#3838
New Zealand DB class locomotive
🇨🇦 Canada ·built by General Motors Diesel· from 1965· class of 17 EMD G8 locomotives sold to New Zealand
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2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. NZR DBR 1199 (15832788855): GPS 56 from New Zealand· CC BY 2.0
- 2. DBR 1295 at Pukeoware Depot: Pcuser42· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The New Zealand DB class and DBR class locomotive is a type of diesel-electric locomotive built for service on New Zealand's rail network. They were built by General Motors Diesel (GMD) of Canada as a narrow-gauge version of the EMD G8 model, with seventeen locomotives constructed. Ten of these were later rebuilt into the DBR class.
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.
- 709 kW is about 8 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 12 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 14 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 52 years (1965–2017).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1965–1982
- in service from
- 1965
- retired
- 2017
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 17
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- builders
- General Motors Diesel
- operators
- New Zealand Railways Department, New Zealand Railways Corporation
- top speed
- 100 km/h
- power
- 709 kW
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- wheel arrangement
- A1A-A1A
- length
- 14 m
- weight
- 69 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
family
Sources: Wikidata Q7015290, Wikipedia: New Zealand DB class locomotive (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.