UK diesel locos in France ?

[billio]

Whilst travelling from Lille to Angouleme on a TGV, I noticed 3 diesel locos heading freight trains in a freight yard near Villeneuve St Georges. These locos had a distinctly UK look, being built to what looked like a much smaller body profile that French locos usually have. Were they UK locos ?.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Whilst travelling from Lille to Angouleme on a TGV, I noticed 3 diesel locos heading freight trains in a freight yard near Villeneuve St Georges. These locos had a distinctly UK look, being built to what looked like a much smaller body profile that French locos usually have. Were they UK locos ?.

Perhaps DBS class 66s of the Euro Cargo Rail variety, with some still wearing EWS livery that you saw? Was originally a French subsidiary company of EWS, I think the loco's still return to Toton for heavy maintenance.

 

[GM228]

Perhaps DBS class 66s of the Euro Cargo Rail variety, with some still wearing EWS livery that you saw?

I was always curious as to why they never adopted a specific ECR livery, wasn't there 1 or 2 08s painted into a silver ECR livery with blue logos for some reason but never used (could be wrong on that) by ECR?

GM228

 

[Ash Bridge]

I was always curious as to why they never adopted a specific ECR livery, wasn't there 1 or 2 08s painted into a silver ECR livery with blue logos for some reason but never used (could be wrong on that) by ECR?

GM228

Didn't know about that, we're they specifically for use in France? On the subject of liveries, have they now dropped the ECR brand and just carry standard DB Shenker red?

 

[GM228]

Didn't know about that, we're they specifically for use in France? On the subject of liveries, have they now dropped the ECR brand and just carry standard DB Shenker red?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dc-7c/13409522924/

Not sure if for use in France but attached to ECR somehow.

GM228

 

[NotATrainspott]

The basic Class 66 design is used around the world in areas with a smaller loading gauge than the standard US one. There's little point in designing a UIC gauge model when the UK one will already fit and there would be no improvement otherwise.

 

[cj_1985]

IIRC The only ex GB EWS/DBS locos that have been repainted are the batch exported for use in Poland.

ECR/DBS still have numerous ex GB 66s in EWS colours, most with ECR branding in place of the EWS.
But they also have around about 70x JT42CWRM (the improved euro spec, as opposed to the basic/original UK spec JT42CWR) that are in ECR grey and used by DBS in several countries including France, Belgium and Germany

 

[Peter Mugridge]

That yard in question is Villeneauve Triage and I have frequently seen the exiled 66s there.

 

[billio]

Thank you for the info. A small loco pulling much larger wagons looks quite strange. Incidentally the cab had a box on top, possibly air-conditioning ?.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Yes, I think it's air conditioning.

If it was in red / yellow it was an exiled 66.

If it was in silver it's a 77 - basically a 66 in the same fleet but which has never set wheel in the UK. Here's a picture of one at Pont Cardinet just outside St Lazare on 6th July.

 

[bengley]

There was an EWS livered 66 moving around Dunkerque port last time I was there.

 

[Ianigsy]

The ECR 66s do spread their wings- two years ago I saw one at Miramas (on the Arles-Marseille line) and the other week 66010 was parked up at Modane, not far from the Italian border and where many trains re-engine for Italian motive power.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Thank you for the info. A small loco pulling much larger wagons looks quite strange. Incidentally the cab had a box on top, possibly air-conditioning ?.

I think sometimes the size difference is dependent on the angle of view, whilst I don't dispute there is a difference Iam sure in lots of cases the 66 whilst definitely leaner, is probably longer than lots of the home grown variety of loco's in France. Recently I took a trip from Sofia to Koprivshtitsa in Bulgaria and during a stop in the journey at Pirdop saw one of the huge Russian? Designed Lumilla Co-Co diesel electrics in DB livery, also nearby was a DB Schenker class 92 No.? (Oscar Wilde) afterwards the pedant in me made me check the dimensions of both, the 92 worked out 2-3ft. Longer than this ex GDR monster!

The ECR 66s do spread their wings- two years ago I saw one at Miramas (on the Arles-Marseille line) and the other week 66010 was parked up at Modane, not far from the Italian border and where many trains re-engine for Italian motive power.

Are the ECR 66s passed for operation in Europe, or just the UK & France, would it be permitted to cross the border into Italy?

 

[Ianigsy]

Are the ECR 66s passed for operation in Europe, or just the UK & France, would it be permitted to cross the border into Italy?

ECR doesn't appear in my Platform 5 Italian Railways (DBS have a separate Italian subsidiary running a mixture of ex-Czech diesels and Traxx) so I'd guess not- in any case I'd imagine there would also be the small issue of diesel working in the 8+mile Mont Cenis tunnel to work around. Modane is the changeover point from the French 1500V to Italian 3000V DC so I'd imagine that everything loco hauled picks up an Italian electric.

 

[WatcherZero]

Some of the Locos designed for UK gauge but built for the continent have larger fuel tanks than UK ones to take advantage of the extra space.

 

[Liam_Hendry]

If I recall from a recent trip to Spain there are a few 67s working for RENFE? They are classed as 334s so I'm not sure whether or not they were built specifically for Spanish services or transferred from the UK as 67s.

 

[D365]

If I recall from a recent trip to Spain there are a few 67s working for RENFE? They are classed as 334s so I'm not sure whether or not they were built specifically for Spanish services or transferred from the UK as 67s.

They would have been built especially for Spain as the 30 locos that were built for EWS remain in Britain.

 

[BananaRepublic]

If I recall from a recent trip to Spain there are a few 67s working for RENFE? They are classed as 334s so I'm not sure whether or not they were built specifically for Spanish services or transferred from the UK as 67s.

The Class 334's are not Class 67's, although they have visual similarities and share the same GM engine and some other equipment.
The 334's were built to a RENFE requirement and apparently use a lot of equipment inherited from earlier RENFE locos.
Most of the Meinfesa/Vossloh Espana diesel locomotives use similar body profiles that have evolved gradually with each model. (note the family resemblance in the Euro 4000, EuroLight and class 68 UKLight)

The Class 67 was specified by EWS alongside the Class 66, as part of the large order from GM's EMD division, following the establishment of EWS.
The requirement was for a 125 mph loco to replace the ageing class 47's being used for EWS's former RES work; i.e. the mail trains.

The construction of the class 67 was contracted out to GEC-Alstom's Spanish division (Meinfesa), who had a long history of building EMD based locos for Spain, Europe and other parts of the world.
(n.b. GEC-Alstom's Spanish business was sold to Vossloh in 2005)

The 67 is basically a class 66 power plant shoehorned into an GEC-Alstom (Meinfesa) Bo-Bo body shell, with alternators, traction motors and gearing to suit the different requirement.
The body shell used for the 67, is the same basic design and is very similar in appearance to the Israeli Railways JT BW24 freight and JT 24CW passenger locos built by GEC-Alstom (Meinfesa) before the class 67.

Only 30 class 67's were built and non have been exported outside the UK (so far).

 

[317666]

Some of the Locos designed for UK gauge but built for the continent have larger fuel tanks than UK ones to take advantage of the extra space.

Some also have new, larger air conditioning units, mounted on the cab roofs.