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Tranz Rail Black DX 5166

(This re-skin is based on the real DX 5166 as she looked in the 2000’s. Back then she was in Tranz Rail black without any TR lettering).

DX 5166 - now DXB 5166 - was built by General Electric in 1972, entering service in February of that year. She was originally numbered as DX 2614; the entire DX class was numbered in the 26xx series from new. They all started life with the distinctive Clockwork Orange livery, which was gradually replaced by International Orange from the late 1970’s onwards.

In the case of 2614, she was repainted in 1976 and renumbered to DX 5166. This was part of NZR introducing the Traffic Monitoring System. As with the rest of her class, 5166 initially had two small windows on the front of the cab, which was replaced with one large window at some point in the 1980’s. This modification was made to all DX’s and DF(T)’s, with the intention of improving visibility for the driver.

5166 remained in the International Orange livery until 1997, when she was repainted in the then-new Tranz Rail blue livery. By 1997 New Zealand’s rail network was in private ownership, a situation in which it would remain until July 1st, 2008.

Back in 2001, DX 5166 was repainted again, this time in Tranz Rail black. She remained in this livery until 2010, but never received the ‘TR’ lettering often seen on Tranz Rail black engines (such as DC 4398 and DFT 7008). 5166 was one of only four engines to lack the TR letters.

The story goes that when Tranz Rail introduced their black livery, the lettering on the long hood was going to be TRL, but before the first engine was painted, Tranz Rail management found out that TRL was registered with another company. So while this was being sorted out, some locomotives were outshopped with no lettering.

As stated previously, DX 5166 remained in Tranz Rail black until 2010. In March of that year she was taken to Hutt Workshops for an overhaul and repaint. The engine was repainted in KiwiRail colours, reclassified as DXB and fitted with a new cab design and General Electric’s Brightstar adhesion control system.

After her overhaul DXB 5166 re-entered service on North Island freight trains. She remained up north until around 2017 or 2018, when she was transferred to the South Island (because of the arrival of the now 63-strong DL class). 5166 is still in service today, and I ended up seeing her when I was down south in November 2018. On this occasion she was in a DX triple header heading south from Christchurch to Timaru. The engines hauling this train were DXB 5143, 5166 and DXC 5419.