25 Years of the Class 66

The ubiquitous Class 66 locomotive first emerged onto the British freight scene in 1998, with many people getting their first close-up look at these engines at the Open Day at Toton in August that year.

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the class in operation in Britain was celebrated in 2023. Since pioneer 66001 went on display at the, then, EWS-owned depot back in 1998, over 400 of these machines have seen service in Britain through all the major rail-freight operators.

This book looks at the rapid cascade of these locomotives across the country in that twenty-five-year period. The Class 66’s area of operation extends from the china-clay traffic in the South West of England through to services to both Fort William and Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. It is also a celebration of the variety of traffic on offer to the observer of our railways today.