The Class 67 locomotives are a class of Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives that were built for the English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) between 1999 and 2000 by Alstom at Meinfesa in Valencia, Spain with drive components (engine, generator and traction motors) from General Motors' Electro-Motive Division.
EMD's designation for this locomotive type is JT42HW-HS.
History
Design, testing and introduction
EWS ordered thirty locomotives via leasing company Angel Trains in a £45 million contract split between Alstom and Electro Motive Diesel, for use as Class 47 replacements for hauling high-speed Royal Mail trains and passenger trains. The locomotives were obtained on a 15-year lease from Angel Trains. A top speed of was obtained. and all 30 units had been modified by June 2003.
Operations
DB Cargo UK
The type was initially used primarily on mail trains. In June 2003, EWS lost the Royal Mail mail train contract, with services diminishing to complete cessation in March 2004.
The locomotives have since been used by First ScotRail on the Caledonian Sleeper on non-electrified lines north of Edinburgh. In April 2015, GB Railfreight commenced a contract to haul the Caledonian Sleeper with 67004 repainted and renamed for use on the service. When GB Railfreight started to provide the trains and crews for the Serco franchise in 2015, it was planned to use rebuilt . The first of these came into service in February 2016 but the Class 67s continued to be used on some services for another couple of years.
Class 67s are also used as Thunderbird rescue locomotives, for failed trains on the East Coast Main Line, on some freight trains, and for use on chartered tourist trains.
Five locomotives were also dedicated to Wrexham & Shropshire's services until it ceased operating in January 2011.
Chiltern Railways began using ex-Wrexham & Shropshire Class 67 hauled passenger sets in December 2010, in September 2011 after improvements to the Chiltern Main Line infrastructure, Chiltern began running a service from London to Birmingham branded Mainline using Class 67 powered sets. Chiltern Railways leased six Class 68s from December 2014, to replace Class 67s on its Chiltern Main Line services.
In December 2023, DB Cargo UK listed 10 Class 67s for sale.
Colas Rail
In January 2017, DB Cargo UK sold 67023 and 67027 to Colas Rail, which were repainted at Toton TMD for use on Network Rail infrastructure monitoring trains. In December 2018, these two Class 67s were included in a sale of 67 France and UK based locomotives to Beacon Rail Leasing. They were subsequently leased back to Colas Rail.
The use of Class 67s was expanded in January 2023, with TfW eventually leasing 12 locomotives from DB Cargo UK. These Class 67s have been fitted to allow Push-Pull operation with the rakes of British Rail Mark 4 coaches with a Driving Van Trailer at the opposite end to the locomotive. These Class 67s operate in a number of different liveries.
Former operators
GBRf
In mid-2022, GBRf took over the leases for 67023 and 67027, though issues with the locomotives meant that GBRf did not take over their operation until November 2022 when 67023 was moved to Scotland to start work on the Caledonian Sleeper contract on the Edinburgh – Inverness legs of the Highland diagrams. 67027 moved to Arlington Works (Eastleigh) for a repaint into GBRf livery, with maintenance work also being completed. 67023 ran its first Caledonian Sleeper diagram in December 2022.
In June 2023, 67027 was returned from GBRf to Colas, being stripped of its GBRf branding and having Colas decals applied. 67023 was also returned to Colas later in the year.
Fleet
Illustrations
none|thumb|559x559px|Diagram of a Class 67 in a blank livery.
Summary
{|class="wikitable"
!Class
!No. Built
!Year built
!Operator
!Loco nos.
|-
|rowspan="3"|Class 67
| align="center"|26
|rowspan="3" align=center |1999–2000
|DB Cargo UK
|
|-
|align="center"|2
|Colas Rail
|67023 & 67027
|-
|align="center"|2
|Transport for Wales Rail
|67026 & 67028 || Involved in a serious crash at Lawrence Hill, Bristol in November 2000.
