The Section Car Page

New Zealand Railways Type 30's


The New Zealand Railways owned two Type Thirty Cars.

They were purchased by the High Commissioner for New Zealand in 1949 (order 35770), and delivered to the New Zealand Railways later that year . One was allocated to the South Island, and one to the North Island.

The cars were built with an Austin 1200cc motor.

The Weka Pass Railway acquired the South Island car in 1984, and after refurbishment in 1994 and a major overhaul in 1997, make extensive use of it. The Railway acquired the North Island car in 1987, but later scrapped it, after re-usable parts were salvaged.

These cars carry four people.

Wickham Builders Numbers are 5164 for the car that was allocated WW5139 for a fleet number. The other car was BN 5165. We are not sure which car is retained. If you know which car was which, I'd love to hear from you.

The photo on the right shows the interior. Wickham designed its seats (known as "D.W." seats) to flip over so that people could always face the direction of travel. Only one seat in the Type 30 could not flip over.

The car has a control panel at each end, eliminating the need to turn the car around.

Thanks to Daniel Garland for providing the pics.


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Developed March 21, 2006

Updated February 24, 2013

© Nic Doncaster