Class 66 history

It was in May 1996 when Wisconsin Central, which had purchased four of the five available freight businesses at the time, placed an order for

250 locomotives from General Motors.

Based on the successful

Class 59 but with a much more modern engine, what was to become the Class 66 was designed to replace much of the company’s elderly and ailing locomotive fleet.

The first (66001) was delivered to the UK in April 1998, with the last of the order (66250) arriving little more than two years later. By that point, other operators had taken notice, with Freightliner receiving its first locomotives (66501-505) in 1999, while new operator GB Railfreight took delivery of its first locomotives (66701-707) in 2001.

Intermittent orders have since been placed by many operators, until the final brand-new machines (66773-779) arrived in February 2016. Had it not been for emissions regulations being introduced by the European Union, it is likely that more would have been built.

All told, EWS/DB Cargo UK ordered 250, Freightliner 131, GB Railfreight 60, Direct Rail Services 34 and Fastline Freight five - bringing the UK order to 480 (by comparison, the largest BR fleet was the 512-strong Class 47s).

The design has since proved popular across Europe and

North Africa, with many more orders placed with GM as well as from the UK.

There have been design variants with the UK fleets. Freightliner ordered the first re-geared locomotives (the ‘66/6s’), which were more powerful but have a slower speed. It also ordered the first low-emissions locomotives (66951/952), which while more environmentally friendly have smaller fuel tanks.

Two companies have exported locomotives for use with sister operators abroad - 78 of the EWS order are based either in France or Poland, while Freightliner has 18 locomotives in Poland.

Locomotives have also been imported, with GBRf bringing three from Holland, three from Norway and two from Germany between 2013 and 2020. A further five are on order from Germany (four are in the UK undergoing modifications), with up to 15 more set to arrive.

Cascades have also taken place as business is won and lost by operators. Again, GBRf has benefited the most here, with ten ex-EWS, nine ex-DRS and four former FL locomotives in its fleet. FL has seven former DRS locomotives (three more went to Poland), while Colas Railfreight has five former FL locomotives. The five ordered for Fastline are now with DRS.

Two locomotives (66521 and 66734) have been scrapped, while 66048 was written off following an accident at Carrbridge in January 2010. It remains at Longport donating components.