The Wellington & Manawatu Railway Trust has recently secured the purchase rights to two plain bearing bogies that contain the correct type of wheels to fit under No.9’s tender and in her pony trucks. These bogies are thought to be off the tender of an Aa class locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the NZR in 1914. The wheels have eight spokes with an oval cross section, it appears that this was a standard wheel type used by Baldwin.

The bogies are currently stored at Mainline Steam’s depot in Christchurch. The trust is awaiting final funding in order to purchase the bogies outright. These bogies are in excellent condition as they have a thick layer of grease and grime covering most of their surfaces. The bogie frames will be retained but not used as they are not the correct type for our locomotive, replacements will be fabricated in due course from the plans that we have on hand.

With the purchase of these bogies the trust now only needs two more wheel sets of this type to make a complete set of carrying wheels for our locomotive, it is hoped that we can obtain these from some where in New Zealand. Up until very recently there was a sizable amount of Ub class tender bogies dumped near Arthurs Pass. These would have contained the eight spoke wheels which we need, but, alas they have disappeared without a trace, most probably falling victim to a scrapping torch.

So if anyone knows of any 2’6” diameter, 8 spoke, outboard bearing wheel sets out there, let us know.