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.
History
The locomotives were introduced as phase III and phase IV of the DA class, built by General Motors Canada between 1961 and 1967. They were rebuilt between 1978 and 1983.
Because of a backlog of locomotives requiring heavy maintenance, Clyde Engineering were awarded a contract to rebuild 35 DA class as EMD model G22ARs, with upgraded engines, new cabs and low short hoods of a style similar to the GE DX class introduced earlier in the 1970s and the EMD DF class being introduced at the time.Clyde Eng Contract Australian Transport June 1977 page 2135 NZR locos to be rebuilt in Oz Freight & Container Transportation June 1977 page 10Locomotives to be Rebuilt Network June 1977 page 27 The first few were shipped directly to Port Adelaide, but after the Union Company withdrew its roll-on/roll-off services, most were shipped to Melbourne's Appleton Dock and hauled to Adelaide via the Victorian and South Australian lines.How DA locomotives reach Adelaide Rails September 1978 page 10New Zealand Locomotives The Recorder October 1978 page 11Transporting NZR Diesels to Adelaide for Modernisation Network March 1979 page 27
Further contract extensions resulted in a total of 80 being rebuilt by Clyde Engineering.Diesel & Electric Traction News Sunshine Express January 1981 page 7New Zealand Diesel Electric Locomotives Rebuilt by Clyde Engineering Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin issue 529 November 1981 pages 103/104 A further five were rebuilt at the Hutt Workshops near Wellington, but retained their existing engines.Hutt workshops complete first DA loco rebuild Rails June 1980 pages 4/5
Technical details Each locomotive has a General Motors 12-645C or 12-645E V12 diesel engine (the same as originally fitted to the DF class) and four traction motors, with an authorised maximum speed of 100 km/h. They are 14 metres long, 3.8 metres high and weigh 82 tonnes. They can be readily identified as they are considerably shorter than the DF and DX classes and have their paired headlights arranged horizontally, rather than vertically on the DFs.
The five 49-series Hutt-built DCs originally retained the 12-567 engine, before later receiving the 12-645.
In service History The class was initially employed in the North Island, mainly on freight trains but also hauling either carriage trains or AC class Grassgrub depowered railcars.
Changes came during the 1980s; the deregulation of land transport saw rail freight volumes decline and the opening of the North Island Main Trunk electrification saw the locomotive fleet reallocated. These factors saw the withdrawal between 1985 and 1989 of the DJ class and remaining DA class, with the DC class also seeing service in the South Island for the first time. The locomotives were also used on export coal trains between the West Coast and Christchurch.
The class were used on KiwiRail Scenic's South Island Coastal Pacific, and was also used on the North Island's Northern Explorer until being replaced by a DFB/T, DXB or occasionally a DXC locomotive and on the TranzAlpine until being replaced by two DXC locomotives. A DC class locomotive was also occasionally used to haul the Capital Connection service.
The Northern Explorer's predecessor, the Overlander, was usually hauled on the northern and southern sections of the North Island Main Trunk by a DC class locomotive, and was often used across the central section as well if an EF locomotive was unavailable.
Cab concerns In March 2001, the Rail & Maritime Transport Union threatened to set the maximum speed of the DC class to due to corrosion found on cab mounts. This causes the cab of a DC to detach from the frame during a derailment, and a driver had fallen through the floor of a locomotive. An audit was made on all locomotives and found 19 locomotives had maintenance concerns. The concerned locomotives were relegated to trail-only locomotives, and work was made in a short matter of time to repair the cabs. It was understood that the concerned locomotives would be fitted with universal cabs, but this never commenced.
In early 2017, concerns were raised by the RMTU surrounding rusty cab structures, cab mounting, and anti-collision posts. Fearing the cabs could have been ripped off in the course of an accident, all (but one) locomotives were banned from leading in the South Island; again confined to trail-only locomotives until they had been inspected. Although locomotives in the North Island were banned from leading trains, they were seen being used on shunts. Work was carried out at both Hutt and Hillside workshops; most were back leading trains within a couple of months.
Tranz Metro The DC class were used to haul Wairarapa Connection services between Masterton and Wellington. The locomotives were allocated on a daily basis, rather than being permanently assigned as was the case in Auckland. In July 2015, the DFB class replaced the DC class hauling the service.
Australia Tasmania
DC4588 was shipped to Tasmania (along with QR class locomotives) in December 1998 for use for TasRail, then part-owned by Tranz Rail and its parent Wisconsin Central through the Australian Transport Network. The locomotive was purchased outright by TasRail after an initial period used lease, but it was placed into storage in October 2002 after suffering an engine problem. In 2005, rebuilding commenced for reinstatement, but the rebuild fell through and the locomotive was sold for scrap in 2011 at East Tamar Workshops.
