The Steam Locomotives that were found at the bottom of a river - Branxholme Locomotive Dump

In today's video, we take a look at the locomotives at the bottom of a river in New Zealand
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This video falls under the fair use act of 1976 This video is available to use under the appropriate Creative Commons Licence.
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[@PPMASTER1991]

Welp who wants to begin digging for trains in rivers?

[@toonaishere]

I do! lol

[@caledonianrailway1233]

I’ll bring the hammer

[@mindlessshark946]

I'll bring the shovel

[@GlitchSystem-xf7jb]

Free trains? Sign me up

[@greenbean678]

i’ll bring the torch

[@kommandantgalileo]

The fact a single locomotive has been restored to full running order is impressive enough.

[@DomQuartuccio]

Actually hard to believe they did this, but given it proved effective you can't really fault it too much. Thankfully some locos have been restored!

[@davidpawson7393]

I visited New Zealand in 1988 for a month as my father is from there. The average age of a car was 17 years while at home in the US it was around 4 years. Visiting one of my uncle's "junkyards" as they're called here it became clear on why they're called "dismantlers". Everything down to a wheel cylinder got tagged and inventoried which could be bored, sleeved with new seals and used again like what another uncle and his machine shop did. Nothing was just thrown out like today. As an 18 year old into cars, still am, I wanted to stay for a year or more. Of course we road the train too from Christchurch to the ferry where we drove from Wellington to Auckland. Nicest people ever.

[@roadwarrior114]

I do that with lawn mowers, I save every single usable piece and only scrap broken parts that can't be fixed and rusted out decks.

[@TheSonic10160]

It's because New Zealand was and still is, a poor country. The 80's were a rough time in NZ.

[@davidpawson7393]

@TheSonic10160 Yeah, shortly after my trip the high import tariffs were lowered/removed so second hand cars from Japan could and did flood the market.

[@davidpawson7393]

@roadwarrior114 Exactly, I'm 53 and never bought appliances, lawn equipment, grills and only bought cars I could pay for on the spot. I reuse lumber too and save people money by taking their leftovers from jobs which helps me and keeps the landfill hungry. Basically I'm a cheapskate and enjoy restoring stuff I need.

[@mattnel8642]

As somebody who lives very close to where these events take place, I've been on another locomotive that was saved from a river it's Rogers K92 and is now running at Mandeville heritage railway.

[@Hornbyhenry]

The fact that K88 and K92 were effectively resurrected to run again today is always impressive. Great video

[@decb]

Being turned into a riverbank is, I suppose, one way of being a really useful engine.

[@onetrackmind3558]

Don't forget being homes for fish.

[@masonsykes2240]

Hey, at least it's better than what happened to Smudger. These engines had each other for company!

[@genevarailfan3909]

There are three steam engines in a similar situation along the White Pass and Yukon in Alaska. There were four, but one was retrieved from the river in 1988, and remains abandoned.

[@engineerskalinera]

Last I recal 3 were recovered. One of which was sent down to the mainland US for restoration.

[@DeathValleyLumberCompany]

@@engineerskalineracorrect

[@DeathValleyLumberCompany]

There’s dozens of other locomotives buried along the WP&Y that are only known to exist through paperwork showing disposal as rip rap

[@K1W1fly]

Its still very common in New Zealand to see the box bodies of old 4-wheel open topped goods wagons used as erosion barriers around rivers. Hundreds of them were retired in the 1970s and 1980s with the move to containerisation and bogie wagons. Filled with concrete or rock they can stack like bricks and are extremely effective. Even better than thewire cage gabions which they use now since the obsolete wagon stock has been depleted.

[@h2ogasnz]

There is 2 river engines that are in running condition, K88 as mentioned in the Video but also a sister engine to K88 which is K92, K92 runs at Waimea plains railway not far from Gore in Southland. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's K92 did a bit of a tour around some of the south island preservation Railways I had the pleasure of driving K92 a number of times at Ferrymead in Christchurch. I should also add that as a kid I lived in Invercargaill and in the school holidays I would bike out to the locos at Branxholme and spend a few hours exploring them before biking home, a round trip of just under 40km!

[@jefferyfarrell]

3 K's were dug up at the same time. K88 was the first to be restored with K92 being restored later and now run at mandeville's Waimea plain railway and the 3rd sitting at the plains waiting for something to happen. Interesting bit of information, K88 ran for a few years with its original boiler that it had been buried with.

