Revitalisation of Hutt Workshops in 1998

 

Hutt Workshops

Hutt  Workshops back on trap from 27/01/1998 Evening Post

This article from the 27th of January 1998 in the Evening Post reports on how the Hutt Railway Workshops had been revitalised by the then privately owned Tranz Rail, with a 50% increase in staff compared to the early 1990s, with shortages of tradespeople.  The work being undertaken was overhauling what were to become the DQ and QR class diesel locomotives, bought secondhand from Queensland Rail, they required altering for one person crew.  These would operate in NZ until 2013 (the DQ class proved to be rather unreliable).  Also were changes to 85 diesel shunters to improve drive safety. The Hutt Workshop at its peak employed 2500 people, and at the time of this article had 280 workers.  It was also noted the workshops also maintained existing rolling stock, but only the Hutt and Hillside workshops remained as major workshops.