|- bgcolor=#fee7e6
| 67003 || || DB Cargo UK || Arriva Blue || Scrapped || Scrapped at EMR at Kingsbury on 27 May 2025
|- bgcolor=#f0f0f0
| 67004 || Cairn Gorm (Post Haste) || rowspan="3" | DB Cargo UK || DB Cargo UK Red || rowspan="3" | In service || rowspan="3" |
|- bgcolor=#f0f0f0
| 67005 || King's Messenger (British Royal Train locomotive) || rowspan="2" | Royal Claret
|- bgcolor=#f0f0f0
| 67006 || Royal Sovereign
|- bgcolor=#f0f0f0
| 67017 || Arrow || Transport for Wales Rail Red & White
|- bgcolor=#fef6e7
| 67018 || Keith Heller (Rapid) || rowspan="2" | DB Cargo UK || DB Cargo UK Red with Maple Leaf || rowspan="2" | Stored || Stored March 2019
|- bgcolor=#fef6e7
| 67019 || ||EWS Maroon & Gold || Stored March 2015
|- bgcolor=#f0f0f0
| 67020 || || rowspan="2" | DB Cargo UK || Transport for Wales Rail Black & Red||Leased to Transport for Wales Rail for Premier Services
|- bgcolor=#f0f0f0
| 67023 || Stella || Colas Rail || Debranded Colas Rail Yellow & Orange || Returned to Colas by GBRf
|- bgcolor=#f0f0f0
| 67024 || || rowspan="2" | DB Cargo UK || Belmond British Pullman Brown & Cream ||
|- bgcolor=#f0f0f0
| 67025 || (Western Star)|| Transport for Wales Rail Red & White
|Leased to Transport for Wales Rail for Premier Services
|- bgcolor=#fef6e7
| 67026 || Diamond Jubilee || Transport for Wales Rail || Colas Rail || GB Railfreight with Colas decals|| rowspan="3" | In service || Returned to Colas by GBRf
|- bgcolor=#f0f0f0
| 67028 || || Transport for Wales Rail
In October 2004, 67029 was repainted silver, with full bodyside height EWS logos, to haul the EWS Company Train. On 12 October 2007, 67029 was named Royal Diamond at Rugeley Trent Valley railway station, in honour of the 60th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
In 2008, 67012–67015 were repainted in Wrexham & Shropshire's silver and grey livery. In 2008, these were named A Shropshire Lad (3 July), Dyfrbont Pontcysyllte (9 July), Thomas Telford (14 July) and David J Lloyd (16 May), respectively. These were joined by 67010 in March 2009, to add resilience to the sub-fleet. The sub-fleet was dispersed at the end of 2014, with locomotives receiving further repaints appropriate to their new roles.
In January 2010, 67018 was repainted into DB Schenker red with a maple leaf and named Keith Heller at the National Railway Museum. in honour of the Canadian-born former EWS and DB Schenker UK chairman.
In 2011, 67001–67003 were repainted into Arriva Trains Wales blue livery, although without any company decals, for use on the daily Cardiff-Holyhead service.
In March 2012, 67026 received a silver livery, union flag and Diamond Jubilee logo for use during the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II celebrations, being named Diamond Jubilee by Queen Elizabeth II on 23 March at London Victoria station.
In June 2017, Colas Rail duo 67023 and 67027 received the names Stella and Charlotte, respectively, on nameplates carried centrally on the bodysides.
During October 2017, saw 67021 and 67024 rolled out in (unbranded) Belmond British Pullman umber and cream livery, receiving Belmond British Pullman logos a few months later.
In October 2018, the Royal locomotives, 67005 and 67006, were repainted into a slightly revised version of the Royal claret livery.
<gallery>
File:67017 'Arrow' at Plymouth.JPG|Original EWS livery (67017, Plymouth 2003)
File:67005 at Kings Cross 1.jpg|Royal Train livery (67005, King's Cross 2008)
File:Taunton 67029.jpg|Silver jubilee livery (67029, 2010)
File:18.05.10 Paignton 67018 (5944126643).jpg|DB Schenker livery (67018, 2010)
File:67015 at Marylebone 1.jpg|67015 in Wrexham & Shropshire livery (Marylebone 2008)
File:Alstom General Motors Class 67 No 67003 (7786994576).jpg|Arriva livery (67003, 2012)
File:67004Waverley.jpg|Caledonian Sleeper livery (67004, 2015)
File:Derby - Colas 67027.JPG|Colas Rail livery (67027, 2017)
File:Truro - DB Cargo 67024+67021 arriving with empty Pullman stock.jpg|Pullman livery (67024 & 67021, 2018)
File:67017 TfW Silver June 2024.jpg|Transport for Wales Silver & Red livery (67017, 2024)
File:67020 TfW Black October 2024.jpg|Transport for Wales Black & Red livery (67020, 2024)
</gallery>
Incidents
thumb|67002 at Lawrence Hill
A serious crash occurred with 67002 at Lawrence Hill (Bristol) on 1 November 2000, when a Royal Mail train passed two red signals and ran into the back of a coal train at around 3:30 am. The mail train, hauled by 67002 "Special Delivery" with 67012 at the rear, was travelling at when the incident occurred. The locomotive climbed over the back of the coal train, coming to rest later on top of a coal wagon and against the A420 Church Road bridge. The driver of the mail train suffered a broken arm and cuts to the face and chest, but there were no other injuries. The incident was initially suspected to be caused by faulty brakes but was later found to be caused by misunderstanding and incorrect use of the locomotive's brake pipe isolation valve by railway staff. The class 67 is also one of the few British locomotives commercially available in T Scale.
See also
- The Israel Railways JT 42BW and Renfe Class 333.3 are a similar design
- Vossloh Euro 4000 – Related locomotives built at the same factory (former Alstom Valencia plant)
Notes
References and sources
References
Sources
- <small>(some minor inaccuracies in article)</small>