NZR RM class (Edison battery-electric)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The NZR RM class Edison battery-electric railcar was a popular and successful railcar that ran in Canterbury, New Zealand for eight years. The prototype was arguably the first successful railcar in New Zealand but it was not developed into a class. The railcar had a wheel arrangement of Bo-Bo under the UIC classification system, weighed 32 tonnes, had driving controls at each end, and with an engine output of 90 kW (120 hp), it travelled comfortably at 60 km/h. In appearance, it looked like a cross between a regular railway passenger carriage and a tram; side-on, it looked like a passenger carriage, but each end resembled the front of a tram from that era.
The railcar was initially built in 1926 to operate services through the lengthy Lyttelton Tunnel on the Lyttelton Branch, but around this time, the Lyttelton Tunnel was electrified and the railcar was instead assigned to the Little River Branch, commencing services in early 1927. Previously, the Little River Branch's passenger services had been provided by "mixed" trains that carried both passengers and goods and ran to slow schedules as they had to load and unload freight regularly, and the Edison battery-electric railcar was introduced as a faster and more desirable alternative. It ran between Little River and Christchurch twice each way each day, completing the journey in 69 minutes.
The railcar was popular with passengers and crews; it was fast for its time for a rural train on New Zealand's national rail network, and it ran cleanly and efficiently. However, its life lasted a mere eight years, as it was destroyed in a depot fire in Christchurch in 1934. Conditions created by the Great Depression meant it simply was not possible to build a replacement, and the Edison battery-electric railcar's legacy was left as that of a promising and unique experiment that may have achieved its full potential in more prosperous times.
[edit] References
- Churchman, Geoffrey B., and Hurst, Tony; The Railways Of New Zealand: A Journey Through History, HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand), 1991 reprint
- Leitch, David, and Scott, Brian; Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways, Grantham House, 1998 revised edition
