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Tranz Rail GP9RM

(Requested by Trainspotting Tauranga).

(The number carried by this re-skin is that of a real GP9RM locomotive. Check lower down the description for some information on this engine).

(If you have a livery request for me, you may leave it in the comments. However, I will only accept your request if B) I like your idea and a) you word it as a question, preferably without the word 'please' as I find it a bit cringe-worthy. Also, you have to use punctuation, unlike some idiots I've seen who don't use punctuation and still think they can get a request done. You know who you are).

(If you don't get those rules right first time, your request will be denied).

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. However, the ex-Queensland Rail “QR” class locomotives did not receive standard Tranz Rail blue. Their cabs were painted blue instead of grey. This slight variation is what my GP9RM re-skin is modelled on, as that’s what Trainspotting Tauranga wanted. Or at least, I think that’s the case.

The QR’s were ex-Queensland Rail diesel locomotives imported to New Zealand in the late 1990’s. Most were later re-built as the DQ class (lowered nose and other upgrades), while those that were reclassified as QR had little modification besides a repaint in Tranz Rail colours.

Several locomotive classes received Tranz Rail blue, 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.

A size-able 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 4058
DC 4093
DC 4110
DC 4162
DC 4191
DC 4202
DC 4219
DC 4231
DC 4283
DC 4283
DC 4352
DC 4507
DC 4513
DC 4542
DC 4588
DC 4628
DC 4640
DC 4657
DC 4726
DC 4755
DC 4761
DC 4784
DFT 7064
DFT 7077 (now a DFB)
DFT 7092
DFT 7117
DFT 7199 (now a DFB)
DFT 7239 (now a DFB)
DFT 7254 (now DFB 7348)
DFT 7322 (now a DFB)
DFT 7335 (now a DFB)
DH 2816
DH 2845
DQ 15215 (later DQ 6007 and TasRail DQ 2001)
DQ 6324
DQ 6376
DQ 6382
DSC 2203
DSC 2338
DSC 2340
DSC 2366
DSC 2406
DSC 2502
DSC 2530
DSC 2665
DSG 3005
DSG 3018
DSG 3033
DSG 3046
DSG 3059
DSG 3061
DSG 3087
DSG 3127
DSG 3155
DSG 3249
DSG 3264
DSG 3304
DSJ 4004
DSJ 4017
DX 5016
DX 5022
DX 5068
DX 5080
DX 5097
DX 5137
DX 5189
DX 5241
DX 5293
DX 5304
DX 5310
DX 5327
DX 5333 (last locomotive to receive TR blue)
DX 5356
DX 5431
DX 5448
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
TR 943

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

Tranz Rail ceased to be in 2003, when Wisconsin Central - TR’s parent company - sold the NZ rail network to Toll Holdings who rebranded it as Toll Rail. This venture didn’t even last six years, as the government re-nationalised the railways in July 2008, and re-named it as KiwiRail.

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

DC 4755
DSC 2406
TR 868

DC 4755 is still running throughout the South Island, while DSC 2406 is the shunter in Timaru and TR 868 is used to shove wagons back-and-forth at Fonterra’s plant in Te Awamutu.

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.

DSC 2338 - another Tranz Rail engine - has also survived into preservation. She is owned by DBM Contracting, and is now housed at Waihi on the Goldfields Railway.

As for the QR locomotives themselves, well QR’s 2027 and 2079 were sold to National Railway Equipment Co. in Illinois, where they are still stored today. Meanwhile all but four of the DQ’s (as well as QR’s 2056, 2062 and 2102) were sent to Tasmania between 1998 and 1999. TasRail still has eight DQ’s in operation as well as a DQ that was converted into a driving trailer. The QR trio were gradually retired between 2008 and 2012, with all of them being scrapped.

GP9RM No. 4019 - the subject of this re-skin - was built for Canadian National by General Motors in 1957, originally with a high-nose (as was the case with all GP9’s from new) and numbered as 4561. In 1982 CN rebuilt with a low-nose, gave her a new number and redesignated her as a GP9RM.

As recently as 2003 the engine was still in service down in the US, more specifically in Louisiana and Tennessee. She was retired sometime between 2003 and 2011, and has since been donated to the British Columbia Institute of Technology for their Railway Conductor Programme.