By Fred Kerr. The Class 66 locomotive is perhaps one of the greatest success stories of the railways in Great Britain over the past 25 years. In the mid-1990s, faced with as ageing and temperamental locomotive fleet, English Welsh & Scottish Railways (EWSR), took the bold decision to purchase 250 of these locomotives from General Motors in the USA, based on that company’s earlier Class 59 design supplied to Foster Yeoman in 1985.
The early privatised freight market was geared towards heavy industry, but the changing market has seen massive growth in the movement of containers between ports and inland distribution centres. This, in turn, has encouraged both existing and new operators to structure operations around a reliable locomotive fleet which, has been met by the Class 66 design.
Class 66 is an album of high quality colour photographs illustrating the lives of these popular locomotives. The book is divided into ten separate sections, each one covering a geographical area of the country and looking at Class 66 operations within that area. All areas of the country are featured, such has been the expansion of the locomotives’ operating area.
Many different freight flows and all of the major freight train operators are featured. Celebrity locomotives are included and a few passenger workings also make it into the book. Most illustrations are presented in one-per-page format. 160 pages. Hardback.