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A & G Price

A & G Price Limited is an engineering firm and locomotive manufacturer in Thames, New Zealand, established in 1868. They supplied the New Zealand Government Railways with 123 steam locomotives, from 1904 to 1928.

The New Zealand Government Railways manufactured locomotives in their own workshops, but A & G Price is the only New Zealand manufacturer to supply the NZR, apart from Scott Bros of Christchurch, who supplied some D class locomotives in 1874.

Price manufactured 22 carriages and wagons in the early 1870s, and manufactured two locomotives in the 1880s, an 0-4-0 saddle tank for a mine and a 37-ton W-type. Rail reached Thames in 1898, and Price won a tender to make locomotives for the NZR in 1903 and 1906 (Wright page 106). Later in the 1950s and 1960s they manufactured a number of diesel shunting locomotives for the NZR, the NZR TR class, and some for private users.

In 1990 A & G Price regauged 24 of the Silver Star carriages to metre gauge (1000 mm) for running in Malaysia Singapore and Thailand as the Eastern and Oriental Express. In 2004 a precision formed yacht keel division was formed to make the Maximus canting keel. The firm currently has 135 employees.

Locomotive classes supplied

• A (50)
• A^B (20)
• B^B (30)
• C-type articulated locomotive, for forestry applications
• W^AB (8)
• W^F (15)
• NZR TR class / RNZAF petrol-mechanical shunters (10)
• TR (39) (Diesel shunters)
• V-type articulated locomotive, for forestry applications
• Various diesel-mechanical shunters for industry

Preserved Locomotives

Incomplete list

• A 423 Te Awamutu Locomotive Museum (now Glenbrook Vintage Railway)
• A 428 Weka Pass Railway
• A^B 699 Pleasant Point Railway
• B^B 144 Mainline Steam, Auckland
• W^AB 800 Te Awamutu Locomotive Museum (now at Glenbrook Vintage Railway)
• W^F 393 Ferrymead Railway
• TR 170 (TR 724 TMS) Wairarapa Railway Restoration Society (Stored offsite)

References

• Lloyd, W. G. Register of New Zealand Railways Steam Locomotives 1863-1971 (2nd edition 2002) ISBN 0-9582072-1-6
• Wright, Matthew Rails Across New Zealand (2003, Whitcoulls NZ) ISBN 1-87732-714-X

External link

• A & G Price website