the armrest, outstretch your forearm and drag your fingers along the sides of the tunnel. Note the lower profile compared with the close clearance cabbed D^A (G-12) of 1955. Both are 1400hp locomotives, the final two K^A were fitted with Baker Valvle gear and were the preferred Express loco ahead of the D^A.



• 47.7 square feet of grate and 14ton(Long) axle load, 30,800lbs TE (the prototype #900 was 32,730lbs TE) and as Greg Scholl noted, the design had been strongly influenced by contemporary South African practice.

• Power Reverse and Roller Bearings on every axle. How could you call a K-28 a Sports Model which was lacking those two features?


K class steam locomotive, New Zealand Railways no 919, 4-8-4 type. Ref: APG-0286-1/2-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23083649


Ka class steam locomotive, New Zealand Railways no 946, 4-8-4 type. Ref: APG-0284-1/2-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22342871


New Zealand Railways. "K" Class, oilburning locomotive No 925 - Photograph taken by New Zealand Railways. Ref: APG-1529-1/2-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22324172

Apparently I've run out of attachments space for you Kelly, .......my Grandniece 6 years old loves to say ...."So there."