#3627
New Zealand DC class locomotive
🇳🇿 New Zealand ·built by General Motors of Canada· from 1961· class of 85 New Zealand diesel locomotives rebuilt from DA class
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. DCP 4801 and DC 4346 approaching Templeton with a shunt bound for Lyttelton in December 2016: TrainboyMBH· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The New Zealand DC class locomotive is a type of diesel-electric mainline locomotive on the New Zealand rail network, operated by KiwiRail on freight trains, and formerly on long-distance passenger trains. The class was rebuilt from the DA class in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in Australia (80 locomotives) and New Zealand (5 locomotives). After the DA class, they were the most numerous class of diesel locomotive on New Zealand's railway network and remained numerically dominant until the mid-2010s when withdrawals began.
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 65 years ago, in 1961.
- 1.2 MW is about 14 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 5 years (1978–1983).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1961–1967
- in service from
- 1978
- retired
- 1983
- status
- in service
- number built
- 129
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- builders
- General Motors of Canada
- operators
- New Zealand Railways Corporation, KiwiRail, New Zealand Railways Department
- top speed
- 100 km/h
- power
- 1.2 MW
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- wheel arrangement
- A1A-A1A
- length
- 14.1 m
- weight
- 82 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q10269511, Wikipedia: New Zealand DC class locomotive (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.