Rogers Machines Works of Paterson NJ is probably most famous for being the builder of the Civil War 4-4-0, 'The General' from
the great Locomotive chase, however Thomas Rogers, like his compeditors in the locomotive construction industry of the mid
1800s, was also a great innovator and gave much to locomotive design and style during the 19th Century. One notable innovation
was the creation of the Wagon Top boiler, where Rogers transformed the British 'Bury' boiler, an efficient boiler that required
expensive and difficult construction methods, into the US version of the same - the Wagon top.
During the mid 1850s superintendent of the Rogers Works passed to William Hudson, after the death of Thomas Rogers and with his
appointment, innovation in the company continued, including the equalizing of multi wheeled locomotives and locomotive weight
distribution. In 1867 Hudson patentend a new type of locomotive with ground breaking equalized wheel arrangement and weight
distribution. The design was for the very first equalised 2-4-2. The design allowed for efficient running in either direction,
with the drive wheels centered between the firebox and smokebox, a radical departure from the tradional 4-4-0, 2-6-0 and 4-6-0
designs of the day. The design afforded greater firebox area, unrestricted by the driving wheels, and hence good steaming. The
drive wheel location was also centered under the boiler with the boiler from smokebox to firebox balanced. Hudson designed and
patented several verisons of the locomotive concept through to 1872, all were 2-4-2, and 2-4-4 type locomotives, to become known
as the 'Hudson Double Ender'. Construction of the locomotives based on the Patents did not occure for several years, and even
the 2-4-2 wheel arrangement saw little recognition until the type was showcased at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago in 1893.
From that time onward Hudson's 2-4-2 wheel arrangement would be known as the 'Columbia'.
I don't know if the order of Narrow Gauge Double Ender 2-4-2s from New Zealand in 1877 were the first examples of the 2-4-2 ever
built at Rogers, but they were certainly among the first of the type in the world. In 1876 the Rogers works was looking to expand
it's markets overseas and saw opportunities in South and Central America, as well as Australia and New Zealand. The 1870s in the
US was a period of narrow gauge boom and expansion, yet very few narrow gauge locomotives running on those US lines were to come
from Rogers, nearly all the narrow gauge Rogers locomotives were for export. In 1876 Rogers contracted with the Victorian Railways
in Australia for the construction of some new heavy 4-4-0s, this was followed almost immediately by orders from New Zealand for a
versatile, fast passenger locomotive for the countries new 42" gauge network. The Rogers 2-4-2, filled the task. The locomotive's
undercarriage was a complex mechanism of levers and balances creating a completely equalised 2-4-2 chassis over the 8 wheels. The
first two of the type, built in 1877 would become known as the New Zealand 'K' class 2-4-2. The two locomotives were K-87 'Lincoln'
and K-88 'Washinton'. When the 'Washington' was rolled out the factory doors for the official 'builders photo', Hudson had the
undercarriage over painted in a white wash to better highlight the equalisers and complex machinery unique to his 'double ender'.
The 'Washington' builder's photo was copied in the form of an etching, to be included in the official Rogers Catalogue.
Here you can see the Builder's photo of K-88 'Washington'..if anyone has a better quality scan of the photo, I would sure appreciate
a copy!
The etching from the Rogers catalogue is also seen here.
The brand new Rogers K class to New Zealand featured 49" drivers on a 6ft powered axle base, 42" gauge. The boiler was fitted
with injectors to both sides, as well as a crosshead water pump on the engineer's side only.
Little about the actual colour of the locomotives has been recorded, but one journal article of the day reported that the Rogers
locomotives were unusual in their colour scheme, and were considered 'loud' by comparison to the British Fairlies the NZR was
running at the time. An eye whitness report stated that the wheels were gilded, and generally purple in colour, with a fluted
sand time decorated with yellow, blue, green and red paint, the boiler was noted to be Russia Iron. Linking this info with typical
US practice of the late 1870s, suggests the locomotives were a plum colour thoughout, including the wheels, with the dome horrizontal
fluting coloured in rings of red, blue, green and yellow. It is possible the classic Rogers sand dome top was painted in the 4
colours as was done by Rogers on occasion, however the B&W photos show too little contrast to indicate more than one colour. The
dome tops were however painted, not polished brass.
Here is a photo of K-87 'Lincoln' shortly after being put into service, note the gilded linework on the drive wheels and two
check valves on the boiler side, one for the injector feed water and the other connecting to the crosshead water pump. A view of
the other side is seen in K-93, as she looked in the late 1880s.
In 1878 six more 2-4-2s of identical design were built for the NZR, they were to be numbered K-92 through K-97, making a total of
8 Rogers Double Ender 2-4-2s in New Zealand
The Rogers K provided good service and by 1900, their original Rogers 'Wagon Top' boilered were wearing out. The locomotives
were all reboilered during the first few years of the 1900s with state of the art Belpair fireboxes. The Rogers 2-4-2 took on a
remarkable transformation, retaining all the original chassis works, while acquiring a different look above the boards. The Belpair
fireboxes also contained a brick arch for more efficient steaming. While the Belpair was no consistent with a Rogers design of
the 1870s, cerainly during the years around 1900, Rogers was building locomotives with Belpair fireboxes, one famous Rogers
example is the high wheeled brand new 4-6-0 that Casey Jones drove to his death in April 1900.
