British Rail Class 66

The Class 66 locomotive is a development of the Class 59 and used both on British and European railway networks—where it is marketed as EMD Series 66.

History

United Kingdom

On the privatisation of British Rail's freight operations in 1996, English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS), then a subsidiary of Wisconsin Central and since acquired by Canadian National, bought most of British Rail's freight operations. Many of the locomotives that EWS inherited were either at the end of their useful life or of doubtful reliability. EWS approached General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD), who offered their JT42CWR model developed from the Class 59. Initially classified as Class 61, this was subsequently given the "Class 66" designation in the British classification system. Two hundred and fifty were ordered and built in London, Ontario, Canada.

The Class 66 incorporated many ideas from North America and differed a lot from the Class 60, which had been recently built but to a more traditional layout.

In 1998, Freightliner placed an order for locomotives. They were followed by FirstGBRf, and then Direct Rail Services.

Although unpopular with many rail enthusiasts, due to their ubiquity and having caused the displacement of several older types of (mostly) British built locomotives, their high reliability has helped rail freight to remain competitive.

Continental Europe

The Class 66 design has also been taken to mainland Europe where it is currently certified for operations in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, and Poland, with certification pending in the Czech Republic and Italy. They currently operate on routes between Sweden and Denmark and between Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Poland. As a result of its well-known British identity, EMD Europe markets the locomotive as "Series 66".

Current operations

English, Welsh and Scottish Railway

English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS) was the first to order Class 66 locomotives, with the first of the two hundred and fifty locomotives shipped to Britain in mid-1998. The final locomotive entered traffic just two years later, in mid-2000.

Freightliner

Freightliner 66589 on the Great Western main line

Freightliner followed EWS by initially ordering five new Class 66/5 locomotives, and have continued to order in small batches. As of summer 2007, the 66/5 fleet had reached 92 examples, numbered 66501-520/522-593, with 66521 having been withdrawn, and later scrapped after the 2001 crash at Great Heck.

In 2000, a new Class 66/6 sub-class was built, with a lower gear ratio, enabling heavier trains to be hauled, albeit at slower speed. There are presently twenty-five examples of this class, numbered 66601-625, with more on order.

During 2004 the company also took receipt of the most recent Class 66/9 sub-class of the locomotive, which are a low emission variant. There are just two such locomotives at present, numbered 66951 and 66952.

FirstGBRF

FirstGBRf is the newest UK freight operator, now wholly owned by FirstGroup. They opted for new Class 66/7 locomotives, rather than buying second-hand from EWS or Freightliner, ordering seventeen examples. Currently, GBRf operate a fleet of twenty-seven locomotives, painted in their distinctive blue and orange livery. The locomotives are employed on infrastructure contracts with Network Rail and London Underground. GBRf also haul intermodal container trains from Felixstowe to the West Midlands and carry coal between Tyne Yard in the North-East and Drax Power Station.

During April 2006, five additional locomotives (numbered 66717-722) were delivered. These are of the low emission kind; similar to the 66/9s in service with Freightliner. The livery differs slightly from the original seventeen, using a lighter blue and 'Metronet' branding on the sides. Their primary use is to work infrastructure trains for Metronet. A further order for five more locomotives (66723-727) was delivered in early 2007. These locomotives are painted in a new livery of pink, white and blue, which is similar to First Groups corporate livery.

Direct Rail Services

Direct Rail Services (DRS), a subsidiary of BNFL, is the latest company to opt for Class 66 locomotives. Previously, they had relied on a fleet of ageing second-hand Class 20, Class 33, Class 37 and Class 47 locomotives. In 2002, DRS ordered ten Class 66/4 locomotives from EMD. These were delivered in 2003, numbered 66401-410, and are employed on new Anglo-Scottish traffic, some with Eddie Stobart/Tesco's. They are painted in a variation of DRS's blue livery. More locomotives have since been ordered, with ten (66411-420) delivered in 2006 and another ten (66421-430) delivered in late 2007.

