Canterbury Railways Nos. 1-4

New Zealand's first steam railway opened between Christchurch and Ferrymead on 1 December 1863, and the first train was hauled by CR No. 1 "Pilgrim", build by Slaughter Grüning and Company of Bristol the year before. "Pilgrim" introduced railway travel to New Zealanders but represented something of a dead end as this pioneer line was built to the broad gauge of 5 ft 3 in (1600 mm), apparently for no better reason than that of the contractors hired to build the line had recently completed work on the 5 ft 3 in Melbourne and Essendon Railway in Victoria, Australia, and had a locomotive and other equipment left over from that job.

"Pilgrim" worked well enough but a decision to standardise on the 3 ft 6 in gauge (1067 mm) for all New Zealand made "Pilgrim" and other broad gauge stock redundant. After gauge conversion "Pilgrim"'s underframe, together with other broad gauge equipment, was sold to South Australia (also 5 ft 3 in country), shipped out on the Hyderabad in 1878, lost when the ship was wrecked on the North Island coast west of Levin, and subsequently salvaged to complete the journey on another vessel.

Historically significant, and typical of British tank locomotives for standard and broad gauge, "Pilgrim" set no precedents for New Zealand's locomotive development. Info sourced from Classic Steam Locomotives of New Zealand by Bob Stott and illustrated by Eric Heath.

Image from New Zealand History.