British Rail Class 67

Design, testing and introduction

EWS ordered thirty locomotives via leasing company Angel Trains in a £45million 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. At the end of the fifteen-year contract, ownership of the locomotives was transferred to DB Cargo UK.

The bodyshell is a monocoque load bearing Alstom design, the bogies are an "H" frame Alstom design, The engine, traction motors and control electronics are GM-EMD products, and the same as used in the British Rail Class 66. Unlike the Class 66, the traction motors are frame mounted rather than axle hung to reduce unsprung mass and the gear ratio is increased allowing higher speeds. The cab design has a central driving position.

The locomotives are able to supply electric head end power for passenger train heating and air-conditioning, and are equipped for buffer and screw coupling and also coupling via a buckeye coupler attached on a swing arm mount.

High speed running tests were undertaken with 67002 starting at Alstom's facility at La Sagra (Toledo, Spain) and running on the standard gauge Madrid-Toledo high-speed rail line, a top speed of 143 miles per hour (230 km/h) was obtained.

The first locomotive to be delivered was 67003, which arrived in October 1999. Initially plans were for a rapid acceptance into service, but problems with the locomotives being slightly out of loading gauge caused delays. Acceptance trials began in December, and all 30 units had been delivered to the UK by early 2000.

The high axle load of the locomotive caused an initial speed restriction to 110 mph (177 km/h) and modifications to the bogies were required; locomotive 67023 was passed for 125 mph (201 km/h) running in July 2001, and all 30 units had been modified by June 2003. Rail enthusiasts have nicknamed the Class 67 "Skips" because of its design.

Operations

Initially the class were 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. In March 2015, 67004 was re-painted and renamed. This is to be used on the Serco Caledonian Sleeper. The current stand-alone Serco franchise uses traction provided by GB Railfreight. A fleet of six Class 73/9 electro-diesel locomotives to operate the non-electrified sections of the route to Fort William, Inverness and Aberdeen from October 2015. However, DB Cargo UK Class 67s ceased being used in June 2016.

As Thunderbird rescue locomotives for failed trains on the East Coast Main Line, on some freight trains,and are hired for use on chartered tourist trains. Two units were assigned to, and received special liveries for use with the Royal Train from 2003, a third unit had a commemorative jubilee livery applied for use with the Royal Train during the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2012.

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 100 mph (160 km/h) service from London to Birmingham branded Mainline using Class 67 powered sets. Chiltern Railways will sub-lease six Class 68s from December 2014, to replace Class 67s on its Chiltern Main Line services.

In March 2012 Arriva Trains Wales began the lease of three Class 67s from DB Schenker to replace its Class 57s on its North-South Wales Premier Service.

Status table

Locomotives that do not currently carry their names are shown with the name in brackets.

Liveries and namings

The locomotives were initially painted in EWS's maroon and yellow livery. In 2003, 67005 and 67006 replaced the two previous Class 47 locomotives hauling the Royal Train. These were repainted in the Royal Claret colour, and named Queen's Messenger and Royal Sovereign in December 2000 and February 2005, respectively.

In October 2004, 67029 was repainted silver 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.

In January 2010, 67018 was repainted into DB Schenker red with a maple leaf and named Keith Heller at the National Rail Museum. in honour of the Canadian-born former EWS and DB Schenker UK chairman.

In 2011, 67001–67003 were repainted blue, for use by Arriva Trains Wales.

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 March 2015, 67004 received the Caledonian 'Midnight Teal' livery and named 'Cairn Gorm'. This, along with similarly repainted 67010, was used on the non-electrified parts of the Serco Caledonian Sleeper until the release of sufficient Class 73/9s for use by GB Railfreight. 004 is (as of Nov. '16) stored, and 010 has been repainted into DB red.

Incidents

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 3:30am. The mail train, hauled by 67002 "Special Delivery" with 67012 at the rear, was travelling at 50 mph when the incident occurred. The locomotive climbed over the back of the coal train, coming to rest 40 yards (37 m) 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.