What we do
It all started when…
The Diesel Traction Group was formed in 1983 by a group of like minded rail enthusiasts. Unlike the rail preservation groups of the time who were concentrating on obtaining and preserving steam locomotives prior to their disposal, the members of the Diesel Traction Group decided to concentrate their efforts on obtaining Diesel Electric locomotives. As a South Island based group, we identified that nearly all of the “mainline” locomotives in the South Island were manufactured by the English Electric Company in the UK. The ethos of the group was to try to obtain 1 example of each of the classes of English Electric manufactured Diesel locomotives in the country (comprising 4 different classes).
Dg 772 was purchased off the then NZ Government Railways as the first locomotive owned by the group in 1983. Two of the De class were purchased 4 years later in 1987. Di 1102 was purchased in 1990 and Df 1501 was gifted to the group in 2019 as the final example of the NZ English Electric family.
The governance, maintenance restoration and operation of the locomotives was passed onto an Incorporated Society in 1990. Since then the locomotives have been restored and operated by a very small group of volunteers. The Diesel Traction Group Incorporated has only a very select membership of around 50 people and a smaller number of “active” volunteers on the ground. Not only do these active volunteers carry out most of the restoration and maintenance work, they also help raise funds to allow the restoration projects to continue.
