Canterbury Railway Society Inc

Kb968 was constructed by New Zealand Government Railways at their Hillside Workshops in Dunedin in 1939. A development of the earlier K and Ka classes, the Kb was fitted with a booster bogie under the cab, which increased the tractive effort by 6,000lb. Originally six of these locomotives were built, complete with streamlined casing around the front of the boiler. This was removed in 1948.

For most of their lives, these locomotives hauled heavy freight and passenger trains on the Springfield-Arthurs Pass sections of the Midland Line through the Southern Alps, although they did on occasion venture onto the South Island Main Trunk.

Withdrawn in 1969, this locomotive was purchased with the assistance of donations from the schoolchildren of Canterbury, and was moved to the Ferrymead site in 1978. Because of its appetite for coal, Kb968 was steamed only on rare occasions.

Kb968 is now leased to the Mainline Steam Trust who are overhauling it for excursion service.

3 files, last one added on Sep 24, 2005