A & G Price

A & G Price Limited is an engineering firm and locomotive manufacturer in Thames, New Zealand, established in 1868. In 2004 a precision formed yacht keel division was formed to make the Maximus canting keel. The firm currently has 135 employees.

History of A & G Price

The firm was established in 1868 in Princes Street, Onehunga by two brothers from Stroud, Gloucestershire; Alfred Price (1838-1907) and George Price (1843-1917). They built almost 100 flax machines in their first year.^[1]

In the 1930s the firm hired Abner Doble to help them develop a steam engine for buses at the Thames workshops.^[2] The first engine was trialed by the Auckland Transport Board in the early 1930s. A second bus was constructed in 1932 for White and Sons for the Auckland Thames route.^[3]

A & G Price and railways

A & G Price was the largest private New Zealand railway locomotive manufacturer, both in terms of output and in terms of supply of rolling stock to the New Zealand Government Railways (NZGR or NZR) and other firms.

Price manufactured 22 carriages and wagons in the early 1870s, and manufactured two locomotives in the 1880s for private industry, the first being a 0-4-0ST Saddle Tank type locomotive. The Thames Branch railway line opened in 1898, and Price won a tender to make locomotives for NZR in 1903 and 1906 (Wright page 106). Later in the 1950s and 1960s they manufactured a number of diesel shunting locomotives for the NZR, the T^R class, and some for private users.

In 1990 A & G Price regauged 24 of the 31 Silver Star carriages to metre gauge (1000 mm) for running in Malaysia Singapore and Thailand as the Eastern and Oriental Express. Six carriages from this train were stored at Price's Thames workshop in case any extra carriage conversions were required, with the remaining carriage shipped to SE Asia but not refurbished. As of 2013, these carriages remained on-site at Thames, five of which are listed on the New Zealand Rolling Stock Register page for NZR passenger carriages.

Locomotive types designed & built by A & G Price

• 1885 0-4-0ST type (1)
• W^F (15)
• A (50)
• 1912 16-wheeler 0-4-4-4-4-0T type (4), similar to the Johnston 16-wheeler
• 1912 Price C 0-4-4-0T type (2), similar to the Climax A Type
• 1912 Price D 0-4-4-0T type (1), a smaller lighter version of the Price C
• A^B (20)
• B^B (30)
• W^AB (8)
• 1923 Price E 0-4-4-0T type (4), similar to the Climax B Type
• 1924 Price Ca 0-4-4-0T type (1), a Price C but with Heisler style bogies
• 1925 Price Cb 0-4-4-0T type (4), an updated version of the Price C
• 1926 Price Ar 0-4-4-0T type (1), a Meyer locomotive type
• 1927 Price Cba 0-4-4-0T type (1), an improved development of the Ca and Cb types
• 1937 Price E 0-4-4-0T type (1), an improved version of the previous E type
• 1939 Price Rail Tractor (10), a small petrol-mechanical design
• 1943 Price V 0-4-4-0T type (1), the last Heisler built in the world.
• 1951 Price Da 0-4-0 type (3), 2ft gauge diesel mechanical design for Mines Department at Ohai coal mines
• Price Model 1 through Model 22, various diesel types, many of which were supplied to the NZR
• Price Rail Tractor (1), last locomotive constructed, for yard use at A & G Price. It used a Fordson Major E1 as its base.

Preserved locomotives

1951 built 2ft gauge Da type locomotive

• A 423 - Glenbrook Vintage Railway
• A 428 - Weka Pass Railway
• A^B 699 - Pleasant Point Railway.
• B^B 144 - Mainline Steam.
• C^B 108 - Tokomaru Steam Museum.
• C^B 113 - Canterbury Railway Society.
• C^B 117 - Bush Tramway Club.
• C^BA 119 - Shantytown and Westland Heritage Park.
• E 111 - Bush Tramway Club.
• Price 149 - SteamRail Wanganui.
• Price 150 - Steam Scene.
• Price 151 - Goldfields Railway.
• Price 152 - Ormondville Rail Preservation Society.
• Price 166 - Blenheim Riverside Railway.
• Price 168 - Totara Springs Camp
• Price 184 - Bay of Islands Vintage Railway. Named Freddie.
• Price 185 - Ocean Beach Railway.
• Price 198 (now T^R 119) - The Plains Railway.
• Price 199 - Main Trunk Rail Ohakune.
• Price 200 - Whangarei Steam & Model Rly Club.
• Price 212 - SteamRail Wanganui.
• Price 213 - Mainline Steam Heritage Trust.
• Price 218 - Putaruru Timber Museum.
• Price 221 - Silver Stream Railway.
• Price 222 - KiwiRail.
• Price shunter - DoC Kaueranga Valley.
• Price Shunter - Bush Tramway Club.
• T^R 38 - The Plains Railway.
• T^R 103 (TR 344 TMS) - Morrinsville Kiwi Fertilizer (now on loan to the Rotorua Ngongotaha Railway Trust).
• T^R 107 (TR 396 TMS) - Shantytown.
• T^R 108 (TR 407 TMS) - Waitara Railway Preservation Society.
• T^R 111 (TR 442 TMS) - Taieri Gorge Railway.
• T^R 113 (TR 465 TMS) - SteamRail Wanganui.
• T^R 117 (TR 505 TMS) - Pahiatua Railcar Society.
• T^R 118 (TR 511 TMS) - Waimea Plains Railway.
• T^R 119 (formerly Price 198) - The Plains Railway.
• T^R 160 (TR 632 TMS) - Pahiatua Railcar Society.
• T^R 161 (TR 649 TMS) - Reefton Historic Trust Board.
• T^R 163 (TR 661 TMS) - Bay of Islands Vintage Railway. Named Timmy.
• T^R 165 (TR 684 TMS) - Waitara Railway Preservation Society.
• T^R 166 (TR 689 TMS) - Waitara Railway Preservation Society.
• T^R 170 (TR 724 TMS) - Wairarapa Railway Restoration Society (Stored offsite)
• T^R 171 (TR 730 TMS) - Museum of Transport and Technology.
• V 148 - Canterbury Steam Preservation Society.
• W^AB 800 -Glenbrook Vintage Railway.
• W^F 393 - Canterbury Railway Society.

References

• Lloyd, W. G. Register of New Zealand Railways Steam Locomotives 1863-1971 (2nd edition 2002) ISBN 0-9582072-1-6
• Vennell, C. W. Men of Metal: The story of A & G Price Ltd, Auckland and Thames 1868-1968 (1968, Wilson & Horton, Auckland)
• Wright, Matthew Rails Across New Zealand (2003, Whitcoulls NZ) ISBN 1-877327-14-X

Notes

External links

• A & G Price website
• "Photo of A & G Price premises in Cyclopaedia of New Zealand (1902)". NZETC. 1 December 2015. 
• "Photo of A & G Price works in Cyclopaedia of New Zealand (1902)". NZETC. 1 December 2015.