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Tranz Rail blue Side Rod

Here is my first attempt at making a reskin for the new Side-Rod locomotive. I hope you all enjoy the result of at least five hours in Photoshop. The number carried by this reskin is - apparently - the number of a real Side Rod. And now for some information behind the real Tranz Rail livery.

Tranz Rail was a private company that owned and operated the New Zealand railway network between 1995 and 2003. Their livery has since become one of my favourites. It consists of yellow ends with blue sides and a grey roof and cab-sides. So it's really quite a basic livery, and nothing like the UTA Frontrunner.

Several locomotive classes received this livery, but there was at least one exception. The DBR class was the only class that I know of where no examples ever received the Tranz Rail livery. Which is a shame really, because I would like to have seen a Tranz Rail DBR. Come to think of it, none of them received Tranz Rail black either. So Gaugepunk, if you're seeing this, I am putting forward a suggestion that you make a DBR for Rolling Line (search something like DBR 1199 or DBR 1254 on YouTube if you don't know what a DBR looks like).

Amazingly a sizeable number of locomotives (I don't know exactly how many) retained TR blue right through the Toll Rail (2003 to 2008) and KiwiRail (2008 to present) eras. Some of the locomotives that carried this livery were as follows:

DC 4041
DC 4110
DC 4162
DC 4191
DC 4202
DC 4219
DC 4231
DC 4283
DC 4352
DC 4507
DC 4588
DC 4628
DC 4640
DC 4657
DC 4726
DC 4755
DC 4761
DC 4784
DFT 7064
DFT 7092
DFT 7117
DFT 7254 (now DFB 7348)
DFT 7322 (now a DFB)
DFT 7335 (now a DFB)
DQ 15215 (later DQ 6007 and TasRail DQ 2001)
DQ 6324
DQ 6376
DQ 6382
DSC 2340
DSC 2366
DSC 2406
DSC 2502
DSC 2530
DSC 2665
DSG 3018
DSG 3059
DSG 3087
DSG 3155
DSG 3249
DSG 3264
DSG 3304
DSJ 4004
DSJ 4017
DX 5016
DX 5022
DX 5080
DX 5097
DX 5137
DX 5310
DX 5333 (last locomotive to receive TR blue)
DX 5454
DX 5460
DXR 8007
EF 30192
QR 2027
QR 2056
QR 2062
QR 2079
QR 2102
QR 3032 (now TasRail DQ 2004)
TR 730
TR 822
TR 868

Some of these engines were repainted in KiwiRail colours, while others were not so lucky. DC's 4231, 4283 and 4507 were among the latter group. DX 5483 was the last member of her class to retain the livery, not being overhauled and repainted into KiwiRail colours until 2010.

EF 30192 is an electric locomotive, and she was the only member of her 22-strong class to receive Tranz Rail blue.

Fast forward to February 2020, and there are at least two operational locomotives in KiwiRail's fleet that are still in Tranz Rail blue colours:

DC 4755
DSC 2406

TR 730 was saved for preservation by the Western Springs Railway in April 2010, while still in TR blue. Previously she had been used by KiwiRail as a shunter at Westfield yard. She was still in Tranz Rail blue when I visited the WSR in November 2019.