Description
This Fridge Magnet depicts Toshiba Electric Loco Eo Class, from a painting by well-known artist Paul Johnson of Christchurch New Zealand.
The New Zealand EO class of electric locomotives were used on the New Zealand rail network between 1968 and 1997 on the Otira – Arthur’s Pass section of the Midland line in the South Island, through the Otira Tunnel. Following reconditioning, three were used by KiwiRail’s Tranz Metro in Wellington from 2008 to 2011 to top and tail Metlink suburban passenger trains as an interim measure before new rolling stock arrived. Four of the five locomotives were scrapped in 2013 with one being set aside for preservation.
The class replaced the EO class of 1923, by then largely worn out, on Otira Tunnel duties in 1968. Like their predecessors, the EA class operated as a group of three, with two on standby at Otira. They were more powerful at 1,290 hp than the original EO class at 680 hp, and so could handle heavier trains. This was to prove useful when West Coast coal exports began in the late 1970s using trains of dedicated LC high side coal wagons. They were mostly used to haul freight trains, although they did occasionally haul passenger trains either on their own or in multiple with the diesel locomotive pulling the train.
Originally the locomotives were classified as the EA class until the early 1980s when they were reclassified into the EO class.
The Otira – Arthur’s Pass electrification was decommissioned in 1997. As a result, the EO class was withdrawn and placed into storage. However in 2007 three locomotives were transferred north to the Hutt Workshops where they were refurbished for use by Tranz Metro on Wellington Metlink suburban trains as a short-term solution to increase capacity before the arrival of the Matangi EMUs. Two locomotives top and tailed six carriages.
On 28 November 2011 the three EOs were withdrawn because of EO maintenance issues. In 2013 four of the locomotives were scrapped, and the fifth, Eo45, was donated to the National Railway Museum at Ferrymead, Christchurch.
