Model steam locomotive

Te Papa's collection of model locomotives and rolling stock is largely the work of craftsman and railway enthusiast Frank Roberts (1882-1963). Born in 1882, Roberts spent seventeen years as a cleaner, fireman, and driver for the Railways Department. He and his brother Jack then became partners in an electrical firm, although much of Roberts' time was spent developing a garden railway at his home in Epsom, Auckland.

An accurate record
Roberts built 1:24 scale models of New Zealand steam locomotives. He worked from photographs, close observation, and his own memories, rather than from plans. His model locomotives and his brother George's models of rolling stock provide an accurate record of the equipment of the Railways Department from the 1870s to the 1930s.

Centennial highlight
The high point of Roberts' career as a model maker came when he was commissioned by the Railways Department to operate a large working layout at the Centennial Exhibition (1939-1940) in Wellington. Thousands of visitors saw the model railway, and many considered it the Exhibition's greatest attraction.

Acquisition
In 1950, Roberts sold his models to the Railways Department. They were widely exhibited for many years, and Roberts was employed to maintain them to museum display standard. In 1993, just before it was privatised, New Zealand Rail Ltd gifted its collection of heritage models, including more recent work by other model makers, to Te Papa.

E class locomotives
This model of E 176 is the last that Frank Roberts completed. He started building it in 1948 and finished it in 1950 when he was 68 years old. It is of one of New Zealand Railways unusual E class locomotives. E class locomotives had two boilers, facing opposite directions. The boilers shared a central firebox and the locomotive ran on two swivelling 'power bogies' or engine units. The purpose of the unusual design was to enable the locomotives to easily negotiate the sharp curves on narrow-gauge lines in hilly terrain, and to change direction without having to use expensive turntables.

Double Fairlies
They were known as Double Fairlies after their inventor, Robert Fairlie (1831-1885), and were first used in New Zealand by the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway Company in 1872. New Zealand Railways ordered more powerful Fairlies from the Avonside Engine Company in Bristol, England. The first of these entered service in 1875, and they became known as Avonside Es.

The Double Fairlies' service with New Zealand Railways was not successful. Because they had double the normal number of moving parts they were over-complicated, and leaks from the flexible steam pipes needed because of their bogies were a constant problem.

End of the line
The E class locomotives officially ended their service with New Zealand Railways in 1899. But some continued to be used for construction work on the North Island Main Trunk Line and in the Taranaki-Wanganui area. In 1910, Frank Roberts rode on E 176 when it was working at Raurimu, and years later based his model of it on a photograph taken at the time.

Oldest surviving locomotive
One of the first Double Fairlies used on the Dunedin-Port Chalmers line in 1872, E 175 (named Josephine), is preserved at the Otago Settlers' Museum. It is the oldest surviving locomotive in New Zealand.