noted as being held on the workshops scrap road, after useful parts (many of them common to the later Toshiba-built DSJ class shunting locomotives) were stripped from them. The decision was taken to have one locomotive put aside for preservation; as a result, EO 45 was selected for preservation and was offered to the Canterbury Railway Society for the storage of EO 45 and the other four locomotives. The CRS declined the offer, but it was then donated to the National Railway Museum of New Zealand and is currently stored on their connection to the Ferrymead Railway for storage until the museum is completed. The other four locos were scrapped in May 2013. Accidents The EO class has only ever been involved in one accident. On 21 May 1980, EOs 45, 51, and 74 were hauling a coal train from Otira to Arthur's Pass at around 4:00pm after the decision was made to suspend operations due to heavy rain earlier that day. As the train approached the Goat Creek bridge, it derailed into the swollen Otira River which had washed away 50 metres of track. Locomotive driver Owen Fitzgerald was trapped in the cab of leading locomotive EO 45 and subsequently drowned. His assistant was able to escape through one of the front windows which had broken in the derailment. The three EO class locomotives were badly damaged, while the Midland line was closed until the locomotives could be recovered and the trackbed rebuilt. As a result, 1,800hp electric locomotive EW 159 was sent down from Wellington to replace the three EOs while they were rebuilt at Addington Workshops. This required two locomotive drivers to run the EW in conjunction with the two remaining EOs (EO 39 and EO 68) as the EW did not have multiple unit equipment. This combination produced a total of 3,000hp in comparison to the 1,800hp produced by three EOs. Footnotes References Citations Bibliography Bo-Bo locomotives 1500 V DC locomotives Electric locomotives of New Zealand 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of New Zealand Toshiba locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1968