Future orders

Recently two new entries into the UK freight market have expressed an interest in acquiring class 66 locomotives - the first of these being Fastline Freight, part of Jarvis plc, which operates intermodal services between Doncaster and Birmingham International Railfreight Terminal (BIFT), and Thamesport, in North Kent, using refurbished Class 56 locomotives. They are understood to have ordered five Class 66 locomotives to operate a new coal flow from Hatfield Colliery. The other company, who are believed to have placed an order for 3 locomotives is Victa Westlink, who took over some of the assets of the beleaugered Fragonset Merlin Rail upon their collapse late in 2006.

Criticism

Although highly reliable, the Class 66 has come in for some criticism:

• Cab design - the lack of air conditioning, poor seating and noise levels led to the British Trade Union ASLEF to deem the locomotives unfit and unsafe, and in April 2007 proposed a ban on their members driving the locomotives through the Summer 2007 period. Keith Norman, ASLEF's general secretary described the cabs as "unhealthy, unsafe and unsatisfactory." Research also showed that in July 2006 when the weather was extremely hot, the number of times a driver passed a red signal increased. EWS was the first company to enter discussions and make amendments to a series of trial locomotives.

• Design ubiquity - their rather bland design led to the British rail enthusiast community calling the English, Welsh and Scottish Railway machines Sheds. Class 66 locomotives used by other operators are known by variants of this - Freightliner Locomotives are 'Freds' and Direct Rail Services (DRS) locomotives 'Dreds'. FirstGBRf Locomotives are known as 'Bluebirds' due to their attractive livery scheme.

Fleet details

Subclass	No. built	No. range	Operators	Loco nos.	No in traffic	Withdrawn / Remarks
66/0	250	66001-250	EWS	66001-250	250	-
66/4	10	66401-410	DRS	66401-410	10	-
	17	66411-430	DRS	66411-430	10	Low emission locomotives. All 20 now delivered.
66/5	81	66501-586	Freightliner	66501-520/522-586	85	66521 written off in the Great Heck rail crash. 8 more on order.
	7	66587-593	Freightliner	66587-594	8	Low emission locomotives.
66/6	22	66601-622	Freightliner	66601-622	25	-
	2	66623-625	Freightliner	66623-625	2	Low emission locomotives.
66/7	17	66701-717	FirstGBRf	66701-717	17	-
	10	66718-727	FirstGBRf	66718-727	10	Low-emission locomotives.
66/9	2	66951-952	Freightliner	66951-952	2	Low-emission locomotives.

DRS = Direct Rail Services
EWS = English, Welsh and Scottish Railway
FirstGBRf = GB Railfreight, recently renamed FirstGBRf

Gallery

• 
  Brand new 66430 awaits its next duty on DIRFT headshunt, 14th October 2007.
• 
  66108 at Didcot on 23 August 2004. These locomotives operate the majority of EWS freight trains.
• 
  66573 at Ipswich on 31 January 2004. When pictured, this Freightliner locomotive was only a few weeks old.
• 
  66713 Forest City on display at Crewe Works open day on 1 June 2003. This locomotive is one of twentyseven operated by FirstGBRf.
• DRS 66403 at Nuneaton with an intermodal train.
  DRS 66403 at Nuneaton with an intermodal train.
• Low emissions Class 66/9 No. 66951 at Crewe Works open day, 11 September 2005.
  Low emissions Class 66/9 No. 66951 at Crewe Works open day, 11 September 2005.
• 
  66101 waits to enter Aberthaw Power Station.
• 
  EWS 66012 powers though Barnetby on an oil train. Date 13th April 2007
• 
  FirstGBRf 66712 in Metronet Livery at Ipswich in September 2006
• 66714 at Doncaster on 4th September 2007
  66714 at Doncaster on 4th September 2007

See also

• EMD Series 66

References

• Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. EMD: JT42CWRM. Retrieved December 19 2006