On the Tuesday the 2nd of April 2024 KiwiRail EFs 30163 and 30232 hauled Train 234 from Palmerston North to Hamilton thus completing a Refurbished EFs first full trip on trunk, while there was a few problems with 30163 on the way up, it made it to Hamilton with the trip being fairly smooth. The next day the locos headed south on Train 225 where they were going to cross train 234 that was being pulled by EFs 30226 and 30192, unfortunately this did not happen as 30226 ran into problems through Taihape and 30192 couldn't pull the train by itself as it was too heavy. They made it as far as Turangarere before needing assistance from the DL lifeboats. The EFs were taken off and tied down at the Hihitahi loop to wait for Train 255 to take them home, meanwhile the DLs brought the train up to Waiouru where it crossed 225 and the crews changed over.
Naturally we were there to see and film it all on both days, The footage from the Hihitahi isn't included in this video as there wasn't too much to see, may include it in a separate later video.
While the first few days of running EFs on the trunk were a bit rough things are running a lot smoothly now and the EFs will be a common sight on the trunk again especially with 30042 being signed of for service recently.
Looking forward to filming more EF Hauled Trains.
We also have Steam Incorporated's Spiral Spectacular a train trip from Paekakariki to Raurimu and return with an EF locomotive hauling the train from Palmerston North to Raurimu and back.
More details here:
www.steaminc.org.nz/book-trai...
Special Thanks to the KiwiRail Crews for a great few days of trunk chases!
Enjoy!