what is it?
The DC class was a class of diesel locomotives in New Zealand and Tasmania. Originally built by General Motors Canada and Clyde Engineering between 1955 and 1967 as New Zealand Government Railways DA class locomotive. Eighty-five DAs were rebuilt as the DC class locomotive.
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 62 years ago, in 1964.
- 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 3 years (1999–2002).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1964
- in service from
- 1999
- retired
- 2002
- status
- retired
- number built
- 1
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- builders
- General Motors of Canada
- operators
- New Zealand Railways Department, New Zealand Railways Corporation, Tranz Rail, AN Tasrail
- top speed
- 100 km/h
- power
- 1.1 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 Q30639168, Wikipedia: TasRail DC class (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.