Class 66: 5/6/9

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, most of the current locomotives in use on the national network were becoming very tired and evermore unreliable. It was during this time that EWS took over the large bulk of freight operations in the UK, and they quickly realized that major changes were needed. In 1996, they ordered a whole fleet of 250 Class 66 locos, which followed on from the same basic design as the earlier Class 59, privately owned, locos used for the Mendip aggregates traffic. The Class 66 was intended for more general use, rather than being used for just one specific purpose though. They have now been in service for over 20 years and have proved very reliable and capable locos. This volume covers the Class 66/0s from their early days up to the present at various locations around the UK.