AMERICAN DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27670, 28 May 1955, Page 6

AMERICAN DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES

Good Progress With

N.Z. Order FIRST FIVE NEARLY COMPLETED

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, May 27. Good progress is being made with the construction of the 30 diesel-elec-tric locomotives which are being built for the New Zealand Railways Department in Canada and the United States. The Railways Commission said today that the first five locomotives were nearing completion, and would be shipped towards the end of next month.

The order for the locomotives was placed at. the end of January this year. The value of the order is £1,795,000. The General Motors Corporation was the successful tenderer amon? 14 firms. Th© tenderers included British, American, Canadian, Belgian, Italian, and Australian companies. The first locomotive was scheduled to be delivered from the works 159 days after the signing of the contract, with other deliveries at the rate of one locomotive every three working days. This means that the first locomotive was scheduled for delivery in June. The commission’s announcement means that five locomotives will be ready when only one was originally expected. Rated at 1425 horsepower, the North American locomotives are a standard model designed for general-purpose operation. Each is mounted oh two three-axle bogies, and weighs about 80 tons.

Two of these locomotives, coupled together, will be capable of hauling 600-ton goods trains over the steepest grades on the North Island Main Trunk railway at 20 miles an hour and will maintain high average speeds over level country.