The arrival of the first six of the 20 DL locomotives built in China for KiwiRail. The unloading at Mt Maunganui, their delivery trip to Te Rapa, driver training and DL 9008 & 9020 first main line run to Huntly.
fantastic video mate, but poor form locos. burried neck deep in traction motor issues, electrical faults and computer failures. the only thing that works properly is the engine, which wasn't built by dalian. kinda reminds me of the Australian XA class locomotive, withdrawn in a few years
30 years is supposed to be the "projected service life" of a locomotive, at least back in the X and XA class' day. The engine that powered them was originally meant to power a submarine, and when it failed at that, they put it into a locomotive. Westrail's engineers eventually developed their own solutions for their various engine bugs, but you wonder about the axle layout: double bogeys at each end, and four under the engine
Simple: Using steam locomotive rules to design diesels makes sense for the era. Baldwin centipedes, NZR Df class, the X and XA, and early electric locomotives all throughout the world, like the Ce 6/8 Krokodil, Little Joe, Ed class, NYCRR S and P motors and so on
+douro20 Power to weight ratio is a lot better with the MTU 4000 series over the 645 series. The 240 series has made a comeback by Cat/EMD as the 1010 T4 series
@@nathanbedford3666 The horn sounds like a strangled cat. Why couldn't they have just specified some Leslie Super Tyfons like the pairs used on DFT and DX locos?
I wont say that they are great looking loco's, but I hope they are reliable and economical. Must be a huge improvment on the 1970's era Diesel loco's in service at the mo. ...and i have to say the horn sounds a little 'Gay'!
Those horns sound like sick cat meowing. Give me a GE / GM set of Leslie Supertyfons any day! Real horns for real locos. As could be expected, these pieces of junk have been anything but reliable and economical. Plagued with a plethora of problems from day one. See Tim Sandhu's comments above, and he didn't mention the asbestos found in every loco - despite the specifications clearly stating there was to be no asbestos used.
@kaizerzydeco The tracks are no longer in use and if they were, the axle load of the locos was too great for the wharf therefore the reason for the multi-wheel transporters that spread the weight more evenly.
What?? The WAGR X and XAs ran for over 32 years. And thier biggest problem was the Crossley HSTVee8 pulse charge 2 stroke engine. So not sure what your talking about?
Nice vid bro - but that's where the compliments stop because the DL Class locos are proving to be nothing other than shameful dog tucker. FAIL! They are no where near in the same class of high class chronic long term performance the DX Class locomotives have proven to be. The DIXIES will never be beaten as this country's greatest ever locomotive in the history of rail transport in NZ as far as this Kiwi is concerned.
