EWS 66094-4755 Best Viewed By Pressing L
Following sale of the three ex-BR freight businesses — Loadhaul, Transrail and Mainline Freight—to the American Wisconsin Central company, the latter formed a British operation: the English, Welsh &amp; Scottish Railway (EWS). Having also purchased BR's mail and parcels operation, Rail Express Systems, and intending to acquire Railfreight Distribution, EWS needed new locos to meet its projected upturn in British freight traffic. With its US parentage, EWS was not interested in the idea of buying British traction, and indeed few companies could offer anything which could meet its aspirations.
In 1996 it became apparent that around 250 new Type 5 locos were to be ordered, the order eventually going, not surprisingly, to General Motors. This company, which had previously built the Class 59s, could offer an up-to-date package in the Class 59 bodyshell, which was already accepted on Railtrack lines and could thus be introduced without problem or delay.
An order for 250 machines, designated Class 66 and using the GM EMD 710 series prime mover, microprocessor control and radial steering bogies, was formally placed in 1997. Construction contracted to GM's loco production facility in London, Ontario, Canada, with the first locomotive being shipped to England via Immingham Docks in April 1998.
Construction of the locos in Canada was swift, with over 150 in Great Britain by October 1999. Their speedy introduction, with many being placed directly into service from the dockside, saw the rapid withdrawal of older classes. Their performance has been quite superb, with very few online failures , and an availability figure surpassing that originally envisaged.
The EWS Class 66s, painted in the standard EWS maroon and gold livery, are all allocated to Toton but operate throughout the country. Locomotive No. 66002 is of interest, for, after completion in Canada, it was transferred to the AAR test track in Pueblo, Colorado; following tests it was sent to the VMV reworking site in Paducah, Kentucky, and then back to London, Ontario, for final completion prior to shipping to England, a year after its construction. It was not long after the EWS order started to take to the tracks in the UK that other freight operators started looking at the design. Freightliner Ltd were next to upgrade their traction fleet, this company had already seen the Class 57 GM re-work project and were impressed. In spring 1999, five Class 66s were ordered, numbered 66501-505, these were constructed alongside the EWS build. The five, painted in Freightliner green livery, were shipped to the UK via Newport in July/August 1999, and are now allocated to Crewe . In August 1999 Freightliner signed a major contract with Railtrack to provide traction for the latter's West Coast main line infrastructure trains. To power these, Freightliner signed a further deal with General Motors for an additional 15 locomotives (66506-520). As further contracts were won by the company extra locos were ordered, which are still being delivered in late 2001. The third UK operator to order Class 66s was GB Railfreight a part of GB Railways who entered the freight haulage business in mid 2001. For their needs seven locos, classified 66/7 were ordered in 2000 and delivered in their distinctive blue, orange and yellow in early 2001. GBRf have won further contracts and in autumn 2001 a further five locos have been ordered.
All Class 66 locomotives are shipped to Great Britain from either the Canadian port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, or through Norfolk, Virginia, USA, transport being arranged by JumboLine Shipping and off-loaded in the UK at Newport Docks.
One or two minor structural changes have been incorporated during the build. To reduce cab noise, a revised horn covering was fitted after 200 locos had been built and retro fitted to earlier construction. On EWS locos a combination coupler was fitted as standard after loco 66201 and to earlier locos as time permits, this was installed in an attempt to replace the UK time honored screw coupling method with a more advanced auto coupler. To meet UK Railtrack Group Standards a revised front lighting system was installed on locos built after September 2001 (loco 66538) where two large headlights are fitted above the buffers and a joint red/white marker/tail light unit.
It is expected that further orders will be placed in the future for like design locos
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