Dj3096 is the latest diesel locomotive to join the Taieri Gorge Railway fleet, and brings to seven the number of Dj locomotives owned by the company.
Operations manager Grant Craig said the locomotive would be capable of producing 670kW, and weighed in at 63 tonnes.
He declined to say how much the company had paid for the locomotive, but said it was more than $100,000.
The locomotive was constructed in 1967 by Mitsubishi in Japan, although it was powered by a Caterpillar motor, made in the United States. The locomotive entered service with New Zealand Railways in February, 1968, numbered Dj1209.
The locomotive wore a number of different colours, including the New Zealand Railways red, and the Southerner blue.
In 1979, the locomotive was renumbered Dj3096, as New Zealand Railways introduced a new computer system.
Dj3096 was the last Dj locomotive to haul a Southerner train between Christchurch and Invercargill in 1991 and also the last Dj to haul freight in the South Island, in February 1992.
After the withdrawal of Djs later in 1992, the locomotive remained in the NZ Rail heritage fleet. When that fleet was disbanded in 1995, Dj3096 was under threat of being scrapped.
It found a new home in Whangarei, shifting dairy freight on the Dargaville line, before the Taieri Gorge Railway bought the locomotive.
Mr Craig said the company's engineers would check out all the mechanicals before the locomotive went into service. No decision had been made on when that would be.
