The big red English Electric diesel locomotive - simply known as DI 1102 - has been hired by Dunedin Railways for the summer cruise ship season, to be used as "standby cover" if any of the tour company's own locomotives break down.
Dunedin Railways operations manager Grant Craig said when needed, it would ferry cruise ship passengers between Port Chalmers and Dunedin, and would occasionally be used on trips through the Taieri Gorge.
"Because the market is so critical, it's good to have a safety buffer for our services."
He hoped it would be used on a Taieri Gorge railway trip to Middlemarch on October 27 and again on November 3 for the Middlemarch Gala Day."It's bringing a lot of interest to Dunedin already.
"It's the only locomotive of its type left in New Zealand."
Mr Craig said the loco was built in 1966 and spent its early days running between Picton and Christchurch.
It was later used to haul aggregate from Makareao, near Palmerston, to the Burnside Cement Works in Dunedin.
In the mid-1980s, it was sent to the North Island for shunting duties, before being removed from service in 1989.
The locomotive was bought by the Diesel Traction Group (DTG) in 1991 and has since been restored.
It was hired from the DTG when the lease on the popular Silver Fern railcar expired earlier this year.
