Some readers may be interested in a bit of local New Zealand history with connections to the Avonside Railway Works, concerning Fell Engine H199.
Full details can be found on from the Fell EngineÆs Musuems Webb Site http://fellmuseum.org.nz Some details are given below.
The Fell Locomotive Museum houses H199, the only locomotive of its type in the world, and Fell brake-van F210. H199 is one of six engines designed for use on New Zealand's famous Rimutaka Incline. The locomotives climbed gradients as steep as 1 in 13 (7.7%) on the 3-mile (4.8km) railway between the settlements of Cross Creek and Summit in the South Wairarapa. Englishman John Barraclough Fell's method of four grip wheels on a raised centre rail was used for added traction, with the centre rail also used for braking. H 199 was built in Bristol, England, in 1875 and F210 in New Zealand Railways' workshops at Petone, LowerHutt, in 1898.
H199 was placed in a children's playground in Clifford Square, Featherston, in August 1958. Despite attention throughout the 1960s and 1970s by railway enthusiasts, H199 continued to deteriorate in its open-air location.
Between March 1981 and March 1989, the Friends of the Fell Society restored H199 to its condition when last used on the Rimutaka Incline.[/url]