DIESELS FOR N.Z. RAILWAYS

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27733, 10 August 1955, Page 11

DIESELS FOR N.Z. RAILWAYS

First Two Engines Arrive USE ON NORTH ISLAND LINES (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, August 8. The first two of 30 diesel-electric locomotives ordered in January from General Motors of America arrived at Auckland in the Port Pirie tonight. The Port Pirie will berth tomorrow morning, and the locomotives are expected to be unloaded this week. Two service engineers from the elec-tro-motive division of General Motors arrived by air a week ago to help the Railways Department with the preparation and tests before the units begin regular running. In addition, two New Zealand assistant mechanical engineers have completed an intensive eight-week coursq at La Grange, Illinois, and two groups of maintenance staff and drivers have, during May and July, attended training courses in Australia. A nucleus of fully-trained staff is therefore ready for the new locomotives. A spokesman for the manufacturers said today that the terms of delivery for the £1,795,000 order—lso days for the first and thereafter one every third working day from each factory—had been maintained. All should be shipped within the next four months. The new locomotives will be used primarily for handling main line goods trains between Auckland and Paekakariki and round Taumarunui. Two coupled together will haul a 600-ton train over some of the steepest grades in the country at 20 miles an hour and maintain a much higher average speed on the flat.