Withdrawal in New Zealand
Following the sale of 15 locomotives to TasRail, Tranz Rail retained DQ 6324, 6347, 6376 and 6382 and QR 2027, 2079 and 2085. This was soon reduced to the four DQ class in 1999 after the three QR class were withdrawn and placed into storage at Hutt Workshops, while two DQ class were transferred to the South Island for banking service and two for the Lyttelton coal shuttles.
By 2005 all four had migrated to Picton for to Wharanui. Occasionally they worked back to Christchurch to receive mechanical attention at Linwood locomotive depot.
The last two in service were DQ 6347 in Toll Rail patched livery and DQ 6382 in Tranz Rail Cato Blue livery on the coal shuttles, and were withdrawn with the arrival of the second batch of the DL class in mid-2013 and replaced by a pair of DC or DX class. As a result, the cab radios were not to be set to the new frequency used by KiwiRail. They were withdrawn in 2013 after KiwiRail issued a request for quotation (RFQ) contract for their disposal and parked at Middleton Yard in Christchurch.
The other two, DQ 6324 in Toll Rail patched livery and DQ 6376 in Tranz Rail Cato Blue livery, are in storage at Hutt Workshops: 6324 had worn its wheelsets down to the point where they needed to be replaced, and 6376 was damaged when it and leading unit DFT 7117 collided with a slip at Claverly, south of Kaikoura, in June 2011. As non-standard locomotives they were not a high priority and they were not returned to service on grounds of expense, needing parts from Queensland.
The three remaining QR class, 2027, 2079, and 2085, were sold to the National Railway Equipment Corporation in 2005 after being stored at the Hutt Workshops since 1999. At the time it was thought they would be rebuilt, along with the remains of three 1460 class and two Westrail A class, for use in northern Chile.
In April 2013 it emerged that a South African buyer had been found for the four remaining DQ class. The two stored at Middleton were towed and ferried to Auckland to be prepared for shipping: the two stored at Hutt Workshops will follow, and are due to depart New Zealand on 15 May.
Read more about this topic: NZR DQ Class
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