[@RinoaL]

I grew up in Panama Illinois for a bit as a kid, and there was an upside down train in the creek I used to play on. It was from a 1920s train wreck. Unsure if it was just a coal car but there were bits of boiler everywhere. I managed to find some and still have parts. Good memories. They sadly dug up the area after there was yet another train wreck just a few years ago and probably scrapped all the stuff left in the 20s directly in the creek.

[@TweetsieRailroader]

This was a very interesting video! I should mention Alaska's White Pass & Yukon Railroad did something very similar by dumping a number of steam locomotives into the Skagway River as rip-raps. There are at least a few steam locomotives scattered along the Skagway River that are still there, and I believe one of them was even pulled out for restoration.

[@lian3101]

2-8-0 number 61 is the one that was pulled out, its currently being restored to operating condition

[@roadtrain_]

Honestly? We should all be glad that they were dumped. Because otherwise they may've been scrapped. Sure, instant preservation would've been the best, but this was a pretty good alternative to being scrapped.

[@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga]

I remember hearing about K 88 and her story many years ago, and found it quite bizarre. I was lucky to see her at The Plains Railway in 2018, although they were instead running Vulcan Railcar RM 50 while the K sat outside the shed. (0:41) - That's a KA or KB class 4-8-4. (1:31) - AB class 4-6-2 hauling what looks like the Kingston Flyer in the early 1970s. (2:39) - JA class 4-8-2 No. 1271 on an excursion. She has run plenty of them in the past couple of years, and I got to drive that very same engine back in January, but only on a depot open weekend for $50.00

[@lauchlanbrady4165]

K 88 and K 92 were both restored to running order and currently operate, although I believe K 88 is having boiler work done to it. K 88 first operated in the 1988 iirc, then its boiler failed and a new one was made and it operated in the early 2000s. K 92 as far as I'm aware has been restored once, with a bit of paint work done a couple.of times but has mainly operated without too much work being done to it since its first restoration

[@barryphillips7327]

As both a kiwi and a Steam train enthusiast it is Sad these old engine were dumped like this still i guess it is better than them being cut up!! Yes K88 & K92 are as far as i know in running order hard too believe when you see it in the video!!

[@WaterPercy]

New Zealand isn't the only place old steam engines were dumped in rivers, often times it usually happened in Alaska too. Shipping equipment up there costs a lot, and just as much to ship it back, so it's usually just thrown to the side. Anyway, the WP&Y sometimes, instead of scrapping their old engines, would place them as ripraps in the Skagway river. Some have since been recovered and put on display, and there's a few known ones still down there, a good example being USATC S118 196.

[@ljphoenix4341]

NZ has a fascinating history with railways. I live close by to one of the heritage railway/historic rail societies in NZ, love seeing the history still being used today

[@willkelly937]

I am from New Zealand, and live in Ashburton where K88 lives at the Plains railway, I've also lived in Invercargill near the Branxholm site, visited it and Lumsden where the other locomotives are. Very interesting story

[@loganjohnston89]

Great video! As a New Zealander I'd heard about this where the railways dumped locos to shore up riverbanks, I understand this was due to the scrap steel market collapsing where Japan use to buy most of the steel. My home town Oamaru is one of the places you mentioned, a few years back they pulled a couple of Uc classes out of the ocean and put them on display. Side note good try on the pronunciation, its Oam-a-ru

[@johnnyfreedom3437]

I thought an old wooden bridge had collapsed along with the engine that was on it. When he said there were 15 locomotives, that got my attention. You see I'm an old boilermaker, my ancestors built those! I would love to have had one to play with

[@templar_1138]

I mean, it was a pretty crafty solution, and it's hardly the worst thing people have put in rivers for industrial purposes.

[@benh3518]

Sounds similar to what America did with a lot of old and/or abandoned cars in the 1950s, when people would dump cars on riverbanks as erosion control. Known as 'Detroit Riprap', there are a lot of places in the US where you can find rows of ancient cars lining rivers, either partially buried in soil build-up or fully exposed from erosion of the ground around them.

[@lyndonchow8961]

As a kiwi, it kinda strange to learn that they dump worn out locomotives in the river to stop the flooding, because they couldn't scrap them at the low price in the 1920s Post WWI era. 🇳🇿 🇳🇿

[@okbridges]

This same practice was carried out along creek and river banks in western Oklahoma in the 1960's and 70's using scraped automobiles and farm machinery. Several 1910's era tractors were recovered from one river bank and one is undergoing restoration.

