NZR EA Class - Reuse in Wellington

Reuse in Wellington

In 2007 the three Picton locomotives were transferred north to the Hutt Workshops where they were for 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 SE carriages owned by the Greater Wellington Regional Council and refurbished at Hillside Workshops, while the third locomotive was kept as a spare. The first such train ran on 8 December 2008. In October 2008 the two remaining EO's at Ferrymead, EO's 39 and 68, were also moved north to Hutt Workshops, where they were used for donor parts and remained unrestored.

The EO/SE train was typically stabled in Upper Hutt overnight, running an early morning service into Wellington before running to Plimmerton and back on the Paraparaumu Line (now the Kapiti Line). It stabled in Wellington until the afternoon peak, when it ran to Upper Hutt - a projected afternoon service to Plimmerton never eventuated. In early 2011 the Plimmerton run was discontinued, and towards the latter half of the year the trip from Upper Hutt typically did not run, with the train returning to Wellington after the evening trip and overnighting there.

From September 2011 the train saw very little use in service, typically going out on a test run once a fortnight and if that was successful running the evening train. The last time the train carried passengers all the way to Upper Hutt was on 10 October 2011, and mechanical issues sidelined the train again. On 25 October, after a test run, the train carried passengers from Wellington Station as far as opposite Thorndon locomotive sheds, where it failed. It managed to get back to Wellington under its own power to drop the passengers off, and the service was cancelled. Another test run was made on 3 November, but was unsuccessful. During this time EO45 had been parked up at Hutt Workshops, leaving the set without a spare loco, but it returned to Wellington on 10 November and for a time all three refurbished EOs were coupled together in Wellington's north yard.

On 28 November 2011 the three EOs and the SE set were hauled to Hutt Workshops, withdrawn because of the EO maintenance issues. The SE carriages were intended to be modified for use on Wairarapa trains, but the fate of the EOs was unclear. One suggested use for the refurbished units was a return to banking duties replacing the two DBR locomotives primarily used for this on the North Island Main Trunk south of Paekakariki. However the electrification to the freight yard had been removed following the withdrawal of the EW locomotives in the late 80's and the EO's general lack of reliability seemed to preclude their use.

It is believed that the unreliability issue stems from the use of the EO's as passenger locomotives, as they are in effect lower-geared freight locomotives. During their time in passenger service, the locomotives were required to run at speeds of up to 90 km/h, a speed which they would never have reached in service while at Otira. Another likely factor in their latter unreliability on the Wellington system was the upping of the DC voltage in the overhead system from 1500V to 1600V for the Matangi units, which similarly affected the English Electric DM/D units reliability.

It was noted by some Wellington locomotive drivers that the EO class were good locomotives to drive in an article for New Zealand Railfan magazine in September 2011.