Introduction
The Da class have their origins in the post-World War II environment. Like most nations New Zealand’s dominant form of traction was steam, with electrification being used in Wellington. The General Manager of the Railways Department, Frederick Aicken, was an advocate for electrifying the entire North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) to alleviate the shortage of coal and the cost of importing diesel fuel; though he also recognised that steam and diesel traction would be required on other lines.
Aicken went as far as negotiating a tentative contract for construction, but fell out with the Government in 1951 and retired. His successor, H.C. Lusty, terminated the contract and entered into an agreement with General Motors for the supply of 40 EMD G12 model locomotives, designated by the Railways Department as the Da class.
The first 30 of these (Da 1400-1429) were built at GM’s La Grange, Illinois USA, plant and entered service in between September 1955 and January 1956, following the Df class locomotives that were introduced in 1954. The final 10 of the first order (Da 1430-1439) were built at Clyde Engineering in Australia and entered service during 1957.
Three further batches were ordered, all supplied by General Motors Canada from their Montreal plant. The first 12 units (Da 1440-1451) were dubbed as ‘Phase II’ and entered service in 1961, with the 94 “Phase III” units entering service from 1962-64 (40) and 1966-67 (54), taking the total number to 146.
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