Scrapping of stored DB Class 58s begins in France

SCRAPPING of the 23 DB-owned Class 58s stored at Euro Cargo Rail’s Alizay depot in Normandy, has started, with No. 58033 the first to be disposed of.

This follows the scrapping of eight Tranfesa-owned ‘58s’ between December 2019 and February 2020.

Twenty-four of the Doncaster-built Type 5s were dispatched to France between May and November 2009 for LGV Rhin-Rhône construction work (in the WZFF pool), all painted overall yellow with a grey roof. Nos. 58001/005/006 /013/021/032/036/038/039/042/0 44/049 were allocated to ETF (Eurovia Travaux Ferroviaires) and received a green waist level stripe, while Nos. 58 004/007/009/010/011/018/026/ 033/034/035/040/046 carried TSO (Travaux du Sud-Ouest) brandings only. All but No. 58044 are at Alizay, with the latter stored at Woippy, near Metz, with wheelset issues.

Notably this was the second trip to France for 14 of these locomotives; Nos. 58004/007/009-011/018/021/032035/040/046/049, which had been seconded to Fertis during 20042007 for LGV Est (Phase 1) works trains. Meanwhile, Nos. 58039/044 had previously been working in the Netherlands for ATCS since 2003 and

No. 58038 since 2005, and these were sent straight to their new contract without being returned to the UK.

All 24 of the ETF/TSO Class 58s were stored by the middle of 2011 and no attempt seems to have been made to repatriate them. Rumours of impending disposal started about five years ago and now that all regulatory issues have been satisfied, cutting has begun. The first to meet the gas axe, No. 58033, was new to Toton in October 1985. It was originally stored by EWS after a slow speed collision with the buffer stops at Walton on the Naze station on August 26, 2002, while working the ‘Bone Breaker’ railtour. After its first sojourn in France for Fertis, it travelled there again in May 2009 for use by TSO. It was stored in the WNTS pool in July 2011.