#3233
New Zealand DA class locomotive
🇨🇦 Canada ·built by General Motors Diesel· from 1955· class of 146 EMD G12 locomotives sold to New Zealand
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2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. DA1400: Hayden Booth· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. Da1431 (33000884734): GPS 56 from New Zealand· CC BY 2.0
what is it?
The New Zealand DA class locomotive is a class of diesel-electric mainline locomotives operated on the New Zealand railway system between 1955 and 1989. Consisting of 146 locomotives, it is the most numerous class to ever operate in New Zealand, with five more locomotives in service than the AB class steam locomotive. The class is an A1A-A1A version of the Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) G12 model, with the design altered slightly to run on New Zealand's 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) rail system, and fit the small loading gauge.
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 71 years ago, in 1955.
- 1.1 MW is about 12 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 14 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 14.1 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 53 years (1955–2008).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1955–1967
- in service from
- 1955
- retired
- 2008
- status
- in service
- number built
- 146
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- builders
- General Motors Diesel, Clyde Engineering, Electro-Motive Diesel
- operators
- New Zealand Railways Department
- top speed
- 100 km/h
- power
- 1.1 MW
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- wheel arrangement
- A1A-A1A
- length
- 14.1 m
- weight
- 81 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
family
Sources: Wikidata Q7015291, Wikipedia: New Zealand DA class locomotive (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.