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New Zealand Railways KA 942

KA 942 is perhaps the most well-known of the three surviving KA’s.

She was built at NZR’s Hutt Workshops and entered service in November 1940. She remained in service right up until her withdrawal in July 1967, and during her service life she clocked up a total mileage of 944,532 miles.

Originally a coal-fired engine, 942 was converted to an oil-burner in November 1948. This work was carried out at the Otahuhu Workshops in Auckland.

942 was one of 35 KA’s built between 1939 and 950. As with the rest of her classmates, she was originally fitted with an - in my opinion - ugly ‘streamlined’ casing to hide the ACFI feedwater heater. In the 1930’s, many railroads around the world were ‘streamlining’ some of their locomotives, and NZR was no exception. Although - as NZR had stringent minimum weight requirements - the streamlining on the KA and KB was little more than a facade; not being incorporated into the main superstructure (as was the case with - say - the Pennsylvania Railroad S1, a one-off 6-4-4-6 locomotive from 1939).

After World War 2, KA 942 had her streamlining removed and her appearance massively improved. The ACFI feedwater heater was gone, with an exhaust steam injector taking its place. The removal of the ‘streamlining’ took place around the same time as her conversion from coal to oil firing.

Initially based in Taihape, KA 942 was transferred to Frankton depot (Hamilton) in 1958. There she stayed until her withdrawal in August 1967, with her replacements being the DA class diesel locomotives. After her retirement, 942 was towed to Hutt Workshops in Wellington, as NZR intended to use her as a stationary boiler along with three K’s (this included the now-preserved K 911).

In the end, 942 never ended-up being used as a stationary boiler. Instead she was sold to Mr. Ian Welch in 1972. Two years later - in March 1974 - she was towed to Steam Incorporated’s shed in Paekakariki, and restoration began.

The restoration slowly continued over the next twelve years, but this stopped altogether in 1986 following the sale of the Rail-Air shed (whatever that means) to Steam Incorporated (942 had apparently been moved there in - along with steam locomotive J 1211 - in 1978). The KA was moved to Otaki, where she would remain for the next three years.

After J 1211 was restored to working order in 1988, focus shifted back to KA 942. The engine was towed to Auckland, where her overhaul would resume. Upon arrival in the big city, 942 was initially stored at Westfield yard before being moved to the Glenbrook Vintage Railway in late 1989.

KA 942’s restoration was completed in 1990, and the engine returned to service with a recreation of that hideous ‘streamlining’ from the 1940’s. She was based at Mainline Steam’s (now-demolished) Parnell Depot for many years, and was tossed back-and-forth between Auckland and Christchurch until settling in at the Plimmerton depot in 2001 for her 10-yearly overhaul. This was completed in 2008.

Throughout the next seven years or so, KA 942 would remain a very popular engine as she went about hauling excursion trains. In 2010, the ‘streamlining’ was removed so she could pose as long-lost classmate KA 949 for a filming job relating to the Tangiwai disaster.

942 remained in service until around 2014, by which time she had been running in the South Island for about two years. The engine is currently based at Mainline Steam’s Christchurch depot, but she hasn’t run for at least six years.