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The NZR F class was the first important class of steam locomotive built to operate on New Zealand's railway network after the national gauge of 1067 millimetres (3 feet 6 inches) was adopted. The first locomotives built for the new 1067 mm railways were two E class double Fairlies for the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway. The F class was the first class ordered by the government, and between 1872 and 1888, a grand total of eighty-eight members of the class were constructed. It was a tank locomotive with a wheel arrangement of 0-6-0, and it proved popular with all involved with the class. It operated essentially everywhere on New Zealand's railway network doing a variety of jobs - it could haul light passenger trains at speeds up to 70 km/h (40 mph) or pull up to 800 tonnes of freight on flat trackage, and the final F class locomotives in regular service worked as shunters into the 1960s. Other members of the class survived into the 1950s after being sold to industries to operate private lines.
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