Dunedin Railways operations manager Grant Craig said the 109.9-tonne steam locomotive and tender Ja 1274 celebrated its birthday on Wednesday, six decades after it was built at Dunedin’s Hillside railway workshops.
To celebrate the milestone, on Saturday the public was allowed to enter the glass viewing shed where the locomotive is stored, 50m south of Dunedin Railway Station.
The visitors included some of its past drivers, Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt and Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull.
Vehicles on hand for the occasion included a Ford Zephyr, Vauxhall Cresta and a Sunbeam Rapier.
The locomotive was the last steam locomotive commissioned by New Zealand Railways.
The completion of the locomotive brought 59 years of steam locomotive construction at the workshops to a close.The rail enthusiast group Ocean Beach Railway raised funds to preserve "the last loco" as a reminder of "what Dunedin used to be able to do in engineering", Mr Craig said.
The 172 steam locomotives built at the workshops between 1897 and 1956 included the building of 35 Ja class locomotives between 1946 and 1956.
A Ja class steam locomotive took seven weeks to make at the workshops.
