what is it?
The QR class were a class of diesel locomotives in New Zealand and Tasmania. Originally built by Clyde Engineering between 1965 and 1966 as Queensland Rail's 1460 class locomotives. They were purchased by Tranz Rail in 1995 to be rebuilt, as a cheaper alternative to buying new locomotives.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 61 years ago, in 1965.
- 980 kW is about 12 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 15 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 15 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 10 years (1999–2009).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1965–1966
- in service from
- 1999
- retired
- 2009
- status
- retired
- number built
- 3
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- builders
- Clyde Engineering
- operators
- AN Tasrail, Pacific National, TasRail
- top speed
- 80 km/h
- power
- 980 kW
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Co-Co
- length
- 15 m
- weight
- 91.4 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q30633438, Wikipedia: TasRail QR class (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.