[@marcusdorman3199]

I use to live about 5 minutes down the road from the planes railway museum and have be on trains pulled by k88 it is a truly beautiful engine I now live 1 hour from there

[@johncamp2567]

Something new to inspire model railroaders! 😲

[@Chevyguy-1984]

Wow I would never think that something that’s been buried in river mud for decades could be restored to operational condition, that’s awesome

[@mattthedoormat]

Missed opportunity to get History in the Dark to collab with you on this episode. He loves topics like this

[@lukechristmas3951]

And I thought that the river engines in America were bizarre enough but here New Zealand took it to another level! I may end up going to New Zealand because of the interest to see these engines.

[@Gokiburi777]

I remember reading this in Trains Magazine when I was a kid.

[@OneArmLivingLife]

I love the Mario 64 water level music lol

[@user-xsn5ozskwg]

It's incredible they could get even *one* of these things back up and running! I don't know anything about restoration but I can't imagine the water damage and time left them much to work with in terms of original usable parts.

[@shevster13]

NZ is a very small country and a lot of our old steam engines were made here to local designs, in tiny numbers and scrapped at the end of their lives. This has meant that local heritage/preservation societies have had to become experts on restoring whatever wrecks they can find. Often having to reverse engineer and manufacture their own parts

[@London8F]

This is so UNREAL!

[@garryferrington811]

I can't believe one of those things is alive again! It must be at least 75% new build. Actually, quite a few engines got dumped this way.

[@giddy1337]

Background theme: Dire Dire Docks - Super Mario 64 (In case you’re wondering.)

[@lhb82]

It never stops to amaze me where and when you will hear some Nintendo music used as background music :)

[@Horrifying_turtle_penis]

Very fitting for the topic of the video. Good choice, ToT!

[@mnmountainman9343]

Thanks for the cool video's👍

[@TSMGL_Youtube]

The White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad actually did this as well

[@allanegleston4931]

at least they weren't scrapped via the cutters torch and one was saved .

[@magicphred]

Sorry to hear that Thomas's relatives met such an unfortunate end!

[@Mr._funny2006]

History in the dark be like

[@420sakura1]

I love their worstb train series.

[@Mr._funny2006]

@@420sakura1 same

[@crystalrock18]

I think covered something on this matter. I know he talked about trains that were dumped in Australia.

[@vicsams4431]

This also happened on the White Pass & Yukon Route. Four (?) steam locos were dumped in the Skagway River for similar reasons. Likewise, some (all ?) have now been rescued and even re-built after decades in the water.

[@gordieboi2340]

"We'll take it to the harbour and dump it in the sea!"

[@NitroIndigo]

"By the time they pulled him out, he was rusty and ruined!"

[@lettuce984]

“Well sir Henry is now dead. We dumped him In the sea!”

[@NitroIndigo]

@@lettuce984 "That's not a whale! It's a monster!"

[@jeffharper7579]

In North Carolina there is a scenic rail way that runs along a river and some of the river bank has old ( sometimes crushed) cars to help stop erosion.

[@TomRedlion]

The White Pass And Yukon RR did the same thing with obsolete steam locomotives with the Skagway River in Alaska.

[@normalpaxtonkid]

Good vid

[@harrisonallen651]

Those kiwis are so clever

[@Eevee007King]

They are beautiful engines even though there are not in the great state.

[@aprofessionalblockofdiorit6039]

I have seen the one at on the west coast by Omoto and It still serves it's purpose to this very day there a river flat that you can use at low tide. The area next to it suffered from slips a year or so back kocking out the road and railway proving it's effectiveness. It was mostly coal wagons and such although there were some trains and tenders there.

[@connorjohnson7834]

Video on the Fell Engines next?

[@kenharris5390]

Another great video, I look forward to more to come.

[@crypticallly]

I visited 2 locos on display in a park with some restored - (edit i think it might be the one shown on 3:05

[@crystalrock18]

Uh oh, I think “history in the dark” needs to do a video. He’s all about the underwater train finders. Edit, nvm I pretty sure he covered this one.

[@owennorman7833]

Tot you should look into one of nzs railway tragic events it is called the Tangiwai disaster it could be an interesting video?

