Re: EE Locos

[Bruce Bellingham <bruce.bellingham@clear.net.nz>]

Aus loco discussion mailing list

Just an addon to Steve Palmano's note re the interconnection of New 
Zealand Railways GM and EE units. There was only one loco which could 
achieve this, GM Db 1016 (GM Model G8). This was the last loco built of 
the 17 strong Dub fleet, and was a trial fit to show that the GM and EE 
units were capable of MU operation. At the time this was done NZR were 
preparing to call tenders for the second stage of dieselisation of the 
South Island, and all of the diesel electrics there were the EE Dg/Dh 
class. 
Dub 1016 was fitted with a fourth air hose (independent release) to mate 
the 26L brake on the Dub with the A7EL fitted to the Df/Dg, and had both 
GM and EE pattern jumper plugs at each end. I remember trials being 
carried out with 1016 and the EE locos, but this usually involved 1016 
and a Df, although Di trials also happened. The Di's were fitted with 26L 
brake, so only used three brake hoses. 
I have spoken to a retired NZR driver who had a lot to do with the locos 
in service in the Bay of Plenty where 1016 spent most of its time. 
According to him, the system worked pretty well. 1016 could be used as 
either lead or trailing loco, and was on occasions used as the middle 
loco in a 2 GM + EE or 2 EE + GM lineup. In general, though, the lashup 
worked best if an EE loco was the control unit. When a GM was the lead 
care had to be taken to pause in Notch 1 to allow the EE trail to pick up 
power - too quick and the trail stayed in idle. There were also problems 
in Notch 5 (GM) when the Dub picked up field diversion at the same time 
as the EE increased engine speed in Notch 7. The controls worked so that 
from EE in control there were two notches where the Dub did nothing, 
while from the Dub, in two places one notch on the controller gave two 
notches on the trailing EE. This mated the 8 notch GM and 10 notch EE 
controllers together. The Dub also had three additional warning lights 
fitted to a box on the top of the control stand, these were for fire, 
blower, and wheelslip on a trailing EE unit.
Despite this apparent success, the South Island order went to Mitsubishi 
for the Cat powered Dj class. These were not a great success, and only 
just outlasted the 25 year older Dg fleet.

Hope this is of interest

Cheers, Bruce


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