In their rebuilt form, the fleet of Rogers 2-4-2s remained in service through to the late 1920s. Scrap metal prices were low
in the late 20s, so it came to be that the NZR dumped at least 5 of the 8 locomotives into rivers of the south Island during 1928
to help shore up river banks near where the rail line ran along side the river, and this is where the story gets interesting!
This brings us to one of New Zealand most unusual restoration stories. Back in the mid 1970s, as a result of a wager at the
local pub, a rusting Rogers K class loco was hauled out of the South Island’s Oreti River, just to prove it could be done! The
old Rogers had laid in the river since 1927, dumped to help shore up the riverbank along with a collection of other rejected
steamers. Once the task was completed, indecision about what to do with teh Rogers next nearly resulted in the local council
throwing it back into the river. However at the last moment a local model railway enthusiast, by the name of Bob Anderson, took
possession of the loco and moved it to the Plains Railway, south of Christ Church. I don’t know what his intentions were in 1974
when he first saw the rusting relic, it was so corroded that the wheels could not be turned, rusted solid to the frame. The wreck
had to be dragged off the truck. But Bob was detirmined, and 8 years later Bob opened the throttle, and for the first time in over
60 years, an 1870s Rogers locomotive steamed down the rails once more. It was an amazing restoration, done outside over endless
dark nights in the cold and mist. Every rusting bolt was removed with parts cleaned up and re-assembled. During the disassembly
process in those 10 years, Bob came across markings on the brass fitments, that indicated the Rogers locomotive was none other than
K-88 'Washington' the pride of William Hudson, poster boy of the 1870s Rogers catalogue! unwhittingly old Bob started something
unheard of in railway preservarion and restoration, that of railway archeology! All through the 1980s and 1990s, several preservation
groups in New Zealand have searched the rivers and dump sites for early locomotives, identifying them, cataloging them, and assessing
possible restoration projects. To date several pre-1900 locomotives of world historical significance have been raised from the mud
for long term cosmetic and full restoration projects, including British 2-8-0s, Baldwin 4-6-0s, 2-6-2s, and even an unusual Brooks
4-6-0. Today 5 of the 8 Rogers locomotives have been identified, with 3 removed from the river, and two completely restored to
operating condition. Between the dumped locomotives and those that survived the scrappers, New Zealand has an example of nearly
every class of locomotive that ran on their rails.
Shortly after Bob Died in the mid 1980s, K-88 failed its boiler test and the 1904 NZR boiler had to be retired. It had been a
miracle the boiler could even be steamed again after so long in the mud. The loco remained in pieces for another 10 years before
a 2nd restoration was carried out. This time the bent chassis was straightened, and a lot of unfinished items were restored
completely. The loco received a new steel boiler of greater operating pressure and a whole new paint job. The 2nd Restoration was
headed up by John French.
The 2nd restoration of the K-88 brings the old loco up to the standard required for her to take to the main lines of New Zealand.
We spent the best part of a morning being shown over K-88 by John. His enthusiasm and courage is evident, and the K-88 itself is
one of the most striking US locomotives I’ve ever seen.
Here is the K-88 being raised from the river.
Here K-88 is being moved to Tinwand, south of Christchurch.
Here are two of the south island dump sites not long after the locos were dumped, in the late 20s, early 30s.
This first photo shows the Rogers 2-4-2, K-88 almost completely submerged in the mud, with only the fireman's side cylinder,
pilot truck frame and pilot exposed. We're looking at K-88 from below the chassis in this angle. The rail line runs along
the top of the embankment, behind the trees, and the locos were just rolled down the hill to help keep this embankment from
erroding. The loco just above the Rogers, to the left was once a beautiful Baldwin 2-6-2 of striking lines. I don't know
where this loco is now, but another of this class has been removed for restoration. I believe all but the K-88 in this photo
were removed in the 50s/60s for scrap.
This 2nd photo shows one of the coastal dump sites, using the locos as a rip-rap. These locos are still buried here and are
extremely difficultly to get to. Additionally there are as many as 8 locos stacked on top of each other, and getting to any
one of them will bring the whole thing down like a deck of cards! The loco is the view, (now buried) is an extremely rare
Avonside Single Fairlie from the UK. There is only one Single fairlie left in the whole world, also preserved in NZ, but this
one could be a real historical piece if only it could be removed. The loco in this view is seen shortly after being dumped,
and is now covered by other locos and is probably mangled metal. You're looking at it from the rear, its a rear tender type
tank locos with two trucks, virtually the UK version of the Mason Bogie.
Occasionally articles are published in UK and Auz journals about the efforts some groups have gone to in order to recover dumped
locos. Its no easy feat removing them from the mud, very costly, and only the first step of a very long project. However while
I applaud virtually all of what is going on, and it is not my place to criticise any of these people in their efforts, there was
one group wanting to remove a UK built 2-8-0, with a view to restoration, but had difficulty finding a single loco in good enough
condition. So they kept hunting for more 2-8-0s, (several were dumped), I have no problem with that...but in order to finance their
continued efforts they sold the recovered 2-8-0s for scrap...thats just plain wrong. They'd take the good bits and trash the rest
for money. Again I shouldn't criticise, because it is an expensive trek to do this, but scrapping recovered locos in the hope that
the next find will be better is not preservation, they'd be better off left in the river for a future group to deal with.
Great things are happening in New Zealand! Stay tuned for restorations of dumped 2-8-0s, Brooks 4-6-0 and a Baldwin 2-6-2 in
years to come.
