Great overlook, colorful train. I find it interesting where similar city names turn up in former colonies like Palmerston. A well known town in Canada also named after the British PM, many great images at the end of steam with great coverage in several quality B/W books.
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I read somewhere that the electrification might be on borrowed time. I hope that is not true.
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Thanks Rob. There is, of course, another Palmerston in NZ - in South Island which was once probably the larger town. Palmerston North is around 80,000 population and growing rapidly as a hub with around 250 KiwiRail employees (which I expect is the largest for operational staff.)
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Very nice shot - I guess those Bo-Bo-Bos locos were designed to deal with that tight curvature.
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The EF locomotives perform well on the tight curves and steep grades. 4,000 HP of grunt each and it can be difficult keeping up with trains on a chase. A change of Government saved the electrification for now. There are only about 8 of the class operational and there have been reliability issues but given their age now they have served well. There is a program of overhaul at Hutt workshops to extend the life of the locomotives.
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