Hire duties for Class 67s halves

The number of hire duties for the Class 67s has halved in the past 18 months, from four to two.

At the start of 2015 Arriva Trains Wales, Chiltern Railways, East Coast and First ScotRail all hired locomotives from DB Schenker (now DB Cargo).

The end of the FSR franchise was supposed to mark the end of the class north of the border. Abellio took over the ScotRail franchise and introduced Class 68s hired from Direct Rail Services on the Fife Circle, replacing the ‘67s’.

Splitting the Sleepers from the ScotRail franchise was supposed to entail the use of Class 73/9s. Their delayed introduction forced GB Railfreight to hire ‘67s’ from DB, although that has now ended.

Chiltern replaced its fleet of ‘67s’ hired from DB with ‘68s’ hired from DRS, due to their improved performance capabilities that will enable the operator (in time) to haul longer trains and improve journey times.

That just leaves ATW and Virgin Trains East Coast (formerly EC) hiring ‘67s’. ATW has two passenger duties for the locomotives, while VTEC uses them as standby locomotives at strategic locations on the East Coast Main Line (London King’s’ Cross, Doncaster, Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley).

On July 4, allocated to the Arriva Trains Wales pool (WAWC) were 67001/002/008/013 while on hire to Virgin Trains East Coast were: 67003/012/023/024.

Ten of the 30-strong fleet were stored on July 4: 67004/011/014/ 017/019/020/ 025-028.