DC 4640 and DFT 7295 depart from Lyttelton Port after unloading its coal for export. The train will now return to the main yard in Middleton, Christchurch. There, the locomotives will be replaced and the train will make its way back over the Southern Alps to the West Coast for another load of coal.
Trains on 3' 6" (1.067m) track from Whangarei to Bluff with virtually heritage rebuilt EMD and GE locomotives still the mainstay power. The network was privatized in 1990's and operated by Toll until 2008 when state owned KiwiRail was established.
