Originally an order for Philippine National Railways2500 Class,[2] the six locomotives were purchased as by coincidence NZR needed a heavy shunter for Auckland container port transfer work. At the time two DSC class shunters were linked in tandem to perform this task. The DH class are a light locomotive that is geared to run at 100 km/h (62 mph).
They saw occasional service on the then under-used Auckland suburban passenger network where they performed well, but NZR focused them on their intended purpose, heavy shunting. In the late 1980s, NZR provided a DH locomotive to the Tasman Pulp and Paper mill in Kawerau to trial for sale as a heavy shunter in the mill's rail yards.[4] The mill turned down the offer, instead, they purchased a DA class locomotive to perform shunting duties. In July 1979 DH 905 was trialled at the Te Rapa marshalling yards in Hamilton, but the trial was unsuccessful and the locomotive returned to Auckland later that year.[2] All DH locomotives were allocated to Westfield (Auckland) in 1990.[5]
Classification
The class should not be confused with the English ElectricDH class of 1956; as all of the old DHs had been reclassified as DG in 1968, the classification was re-used.
Upgrades
DH2816, DH2839 at Westfield in Auckland.
The locomotives were upgraded in the late 1990s with shunters refuges at the front and back of the locomotives, in line with other New Zealand shunting locomotives at the time.[1] In the 2010s the class were upgraded again for multiple unit (MU) operation.[6]
^Following the introduction of TMS in 1979, the class classification was capitalised, whereas previously the second letter was a smaller capital letter, that is DH
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