GBRf’s Class 66s allocated to new pool

GB Railfreight has created a new pool for the ten Class 66s it bought recently from DB Cargo ( RAIL 843).

The locomotives (66008/016/ 046/058/081, 66132/141/184, 66238/250) have been allocated to the GBOB pool. They will be renumbered 66780-66789 in numerical order, with 66046 the first to be treated - released as 66782.

On December 19, 66016/046/ 058, 66238 ran to Eastleigh Works, where Arlington Fleet Services will repaint them into GBRf livery (although RAIL understands that 66782 could be released in a different scheme). These will be released as 66781/782/783/788 respectively.

Other recent purchases had visited Doncaster, with 66008/081, 66141, 66250 located there on December 19. These will move to Eastleigh and become 66780/784/ 786/789 respectively, while 66132/184 left Peterborough on December 21 for Eastleigh and their new identities as 66785/787.

This leaves DB with 160 of the original 250 Class 66s that EWS ordered in 1996 and took delivery of between 1998 and 2000.

Of those still in the UK, 66043 was the only one stored, having been removed from traffic in May 2017. As well as selling ten locomotives to GBRf, DB also disposed of 66048 to ElectroMotive Diesel at Longport after it was badly damaged in an accident at Carrbridge in January 2010.

The remaining 79 locomotives are in use in France and Poland with DB’s Euro Cargo Rail subsidiary.

MARK PIKE. GB Railfreight 66238 leads 66058/016/046 through Winchfield on December 19 2017, as the 0927 Peterborough-Eastleigh Works. The Class 66s were bought from DB Cargo and were heading to the Hampshire facility for a repaint and renumbering. They will...