How much smoke? | A428 Working Hard at Frog Rock!

A 428 Working hard at Frog Rock.
A 428 - A & G Price Limited, Thames, New Zealand
A 428 was built for the New Zealand Railways in Thames in 1909. In their heyday, the A class were the pride of the North Island Main Trunk working predominantly on express trains around Auckland. A 428 was built as a compound locomotive, meaning that it had two additional cylinders and associated valve gear systems between the frames, but due to maintenance costs and troubles, she was rebuilt to a conventional (simple) two cylinder steam locomotive in early 1943. Superheating made up for the power lost as a result of the conversion.
In her later years, once more modern locomotives were introduced in the North Island, A 428 was sent to the South Island’s West Coast, where she worked alongside many other elderly engines on the Ross Branch, up to Reefton, and occasionally up the hilly mainline to Otira. 428 proved useful, however in early June 1969, her fire was dropped symbolising the demise of one of the last great Pacifics. She was sent inside the Elmer Lane roundhouse in Greymouth alongside other withdrawn locomotives to cool off before setting off over the hills for one last time - to the Pacific Steel scrap yard in Christchurch. J 1209 left on the 12th November 1969. Ab 706, 10 days later. J 1208 in early December. In the following months, a few survivors were steamed to preservation societies throughout the country. By Christmas 1970, there was only one - A 428
A 428 was ‘saved form the torch’ by the West Coast Preservation Society (later the A 428 Preservation Society). In 1983, after a lengthy and uncertain period of storage, A 428 finally arrived at her new home, the Weka Pass Railway. She returned to service in September 1993 after an extensive overhaul, and has since served the Weka Pass Railway well for 25 glorious years!