Climbing the Waiouru bank.

[@davorlekenik9563]

Woooow
Stunning
Awesome
Snow on southern hemisfere

[@johnjkiwi7818]

What a scenic and picturesque video!.
Did the lead DL locomotive have it's airhorn swapped?. I can never get use to the
extremely irritating and annoying high pitched shriek of the DL's locomotive airhorn.

[@kiwirail_driver6397]

No. It probably just filled with snow so sounded different. They are a horrible sounding horn.

[@genesiscarlos437]

Muito bom este vídeo filmado em meio a imensidão gelada da nova Zelândia

[@kiwirail_driver6397]

obrigado por assistir. foi um bom dia na ferrovia.

[@bnrailfannz8262]

This video answers my question about how the DL's like the snow. Very impressive speed up the Bank. Any wheelslip? The video....WoW!!👍👍👍

[@kiwirail_driver6397]

Not really any wheelslip at all. Snow is never a problem. Light rain is the DL’s Achilles heel. However we have figured out ways to manage it.

[@bnrailfannz8262]

Good 'ol Kiwi { LE} ingenuity

[@johnrauner2515]

Helping us reduce our carbon footprint by running diesels under wire instead of say, electric locos in a country where over 80% of our power is hydro.
If anything needs to be said about the confused priorities of our recent governments (both Labour and National to blame equally), this video is it.
If Labour are genuine about reducing our greenhouse emissions then this situation will be addressed fairly urgently, as it's absurdly simple to just buy a fleet of new traction since everything else is already here.
Oh and maybe also extend the wire to the southern end of Auckland so the electrics can run non-stop to Palmy and back.

[@kiwirail_driver6397]

I agree that funding in rail would help our carbon footprint, Kiwirail removes a lot of trucks from the roads per year with the freight it shifts.
Some of our locomotives are getting very old and we have some new diesels being built in Spain right now to replace them. However electric locos are only able to travel between Hamilton and Palmerston North. A diesel locomotive can go everywhere. So since we are a freight company that is in competition with all the other freight companies it makes sense to put our money where it’s best spent.
Having the wire put in from Auckland to Wellington would be fantastic but it would cost a fortune! The Wellington and Auckland metro areas use a different type of power than the Hamilton to Palmerston North (ac/dc) so it’s not as easy or as cheap as put up some wire unfortunately.
I know other countries are converting as much as possible to electric power and hopefully one day NZ will follow suit. This will only happen if the government pay for it to happen as they own the track. But this is not a political page. It’s just a page for people who like trains. And that’s the way I’d like to keep it.

[@someonesomewhere1240]

@@kiwirail_driver6397 Electro-diesel locomotives that can operate on both electric supply and diesel are readily available and have been for a couple of decades. Unfortunately most are somewhat lower power in diesel mode than electric as the expectation is that the diesel is mostly for last-mile operation and shunting.
Auckland uses the same 25kV AC as the NIMT, and with the new Drury substation being constructed the gap could probably be bridged without further new grid substations. Due to fault current levels I've heard that the EFs couldn't operate under Auckland's wires without at least new breakers, but any new rolling stock should be fine under both.
Wellington is somewhat harder - as you say, it's DC. There's also very little spare capacity in the overhead so putting 3MW+ freight trains under the wires would probably require a lot of new substations and feeder wire, especially in the steeper areas around Pukerua Bay and perhaps the Tawa tunnels. Dual-voltage and even dual-voltage plus diesel locomotives are available, but again the design assumption is mostly that full power is achieved under 25kV (or 15kV in parts of Europe), and everything else is an often 50% derate.
I could see an argument for bringing 25kV south to about Plimmerton (with a new 220:25/50kV sub at Paraparaumu), with new 25kV/1500V passenger rolling stock to cover the longer distance services. It would be very dependant on clearances in the north-south junction tunnels.
Buying new locomotives with already obsolete traction equipment (DC traction in 2009 onwards) really shows that there was either no money or no understanding that things had changed since the 80s, or both.

[@johnrauner2515]

The DC traction in 2009 was because the then National government didn't want to spend any money so did it as cheaply as possible.
As I understand it, when the Welly wire was all replaced several years ago, it was with the intention it one day be converted to 25 kv AC. So all the hardware installed is rated for 25 kv including the feeders from the substations to the track and necessary tunnel and bridge clearances.
All they have to do is swap out the substation equipment and it's done. Even the new Welly subby EMU's have modular power supplies in them in preparation for the change over. All they need to do is swap out the power supply box in them with the power supply for the 25 kv version. So with a handful of eager beavers the whole fleet could be converted in a matter of days.
Also I'm not sure about the EF situation under Auckland wire. I was under the impression the Auckland system was built to be compatible with the NIMT one with the eventual aim of bridging the gap.
And I have personally seen more than one EF parked at Westfield over the recent years. Yes they might be bringing them up for the wheel lathe but if that were so then they would have been regular visitors to Westfield for decades, which they haven't. My guess is they have done a few test runs.@@someonesomewhere1240

[@johnrauner2515]

@@kiwirail_driver6397 Yes I totally understand you not wanting this to become a political shit fight. Fair enough. But I couldn't resist making what seemed a fairly obvious comment begging to be made.

[@someonesomewhere1240]

@@johnrauner2515
I don't believe the Wellington region was upgraded for 25kV. The insulators are significantly shorter/stubbier than in Auckland or on the NIMT - in particular, the insulators built into the lower arm of the cantilevers. It's only two polymer disks in Welington, vs a serious stack of ceramic shown at the start of this clip.
Never heard anything about the Matangis being 25kV upgradeable. It's likely such an upgrade would need to result in a dual-voltage unit as the upgrade and rolling stock would inevitably be done in sections. Therefore you probably need a new main breaker(s), replacement (possibly second) pan, HV transformer, and AC active front end. Basically nothing would be removed, so space would be tight on an already rather constrained vehicle. The most effective way of carrying out such a project would probably be inserting a third middle car into each set with the HVAC pan and equipment and an extra set of drive motors/inverters.
Clearances are a major, major issue in Wellington; I believe many parts of the line, especially near JVille, run on bare-minimum clearance.
It's possible new breakers have been fitted or overhaul/upgrades as part of the refurb. It's the kind of equipment that was probably reaching EoL anyway.
It's not so much that the trains won't run on Auckland 25kV, it's that if a fault occurs on the train, the potential fault current is large enough that the breaker might self-destruct instead of actually break the arc. Auckland has about twice the load of the entire NIMT (going roughly by loco nameplate sums), and that's on one sub (two for redundancy) not four subs (eight for redundancy). That results in much stiffer substations.