Electric freight train service to end in New Zealand

Quite perceptive of you , Philip, Many have questioned the same thing in New Zealand railfan circles. There will be a "SMALL" number of direct job losses, electric catenary control etc , some specialist maintenance fitters for the EF fleet. but I think what the union wanted was for the EF locomotives to be rebuilt in the Hutt workshops, NZ's last big railway workshop. It seems these workshops may be under threat , because new diesels won't need as much service as old ones, and the EF rebuild would have delayed that.
Other than that , perhaps the union saw the publicity the transport minister was getting from his purchase of 2 new leectric cars, and decided to jump on the bandwagon. It is also a slow news time in NZ , most people are on holiday , and they will cover any story fed to them .

Thank you, David, for the information, and previously for the Wiki article on the DJ locomotives. The article you linked to has links to other articles. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politic ... trunk-line" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In it we read that Labour's transport spokeswoman Sue Moroney says among other things that "...KiwiRail will still have to keep an electric current going through the overhead lines for security at a cost of $3m per annum." Apparently folks will steal the wires if they are not live.
It also says that "Unions would be consulted before the phase-in began, as a "small number" of jobs would be affected."

Here are videod of DJs working. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M-m895an3mw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iz4UkeiIcEI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Three trucked locos-class EW electrics were articulated.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zea ... locomotive" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They were quite a successful locomotive. The bogie shared between 2 bodies idea was also used in the "fiat railcars", ordered about 5 years later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NZR_RM_class_(88_seater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

In North America some TTX flatcars share a bogie between two cars. I was watching freight movements near Harrisburg, PA, a few months ago and noticed it on several pairs of cars. TTX cars carry highway trailers and containers. If I remember correctly, some BMT subway cars in New York City had a bogie between pairs of cars too.

Sharing of bogies between cars is actually very common. It was found on Gresley rolling stock in the UK at least as far back as the 1930s. I've seen it on old South African carriages. Eurostar train sets have shared bogies. Many modern flat wagons for carrying containers have shared bogies, as Philip mentions, in USA, Europe and Africa. Some are made up into permanent sets of five or six wagons with shared bogies between all the wagons and single bogies only at each end of the consist.

I think shared bogies on locomotives is much less common.

FS in Italy is the only other major user I can think of. A couple of the prototype SBB RE6/6 had hinges but it was not carried over into production.
They're still considered one Bo+Bo+Bo locomotive.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics ... wires.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
KiwiRail to spend $2m per year on unused wires

It appears the decision to ditch the Electrics is flawed.
Seems Kiwirail have mafe a decision based on what they wanted to do , rather than what the studies showed was the best plan .
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=103115" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The rise in the CO2 content of the atmosphere is causing increased storm damage - as seen in the Caribbean recently and elsewhere. Electric transport is therefore necessary.

george matthews wrote:The rise in the CO2 content of the atmosphere is causing increased storm damage - as seen in the Caribbean recently and elsewhere. Electric transport is therefore necessary.

Are you going to troll the entire forum with this complete non-sense? You have no evidence and are citing laughable anecdotal BS.

Well, we have a new , Labour led coalition government.
All 3 partners are pro rail, it is to early to tell what the direct benefits will be.
However , I think it is safe to say the Mothballing of Electric locos will be halted, they will either be overhauled or replaced with new Electric locos.
There is some debate as to wether the government can actually order Kiwirail to do this, but I think it will be done via an "understanding" that extra funding is specifically for Electrics.

David Benton wrote:Well, we have a new , Labour led coalition government.
All 3 partners are pro rail, it is to early to tell what the direct benefits will be.
However , I think it is safe to say the Mothballing of Electric locos will be halted, they will either be overhauled or replaced with new Electric locos.
There is some debate as to wether the government can actually order Kiwirail to do this, but I think it will be done via an "understanding" that extra funding is specifically for Electrics.

Cautiously, I think that may be a positive development. I don't see why electrics are thought to be more expensive.