Redundant Freightliner Class 86s for export
The clear-out of Freightliner’s stored Class 86/6s is underway following the removal of 86622 to mainline Europe, with Railways Illustrated sources stating that the fleet is understood to have been sold for further use to a Bulgarian operator.
It is understood that all of the remaining stored Class 86/6s have been purchased by Express Services and will be moved across to Bulgaria at a rate of three locomotives a week, with the first example, 86622, beginning its journey on July 7.
The 16 locomotives involved are 86604/605/607-610/612-614/ 622/627/628/632/637-639. It is currently unknown if some of the locomotives are to be reactivated for further use in Bulgaria, or whether they are to be used as spares donors, or a combination of the two.
The Freightliner Class 86/6s have been in store at Crewe Basford Hall for the past two years, having been taken out of traffic progressively in 2020 and 2021, due to a combination of a drop in traffic demands as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and following the purchase of a number of Class 90s that had previously been in use with Greater Anglia.
At one point it was suggested that some of the locomotives may receive life extension overhauls to allow them to re-enter traffic, but evidently the decision has now been taken to sell the locomotives, which were built between 1965 and 1966 at doncaster works and Vulcan foundry at newton-le-willows. 86622, which was one of two Class 86/6s to carry Freightliner’s Powerhaul variation of its yellow and green livery, had been on display at Crewe Heritage Centre since October 2021, but was collected from the heritage centre on June 12 and moved back across to Freightliner’s base at Basford Hall. It was loaded onto a low-loader and moved to Immingham for export, departing Crewe on July 7. A few days later, 86610 was extracted from the storage lines to follow its classmate.
The export of the Class 86/6s is the latest example of redundant UK electric locomotives being exported for further use. Europhoenix worked on a project to export a number of Class 87s to Bulgaria for the Bulgarian Railway Company. This was followed by further reactivation work on Class 86s for exporting to open access operator Floyd in Hungary, while further Class 86s and Class 87s were prepared for Bulgarian operator Bulmarket. Express Services, which is understood to have bought the Class 86/6s, is the principal maintenance provider for the Bulgarian operators.
Once the final Class 86/6 has been exported, this will leave just three of the once 100-strong Class 86 fleet in the UK, with Locomotive Services Group operating 86101 Sir William A Stanier FRS, while West Coast Railways owns 86401 Mons Meg and also operate privately-owned preserved 86259 Les Ross/peter Pan, with all three currently registered for operation on the UK main line network.