Model locomotive [diesel-electric]

item details

NameModel locomotive [diesel-electric]

ProductionPaul Berntsen; model maker; 1979; Hastings

Classificationmodels, trains, diesel-electric locomotives

Materialsbrass, steel

DimensionsOverall: 100mm (width), 160mm (height), 680mm (length)

Registration NumberT000642

Credit lineNew Zealand Rail Railway Model Collection. Gift of New Zealand Rail, 1993

Overview

This model was built for the Publicity Department of New Zealand Railways by Paul Berntsen to promote the new DF class locomotive, which entered service between 1979 and 1981. In 1993, just before it was privatised, New Zealand Rail Ltd gifted its collection of heritage models to Te Papa.

DF class locomotives
DF class locomotives were designed and built in Canada by General Motors as freight locomotives. Their six traction motors transmitted plenty of power, (1649.5hp or 1230kw), but from the early 1990s demand for increased productivity led to the fitting of turbo-chargers to the power units. This increased the power produced by fifty per cent. All thirty New Zealand Railways DF locomotives were fitted with turbo-chargers and given a new classification - DFT.