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Class 66, no. 66573 at Ipswich on 31st January 2004. When pictured, this Freightliner locomotive was only a few weeks old. Class 66, no. 66713 'Forest City' on display at Crewe Works open day on 1st June 2003. This locomotive is one of seventeen operated by GB Railfreight.
The Class 66 incorporated many ideas from America and differed a lot from the Class 60 built quite recently to a more traditional layout.
In 1998, Freightliner placed an order for locomotives. They were followed by GB Railfreight, and finally Direct Rail Services. The Class 66 design has also been taken to mainland Europe.
Direct Rail Services (DRS) is the latest company to opt for Class 66 locomotives. Previously, they had relied on a fleet of second-hand Class 20 , Class 33 , Class 37 and Class 47 locomotives, which were becoming unreliable and expensive to maintain due to their age. Therefore, in 2002, DRS ordered ten Class 66/4 locomotives from General Motors. These were delivered in 2003, and are employed on new Anglo-Scottish traffic. They are painted in a variation of DRS's blue livery. More locomotives could be ordered to completely replace the elderly Class 33 and 47 fleets.
English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS) was the first company in the UK to order Class 66 locomotives. 250 locomotives were ordered, with the first locomotive shipped to Britain in mid-1998. The final locomotive entered traffic just two years later, in mid-2000.
Freightliner followed EWS by ordering new Class 66/5 locomotives. After an initial order for five locomotives, they have continued to order small batches of locomotives.
In 2000, a new Class 66/6 sub-class was built, with a modified gear ratio, enabling heavier trains to be hauled, albeit at a lower speed.
The company has also ordered the most recent Class 66/9 sub-class of the locomotive, which are a low emission variant.
GB Railfreight is the newest UK freight operator. They opted for new Class 66/7 locomotives, rather than buying second-hand locomotives from EWS or Freightliner. Currently, GBRF operate a fleet of seventeen locomotives, painted in their distinctive blue and orange livery. They are employed on infrastructure contracts with Network Rail, and also haul intermodal container trains from FelixstoweFelixstowe is a North Sea seaport in Suffolk, England. There was a village there since before the Norman conquest, but it only became a major port in 1886. In addition to shipping, tourism increased, and a pier was constructed in 1905. Felixstowe is twinn to the West MidlandsThe West Midlands refers to western area of The Midlands (central England). The name has also been used for other administrative areas: the West Midlands constituency of the European Parliament. the official government West Midlands Region the smaller met.