The New Zealand DE class was a class of fifteen diesel-electric shunting locomotives, introduced by the New Zealand Railways (NZR) with an intention to replace steam locomotives on shunting duties with diesel power. The class was physically similar to the Tasmanian Government Railways X class, which was also of English Electric design.
In service.
Although these locomotives were originally intended to be used as heavy transfer shunters, four of them were used in pairs, each crewed, on the Royal Train tour of Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to New Zealand in 1953-1954. The class also underwent trials for use in suburban passenger trains in Auckland and Wellington, as well as on lesser regional passenger services and branch line freight.
The class was also the first to run on the new Murupara Branch, initially for construction and later for log trains on the still unsettled track bed. This has given it the unofficial status of being the first mainline diesel-electric locomotive in the NZR service, although this title correctly belongs to another class, the DF class of 1954, also manufactured by English Electric.
The introduction of the Traffic Monitoring System (TMS) in 1979 saw the locomotives being renumbered DE1308 – DE1458.
Initially, the class was based in the North Island, but in 1981, four of the locomotives were sent to the South Island. Over time, the class was gradually dispersed to secondary yards on the network, such as Napier, Dunedin, and Invercargill. In the early 1980s, two class members were fitted with English Electric 6SRKT Mk 2 engines, which were also used in the DG class locomotives.
Withdrawal and Preservation.
As part of the New Zealand Railways Corporation's plan to reduce the number of first-generation diesels in the late 1980s, a number of the class were scrapped or sold for preservation.
Out of the original fifteen DE class locomotives, seven have survived. All have operated in preservation at least once:
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