Queensland
In 2020, six DC class locomotives were sold to Martinus Rail for use on construction trains on the Carmichael coal mine railway line from Abbot Point in Queensland, Australia. DCs 4041, 4444, 4571 and 4692 were overhauled and repainted at Hutt Workshops before being shipped to Brisbane, while DCs 4104 and 4634 were purchased for spare parts and scrapped.MotivePower Roundup Motive Power issue 133 January 2021 page 116Bravus begins Carmichael railway track laying Railway Digest February 2021 page 15 With the completion of the line, DCs 4444 and 4692 were sold to mine operator Bravus Mining in early 2022, for use on work trains. Martinus retained DCs 4041 and 4571. In late 2022, Martinus brought the locomotives it had retained back to New Zealand, and modified their liveries to comply with New Zealand railway regulations. They were subsequently exported to Zambia in April 2024.
Auckland Transport
For several years, the DC class were employed on suburban carriage trains in Auckland. From 2003, the operation has been run under a service contract by Transdev Auckland and its predecessors, through firstly the former Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) and then through the Auckland Council subsidiary Auckland Transport.
Until July 2015, up to 20 DC class and DCP class locomotives, along with three DFB/T class locomotives, were leased to Auckland Transport, operating in push-pull mode with Auckland Transport's ex British Rail Mark 2 SA/SD carriages. Originally, the DC locomotives were configured with a set of three SA cars and an SD driving car, but with an increase in rail patronage some longer trains were provided on the Southern and Eastern lines with the addition of a fourth SA car. 17 DC class locomotives were painted in the MAXX blue livery, with four other locomotives that saw regular service with AT – DC4104, DC4260, DC4346 and DCP4818 – in KiwiRail livery, along with DC4594 which was Toll-livered at the time. All locomotives in service with Auckland Transport were fitted with controls for the carriage doors and later received Electronic Train Protection (ETP) equipment. One of the MAXX-painted locomotives, DC4732, was heavily damaged when it derailed at Westfield as an empty service on 2 March 2014.
Following the availability of sufficient numbers of the electric AM class EMUs to operate the Auckland network, the diesel locomotives were returned to KiwiRail, with a number of them being stored at Hutt Workshops.
Southern Africa DC4191 and DC4847 were sold for use on Namibia's narrow-gauge railway in 2021. On 19 November 2021, both locomotives were trucked to the Port of Auckland's Bledisloe Wharf for export to South Africa and then on to Namibia.
DC4346, DC4409 and accident-damaged locomotives DC4605 and DC4726, together with the two Martinus Rail locomotives, DC4041 and DC4571, were exported to Zambia in April 2024.
Current As of 2026, sixteen DC class locomotives remain in service, nine in the North Island and seven in the South Island.
Although now substantially reduced in numbers, the DC class continues to be a workhorse, operating either as single locomotives or in multiple with other DC locomotives or locomotives from the DFT, DX or DL classes.
Numbering Initially, the class was numbered sequentially from DC 1551 (the DA class having ended at 1545, the DF class started at 1651). In 1979 the computerised Traffic Monitoring System (TMS) was introduced and the class was renumbered with a four-digit number commencing with '4', with the last digit a check digit. The 49 Clyde-built locomotives were renumbered in sequence with DC 1551 becoming DC4006 and DC 1599 becoming DC4536, though only the first 31 (up to DC 1581) had entered service by that time. The remaining Clyde builds received TMS numbers through to 4876 as they entered the rebuilding, while DC 1582–1589 entered service with their original 15xx series numbers on the headlight number boards and the later 40xx TMS numbers on the long hood.New Zealand Railfan September 2003
Initially, the Hutt-built locomotives retained their DA-sequence TMS numbers, as NZR considered them to be DA locomotives as they retained the 12-567 engine. Eventually, this decision was changed, and they became DC4916-DC4951, with 4882 and 4899 not used to keep them in a separate number sub-series.
Liveries
The class were delivered in the International Orange or "Fruit Salad" livery – orange/red, grey, and yellow with large white numbers on the long hood – which was the standard livery for New Zealand Railways until the early 1990s. The class has since collectively worn almost every other single livery introduced since then, although some examples still wear the original Fruit Salad livery in service today. Liveries worn by the class are:
International Orange (Fruit Salad) - The livery as introduced. DC4409 is notable as having received a large touch-up of its paint job in this scheme in 2012. Flying Tomato - A variation of Fruit Salad, where orange was substituted for the grey. Some locomotives that received this paint scheme were later painted back in Fruit Salad. No DCs still wear this livery. New Zealand Rail Blue - The DC class were the first to debut this livery in 1991, the first locomotive in this livery was DC4922, with the orange replaced by a mid-blue and either "NZ Railways" or "New Zealand Rail" on the long hood with numbers painted white on the cab sides. Later in the Tranz Rail era, some locomotives received Cato Blue sticker patches over the long hood lettering with the Tranz Rail logo attached. Cato Blue - A variation of New Zealand Rail Blue upon the launch of "Tranz Rail" in late 1995, where a sky-blue colour (Cato Blue) replaced the mid-blue and the Tranz Rail "winged" logo was placed on the long hood. Later, the rights to Cato Blue were sold to Tranz Scenic 2001, and a number of their DCPs received repaints in the livery, but with the Tranz Scenic logo in place of the Tranz Rail logo.