#3975
New Zealand DJ class locomotive
🇯🇵 Japan ·built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries· from 1968· class of 64 New Zealand diesel-electric locomotives
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
what is it?
The New Zealand DJ class locomotive is a type of diesel-electric locomotive in service on the New Zealand rail network. The class were built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and introduced from 1968 to 1969 for the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) with a modernisation loan from the World Bank to replace steam locomotives in the South Island, where all of the class members worked most of their lives. Nine of the locomotives remain in use, mainly with Dunedin Railways.
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 58 years ago, in 1968.
- 672 kW is about 8 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 11 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 14.1 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 40 years (1968–2008).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1968–1969
- in service from
- 1968
- retired
- 2008
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 64
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- builders
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
- operators
- Mainline Steam, New Zealand Railways Department, New Zealand Railways Corporation
- top speed
- 97 km/h
- power
- 672 kW
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Bo-Bo-Bo
- length
- 14.1 m
- weight
- 64 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7015302, Wikipedia: New Zealand DJ class locomotive (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.