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New Zealand Rail Blue DX 5483

(This re-skin is based on the real DX 5483 as she looked in 1992).

New Zealand Rail Corporation was the national rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 to 2003. Initially run as a state-owned entity from 1991, it was privatised in 1993 (at a time when NZ was led by Prime Minister Jim Bolger). The government sold New Zealand Rail to a consortium called Pylorus Investments Limited, who had re-named the operation to Tranz Rail by 1995. An American railroad called Wisconsin Central made up at least 27% of the consortium.

Tranz Rail continued its existence until 2003, when the Australian company Toll Holdings took over the operation and re-named it to Toll Rail. This continued until July 2008, when the New Zealand government re-nationalised the railways and re-named the system to KiwiRail.

As for liveries during the New Zealand Rail era, well their main livery was much the same as the old ‘Fruit Salad’ livery, albeit with blue instead of red. On each side of the locomotive’s long-hood was white ‘New Zealand Rail’ lettering. The first engine to receive NZ rail blue was either DC’s 4162 or 4922 (not sure exactly which one).

DX 5483 - now DXC 5483 - was one of the engines that received NZ rail blue. She was built by General Electric in 1976, presumably entering service in that same year. Her original number was DX 2646, with the number 5483 not being used until 1978, when the Traffic Monitoring System was introduced.

As with all other DX’s, 2646 was out-shopped in the distinctive Clockwork Orange livery. The first of her many repaints took place in 1984, when she was repainted at Hutt Workshops into ‘Fruit Salad’ colours. Five years later, the original two-piece cab window was replaced by a large single-piece window in order to improve driver visibility.

5483 wasn’t repainted in New Zealand Rail blue until October 1991. After this repaint she spent most of her time on the Wellington to Auckland route, hauling both passenger and freight trains. She didn’t carry NZ Rail blue for very long, as - by 1998 - she was repainted in Tranz Rail colours (or rather, the NZ Rail logo was replaced by Tranz Rail).

DX 5483 is notable for being the last of her class to be converted into a DXC, which didn’t take place until December 2010. She made it right through the Toll Rail era without ever being repainted or modified from the base DX specification. Her overhaul/conversion in 2010 included a repaint into the KiwiRail livery, fitting of ‘chutes’ on each side (to improve ventilation when running in the Otira Tunnel), a new cab and the installation of GE’s Brightstar wheelslip control system.

Nowadays DXC 5483 is still in service on KiwiRail’s South Island network, and things are set to remain that way for the foreseeable future. The engine is now 45 years old.