[@T3ki1a_]

What of the original locos is now left in those that are running

[@bostonrailfan2427]

i thought that this was going to be about several locomotives that had crashed into rivers and unable to be recovered, i know of multiple that are preserved underwater and look similar to how they looked a century before

[@silverline5636]

I'm surprised this hasn't became an adaptation yet to a Thomas episode

[@ryancoplen6207]

Hey just a quick video suggestion. Could you do a video of K&WVR Black 5 45212 about when she was covered in wallpaper for an advertisement?

[@quillmaurer6563]

Thought of this happening again - wonder if any present-day railroad would? Obviously not steam locomotives, probably not whole diesels, but I could imagine old diesel locomotive engine blocks being used for that purpose. Being roughly rectangular prism-shaped, they'd actually be decent for that, question is if their scrap value is more or less than the cost of a similar-size concrete block? The closest thing to this I've seen where I live is a section of railway known as the "Big 10" on the UP Moffat Subdivision in Colorado. Severe winds derailed trains, especially passenger cars or empty freight cars, so a siding was built next to the main line, old hopper cars full of dirt parked on it, wheels welded to rails, and the connecting rails pulled up. Now many of the hopper cars have trees growing out of them, which makes them an even bigger wind-block.

[@Hybris51129]

This would make for a rather dark but interesting Thomas the Tank Engine episode. The Fat Controller looked at the condemned engines sternly. "All of you know how you have ended up here. Your misdeeds and misbehavior are solely to blame." "We are sorry sir!" One of the engines cried out." "Silence!" The controller called back. "I have only need for useful engines and you lot are not, save for this last purpose." The controller waved his arm at the man operating a steam crane. The crane was attached to the first engine and with a loud huff and puff lifted the engine until it tumbled off of the tracks. Again and again this happened until all the engines were in the water. Nearby Thomas and Gordon watched quietly. "Think we might be end up like them?" Thomas asked a touch of nervousness on his voice. Gordon grumbled. "No, not unless we really do something bad. All of those engines had done something to deserve this a few had gotten passengers on their lines killed because of what they did." They watched the steam crane get rolled up on to a flat car for Gordon to take back with him and the work men who setup the train dumping start to walk toward Clarice and Annabel to go home. "We are useful engines Thomas, and even when we make mistakes and misbehave we don't hurt our passengers. Passengers can't be mended like trucks or coaches and that is a line neither of us will ever cross." The Fat Controller approached them. "That is grim business but considering what they have done no other fate is appropriate. At least they will be useful in keeping the rail line from washing away so easily like this." He then smiled softly. "I know you are both wondering about your own fates, and I want to make clear that you and the rest of engines of Sodor need not worry. All of you are useful enough that an act such as this is a waste of 'good' engines such as yourselves." Thomas smiled feeling relieved. "Thank you sir, I think I would rather scrapped than tipped." The Fat Controller laughed. "That is a long time from now Thomas."

[@victoriacyunczyk]

Alaska Railroad did this too.

[@thatconservativetrainguy3864]

Fun fact but their are 3 missing atsf steamers in a river due to a bridge collapse 2 prarie classes 2-6-2’s and a mikado 2-8-2

[@katho8472]

That Midi file of Super Mario in the underwater world :)

[@phyomyatthu5058]

Can you please make video about steam loco from Myanmar

[@metropod]

… I was reading about her LITERALLY yesterday…

[@Thetrainchannel14]

Do you know number 88 looks like it’s from railroads online

[@harrywijanarkosetyawan2270]

Just 15 of them

[@napsbrickrailways2290]

Yoooooo he used my idea let’s go

[@montagistkacke7431]

How can economical circumstances be so bad, that sinking locomotives in a river would be more economical than selling them?

[@brenlc1412]

I just found a train, DOWN BY THE RIVER!

[@SeaKing61]

How could they bury such a good scrabble score?

[@BenWoodMotorsports14]

Hey I'm from New Zealand 😂

[@TheStickCollector]

Welp. This would be how I get my very own engine then.

[@AnonOmis1000]

How much of #88 is original? I feel like they Ship of Theseus'ed it

[@shini1478]

Forgot K92

[@kristinabegail]

“We’ll bring it to the harbor, and dump it in the sea!”

[@mistermadmachine6311]

😮woah

[@irondiamondrailproductions9038]

Santa Fe 4076: wait when’s my turn?

[@LochlanPhan]

Are They Still There!

