NZR BC class

NZR BC class
Power type	Steam
Builder	Baldwin Locomotive Works
Serial number	19796
Build date	1901
Total produced	1
Configuration	2-8-2
UIC classification	1'D1'
Driver diameter	43 in (1.092 m)
Length	55 ft 7 in (16.94 m)
Locomotive & tender combined weight	71.4 long tons (72.5 t)
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	4.0 long tons (4.1 t)
Water capacity	1,660 imperial gallons (7,500 l; 1,990 US gal)
Boiler pressure	200 lbf/in² (1.38 MPa)
Cylinders	2 (2 HP, 2 LP)
Cylinder size	HP 11½ in, LP 19 in
Tractive effort	16,080 lbf (71.53 kN)
Career	Wellington and Manawatu Railway, New Zealand Government Railways
Number	WMR 17, NZR 463
Withdrawn	March 1927

The B^C class comprised a single steam locomotive that operated on New Zealand's national rail network. Built for the Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR) and classified simply as No. 17, it passed into the ownership of the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) when the government purchased the WMR in December 1908, and it was then that it acquired the B^C classification as B^C 463.

It was ordered in 1901 by the WMR from the Baldwin Locomotive Works. It entered service on 10 June 1902 and was at the time the most powerful locomotive to operate in the country, and it was the only 2-8-2 "Mikado" to run in New Zealand.

The locomotive was designed to haul trains on the WMR's steep main line between Wellington and Paekakariki, and it proved capable of hauling a 280-ton freight train up the sharp grades. It was a Vauclain compound, and its trailing truck bore similarities to the Q class, the world's first 4-6-2 "Pacific" type then under construction by Baldwin for NZR.

The locomotive worked the rugged line out of Wellington its entire life. It operated for nearly two decades in NZR's ownership until it was withdrawn on 31 March 1927.