EMD JT42CWR (British Rail Class 66)

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The EMD JT42CWR, or better known as the British Rail Class 66, is a successful diesel-electric freight locomotive in European heavy-haul service. English Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS), now known as Deutsche Bahn Schenker Rail (UK), first purchased the Class 66 in 1998. The components used on this unit are similar to those found on domestic freight units built by EMD, including the patented active self-steering 3-axle truck.



Power comes from a 12 cylinder 710 engine tightly tucked into the full-width car body. The Class 66 weighs 140 US tons and produces a healthy 3,040 tractive horsepower. A standard Class 66 (top speed 75 mph) can produce a maximum of 92,000 pounds force of tractive effort (just over half of what the SD70M-2 produces), a specially geared Class 66 for CWS’s heavy trains (65 mph) can produce 105,000 pounds force.
The proven success of the Class 66 in Britain has pushed this locomotive into Continental European and Egyptian markets. Over 650 of these units have been built to date from EMD’s plant in London, Ontario.

Click here (YouTube video where user disabled embedding) to hear the beautiful and familiar sound of the Class 66 with her EMD 710 starting up.

Comments

Eric said…
This TOTW is familiar to me, having seen these Class 66's travelling east on Canadian National's Kingston Subdivision for furtherance to Halifax and shipment overseas. Usually these units are sent in batches of 5-10, hauled by a single CN diesel. In each batch, there can be a mix of paint schemes, including the ones shown in this post.

Eric Gagnon
Kingston, Ontario
Feb 3, 2012, 7:29:00 PM
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