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Winstone Pulp DSG 3277

(Based on the rather obscure livery worn by DSA 483, which is the shunter at the forestry mill in Karioi).

DSA 483 is one of the so-called 'Bagnall DSA's', as she was built by W.G. Bagnall in 1956, not entering service in March 1957. The locomotive was originally numbered as DSA 246, not being re-numbered until 1978. She was the 7th of 10 Bagnall DSA's to be built, and the DSA class totalled 57 engines (most of them were built by other companies).

Originally 483 was based in Wellington, and was often used to shunt E.M.U. coaches around the yard. She was originally painted in the so-called 'Midland Red', which was a plain red livery applied to most New Zealand shunters at the time. Sometime in the 1980's, DSA 483 was repainted in the International Orange livery, better known as Fruit Salad. After the re-paint, 483 remained a Wellington-based engine.

DSA 483 wasn't getting any younger as the years went on, and she was retired from NZR service in 1990. This meant she had a service life of 33 years, but thankfully she wasn't scrapped. After retirement, the locomotive was sold to Winstone Pulp International, who are the people that operate the pulp and paper mill in Karioi. Said mill is located a very short distance north of Tangiwai and the Whangaehu River; the scene of New Zealand's worst rail disaster.

Before being transferred to Karioi, DSA 483 had her livery ever-so-slightly changed. In other words, the red paint was replaced by pale green. Today the locomotive is still in service at the Karioi plant, but pictures of her are extremely hard to come by. And now for some information behind DSG 3277, the locomotive who's number is on this re-skin.

DSG 3277 was built by Toshiba of Japan in 1983, entering service in October of that year. She was the 23rd (or rather) second-to-last of her class to be built, with the last DSG being 3304. The first livery any DSG wore was the now-classic International Orange. Curiously they never carried pre-TMS road numbers (e.g. DH 905 became DH 2868), as the entire class entered service after the introduction of the Traffic Monitoring System.

The DSG's were designed for - and are still used on - light/heavy shunting duties as well as short trip workings on the mainline. They can be found in both the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Our 3277 has spent most of her life in the North Island. These engines are notable for their centre-cab and low-hood design, which allows for great driver visibility in both directions. The smaller DSJ class (only five engines) looks similar, but is noticeably shorter due to the presence of only one engine. The DSJ's cab is noticeably off-centre, unlike the DSG.

3277 turned out to be a reliable engine for New Zealand Rail, as did the rest of the DSG class. She remained in her original livery right up until 1997, when she was re-painted in Tranz Rail blue. This was around six years after New Zealand's rail system was privatised, only to be re-nationalised on July 1st, 2008. At the same time as the Tranz Rail repaint, 3277 was also fitted with shunter's refuges. In short, these are big steps/frame extensions to both ends of the locomotive, which allow for drivers to stand outside the cab and operate the locomotive by means of a remote control.

DSG 3277 continued to run in Tranz Rail blue right through the Toll Rail era, which only lasted from 2003 to 2008. It wasn't until May 2010 - just under two years into the KiwiRail era - when 3277 was repainted in the brightly-coloured KiwiRail livery.

Today 3277 is 37 years old, and still going strong in the North Island. The locomotive had another overhaul in August 2018, which - like the previous one - was also carried out at Hutt Workshops. After studying some photographs, I noticed that 3277 had her cab-side windows modified during the 2018 overhaul.

On a personal note, I have seen this locomotive at least four times. The first time was in Wellington in October 2010; when the engine was shunting freight wagons in the yard. The 2nd time was at Palmerston North depot on January 16th, 2017. The third was in New Plymouth on December 31st, 2018. On that day, 3277 was running the 'Port Shunt' from Smart Road to Port Taranaki. Usually DSG 3210 is tasked with this job.

The most recent time I've seen DSG 3277 was in Napier on February the 15th, 2019. On this occasion I caught her arriving at Ahuriri yard with the U4B shunt from Hastings. 3277's base of operation seems to change every now and then, but on the day of me uploading this re-skin, she was running in Wellington.