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They were not favoured by their crews due to complaints of rough riding and excessive cab noise. They were also considered unreliable by senior management, and are now mainly used for short-haul runs, such as on the final leg of coal trains from the West Coast between Christchurch and the port of Lyttelton. They are also used as bankers to help trains up the steep grade out of Picton. In 1998 Tranz Rail began to export locomotives to Tasmania for use on TasRail, then part-owned by Tranz Rail. In total, 12 DQ were exported, along with three unrebuilt QR class. , only three DQ remained in service (all in the South Island); the remaining QR have been sold after lengthy periods of storage at the Hutt Workshops. DQ 6347 was toppled on its side after derailing at Picton and very little work has been done on it since. |