Rail enthusiasts are working to prove a wagon-like shell in Everitt Enterprise's yard is a coal tender from one of the first express steam engines built in New Zealand.
Seven U-class locomotives were built in Addington, Christchurch, between 1894 and 1899. They were scrapped from the 1930s, with the last stripped down in the 1950s.
Taieri Gorge Railway operations manager Grant Craig yesterday climbed over scrap metal to photograph what could be the last surviving U-class tender.
There were no identifying markings, no frame to attach it to its bogeys, and it had been altered to be used for shunting - but it was almost certainly "an excellent, unexpected" find.
"Oh yes, they are rare. There wasn't that much interest in them. They don't propel themselves; they're just a tender for water and coal, so it's surprising to see one last so long.
Eagle-eyed motorist Neville Caley contacted Otago Excursion Train Trust life member Grahame Fox after spotting the tender on the back of an Everitt Enterprise truck on Tuesday.
The tender was loaded with scrap metal when it was picked up from Tahi Miller's farm near Palmerston.
Before that, the five-to-six tonne centenarian was used to prop up a shed.
Mr Miller said the tender was among three "old wagons" and other old machinery left at the farm by former owner Trevor Ross.
Mr Miller understood Mr Ross, who died last year, was a former railway worker.
"We're clearing up and it just had to go. I had no idea what it was, but it's good to see someone who does is interested in it," Mr Miller said.
Bill Lloyd, author of the Register of New Zealand Railways Steam Locomotives 1863-1971, said there would be plenty of interest in the latest of a succession of increasingly rare finds of new New Zealand steam history.
It was interesting the tender was found in Palmerston and trucked to Dunedin - the U-class locomotives were "a bit under-boilered" for Otago's hills and were used mainly in Southland and Canterbury.
Mr Craig said a rail enthusiasts' internet forum was helping identify and trace the tender. It could be from one of five U-class locomotives that ended their days in Southland.
Taieri Gorge Railway did not need the tender, but there was already early interest from Canterbury, he said.
Everitt Enterprises general manager Sean Everitt said he was happy for a charitable trust to take and restore what, on Tuesday, was simply scrap metal.
The heritage value of the tender could much more significant than its $500-a-tonne scrap value.