[@LochlanPhan]

?

[@Oswaldstudios2020]

As i see this I actually found a side rod from a train

[@jordanwiley4582]

What a Thomas story that would be lol

[@macjim]

Och, I don’t mind you using diesel engines as barriers… 🚂

[@greenbean678]

they really wanted to fish

[@PuzzlingHousing56]

So what have we learned today class? Clean up after ourselves

[@dragonblaster-vu8wz]

I wonder how economical it would've been to just melt down the engines and form a proper barrier instead of this makeshift solution

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

If breaking them apart is uneconomical then melting them is just as uneconomical...

[@dragonblaster-vu8wz]

@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 selling off the scrap metal was what was uneconomical. I'm wondering using the melted metal to make a proper barrier would be worth it

[@shadow_wolfen]

@@dragonblaster-vu8wz The dismantling of the locos is the cost that isnt out weighed by the sale of the scrap. you still need to dismantle them to melt them down. and then melting and reworking the metal is more cost, installing it would be another cost again. Far far more economical to just dump them as is, the only cost, is transport and placement. costs they would still have to pay if they melted it down and "formed a proper barrier" with, but it would have costed even more than just selling the scrap.

[@ManA24bendybus]

The Train probably derailed and splash into the river

[@keniterikaskelton6232]

The mighty ka

[@lyndonchow8961]

I think it is a Kb class because I noticed that odd shape in front near the cab since I'm very similar with these K's Class.

[@TheSonic10160]

@@lyndonchow8961 No Kb was ever streamlined, it would be a K or Ka.

[@lyndonchow8961]

@TheSonic10160 I think both Ka and Kb from 1939 had streamlined throughout the 1940s until the late 40s to early 50s when they had their streamlining remove for easier cleaning maintenance. (The same happened to the NZR North British J class of 1939). Also K class locomotives from 1932 were never streamlined until the Ka and Kb arrived with streamlined in 1939 during the Art Deco era before WWII. Ka 942 was the only Ka locomotive get it streamlining back.

[@keniterikaskelton6232]

J 1211 gloria still has its streamling.

[@High_Green_Productions]

1:46 How did they get a Norfolk & Western J? (joke)

[@jimmypetrock]

:)

[@ProcyonAmz]

Return to nature!!

[@scottl.1568]

Whut

[@rwsthomas0072]

I was one of the workers that dug out that NZR K 88 class

[@lauchlanbrady4165]

Oreti is pronounced Oreetee

[@FrosteeWusky]

Dunno why they wouldn't just tear down the trains and melt the metal down. Dumping them into a large body of water is just wasteful.

[@Theover4000]

Fun fact! The Bell XFY-1 Airabonita and an Arado AR-234 were dumped into the Paxutent river in the 1970’s, dooming a 1/1 prototype aircraft and one of only two examples remaining of the German Jet Bomber to being crushed under tons of dirt and left to rot; the wing root of the XFL can still be seen to this day, with the rest being destroyed; why this was done in the midst of the warbird boom; rather than, say, sending them to museums; or selling them to collectors, is hard to say, but sometimes I sure do hate the US Navy!

[@primrosevale1995]

Thomas Gets Traumatized In New Zealand And Other Stories

[@norliasmith]

I hope the New Zealand J class is not anything like the American J class, otherwise, who in their right mind would get rid of a J class?!

[@connorjohnson7834]

It was the 1st J class 2-6-0s from the late 1870s. There's a second class of J's from 1939 that are 4-8-2s that where originally out shopped with bullet noses. None of the former but a few of the latter are preserved J1211 still has her bullet nose. Then there was the follow on Ja class which was a general improvement and Jb class which where J's converted to oil firing

[@_Zekken]

@@connorjohnson7834 ah man, so many Fond memories of seeing Ja1250 at Glenbrook as a kid. Cant wait to hear they've started her overhaul, shouldnt be too long now. Got to see Ja 1271 when she came up to Auckland last year though, first time Ive seen a Ja running since 1250 went away. Was as glorious as I remembered.

[@shevster13]

Most of NZ steam trains were built either in Britian or locally. Sadly because NZ is such a small country there are a number of models that none exist of any more because so few were made.

[@S0M3GUY778]

@@_Zekken JA1250 is the only J class I ever saw with my own eyes, but I hope to see 1271 sometime soon. I heard JB1236 is close to getting her boiler certificate done.