3
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nginEEring
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dition
Original
Prototype
2. Prototype
With the liberalisation of the international rail goods
traffic established in 2001 the newly founded rail
operators needed to procure motive power in order
to be able to handle the traffic they had fought so
hard to take away from the state owned railways.
The procurement of technically sophisticated new
vehicles was often not possible due to budgetary
restraints. A more cost effective solution was offe-
red by the American Electro Motive Division (EMD)
with the class 666 that had already been tested and
proven in Great Britain. The locomotives known as
the JT 42 CWR are based on the American SD40
and ongoing development culminating in the SD
40-2, which were found to be most reliable due to
their simple, but proven design.
The first railway institution employing the diesel
electric class 66 on German lines was the Harbour
and Freight Services AG in Cologne the so called
Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG (HGK). In 1999
this company purchased two units. Almost at the
same time the class 66 was introduced to other Eu-
ropean countries. Rail traffic corporations having
purchased or leased class 66 locomotives can be
found in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lux-
embourg and Norway. So far about 650 units have
been delivered in two different version to European
customers. The somewhat long and slim outline
Class 66‘ predecessor is named JT 26 CW-66. The picture shows Deutsche Bahn 259 003 in Sed-
din on 28.9.1997
Pictur
e: Rolf W
iemann
meets the clearance diagram of British Rail. The
square-edged design of the body and the chassis
with its massive boogies and quite a number of see-
mingly confusing pipes and cables give the class 66
an unmistakable appearance.
The General Motors twelve Cylinder Two Stroke
engine 12N-710G3B-EC can not only be heard but
also recognised due to its characteristic sound and
offers a power of 3194 HP (2350 kW). The starting
tractive effort amounts to 409 kN, the continuous
tractive effort is 260 kN. With a maximum speed of
120 km/h the class 66 locomotives can easily keep
pace with other trains using electric traction even
on mainlines. Due to the independence from cen-
tenary the client can, if need be, pick up the train
from the most remote spur or siding and take it
via DB mainlines right through to his own factory.
With their livery the class 66 locomotives form a
pleasant contrast to the standardized red livery of
the DB AG.
Since 1999 the HGK mainly handles block trains
with their class 66 locomotives albeit with varying
loads. Tank cars have been a standard load for HGK
class 66 locomotives taking the train over the entire
route to Braunschweig, Ingolstadt, Marktredwitz
and Aichstetten. But one can also find the locomo-
