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KiwiRail DXC 5039

(This is a suitable companion for DXC 5293, as these are the only two DXC's that ever received the early version of the KiwiRail livery).

DXC 5039 (or rather, what we know today as DXC 5039) was built by General Electric at their Erie, Pennsylvania factory. The locomotive was built in 1972 and entered service in November of that year. This makes the locomotive 48 years old as of 2020. She was originally numbered as DX 2602, which made her the 3rd member of the DX class. The locomotive ceased to be DX 2602 in 1978, when she was renumbered to DX 5039.

Luck wasn't on the side of 5039 in her early years. In October 1978 she was involved in a derailment near Patea, on the line from Marton to New Plymouth. I can't find out any specific details over what the crash involved. Then in July 1984, DX 5039 and DC 4444 were involved in another derailment, this time in Feilding. Some time after the first derailment, 5039 was repainted in the now-classic International Orange livery.

As with all DX's in the late 1980's, 5039 had her original two-piece windscreen swapped with a large single-piece design. This was done to allow the introduction of single-man crews on the DX class. In 1994, she was repainted in the Tranz Rail blue livery at Hutt Workshops. Around this time, New Zealand was beginning its 13 year long experiment with railway privatisation.

DX 5039 was sent to the South Island not long after going in Tranz Rail blue. In 2002, she was repainted again. This time into Tranz Rail black, otherwise known as Bumble Bee. The engine has stayed running in the South Island - more or less - ever since.

In October 2008 - just three months after the state-owned KiwiRail was launched - DX 5039 was repainted into the early version of the KiwiRail livery. This variant has horizontal colour separation instead of vertical, but was only applied to seven locomotives, five of which were DX's. Not long after being repainted again, 5039 was reclassified as a DXC.

Today DXC 5039 is still in service with KiwiRail despite being 48 years old. The only time I have ever seen this locomotive in person was at Christchurch's Middleton depot in November 2018.