60079 at Carlisle Yard

The Class 60 is a heavy freight loco built by Brush between 1989 and 1993.   They are also known as Tugs.   100 of the class were built and were allocated to the different freight sectors of British Rail.   On Privatisation, they were transferred to EWS, where they continued to operate on many services across the country.   The Class 60's are similar in appearance to the class 92's as both were built by the same company.   The Class 60 which has a top speed of 60mph are generally used to haul the heaviest of the Coal, Petrol and Steel trains.   A number of the fleet were stored as surplus in 2003 / 04 as the class 66's became more popular.   The numbers continued to decrease until 2009 / 10 when only a handul were in use and as many as 20 were put up for sale.    In the last 2 years a number of class 60's have been overhauled and reliability has improved.

 

Liveries

During BR days, the class 60 appeared in 2 tone grey livery again similar to the class 92 with a large sticker containing the sector it operated on. A number of these Locos still carry this livery with an EWS sticker over the BR one.   A handful were painted into Loadhaul Orange and Black livery and a number were repainted into EWS Red and Gold livery, whilst 60074 was repainted into powder blue with branding for the Teenage Cancer Trust.   60040 was repainted into a Maroon Colour with branding for the Territorial Army.    Since 2010, a number of 60's has been repainted into DB Schenker Red whilst 60099 was painted into a silver livery for TaTa steel.

 

Workings

The class 60 has became a rare beast in Scotland.   It used to be a regular on the Dalziel - Lackenby Steel workings till 2008 and saw use on a number of engineering workings.   The latest visit to Scotland, hauling 92037 and train in August 2012 was the first time in 2012 that a Tug had made it up here, some occasional workings have occured since 2009 but these have been rare.   Until recently it was unusual to see a Class 60 further north than Warrington, however over the last few weeks a pair of 60's have been based at Carlisle to work the HOBC engineering train that is being used to relay track in North East England.

Sightings

In the last 3 years I have seen only 3 class 60's, my first was at Carlisle in July 2009 when I saw 60087, my 2nd was 60079 at Carlisle Yard in August 2012 and my 3rd was 60054 at Holytown in August 2012.   97 down, 3 to go!

Fleet List

Number  Status    Livery            Location    
60001    Stored    EWS Red        Toton    
60002    Stored    EW&S Red     Crewe         
60003    Stored    EWS Red        Toton     
60004    Stored    EW&S Red      Toton     
60005    Stored    EWS Red         Toton     
60006    Stored    Corus Silver    Toton
60007    In Use    DB Schenker Red Toton
60008    Stored    EWS Red        Toton
60009    Stored    EWS Red         Toton         
60010    Stored    EW&S Red    Toton         
60011    Stored    DB Schenker Red    Toton         
60012    Stored    EW&S Red    Toton         
60013    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton
60014    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton
60015    In Use    DB Schenker Red    Toton
60017    Stored    EW&S Red    Toton
60018    Stored    EWS Red         Toton     
60019    Stored    EW&S Red    Toton     
60020    Stored    EW&S Red    Toton     
60021    Stored    EWS Red         Toton
60022    Stored    EWS Red         Toton     
60023    Stored    EWS Red         Toton
60024    In Use    EW&S Red    Toton
60025    Stored    EWS Red        Toton
60026    Stored    EW&S Red    Toton      
60027    Stored    EW&S Red    Toton
60028    Stored    EWS Grey    Crewe     
60029    Stored    EWS Red        Crewe     
60030    Stored    EWS Red         Toton
60031    Stored    EWS Red         Toton     
60032    Stored    Transrail Grey    Toton
60033    Stored    Corus Silver    Toton     
60034    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton     
60035    Stored    EWS Red         Toton     
60036    Stored    EWS Red        Toton     
60037    Stored    EWS Red        Toton
60038    Stored    EWS Red        Crewe
60039    In Use    EWS Red         Toton
60040    Stored    Red Livery     Toton
60041    Stored    EW&S Red    Toton    
60042    Stored    EWS Red        Toton     
60043    Stored    EWS Red         Crewe
60044    Stored    Mainline Blue    St Blazey        
60045    In Use    EWS Red        Toton
60046    Stored    EWS Red        Crewe    
60047    Stored    EWS Red         Crewe     
60048    Stored    EWS Red            Toton    
60049    In Use    EW&S Red    Toton
60050    Stored    EW&S Red    Toton
60051    Stored    EWS Red         Toton     
60052    Stored    EWS Red        Toton
60053    Stored    EWS Red         Toton     
60054    In Use    DB Schenker Red    Toton
60055    Stored    EWS Grey    Crewe     
60056    Stored    EWS Grey    Crewe    
60057    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton    
60058    Stored    EWS Red         Toton     
60059    In Use    DB Schenker Red    Toton
60060    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton
60061    Stored    Transrail Grey    Toton    
60062    In Use    DB Schenker Red        Toton     
60063    In Use    DB Schenker Red    Toton
60064    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton
60065    In Use    EWS Red        Toton
60066    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton
60067    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton
60068    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton
60069    Stored    EWS Red    Slioch    Toton
60070    Stored    Loadhaul Grey    Toton     
60071    In Use    EWS Red        Toton
60072    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton
60073    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton
60074    In Use    Powder Blue     Toton
60075    Stored    EWS Red         Toton
60076    Stored    EWS Grey    Crewe
60077    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton
60078    Stored    Mainline Blue      Toton
60079    In Use    DB Schenker Red    Toton
60080    Stored    EWS Red         Toton     
60081    Stored    GWR Green    Toton     
60082    Stored    EWS Grey    Crewe    
60083    Stored    EWS Red         Toton
60084    Stored    Transrail Grey    Toton     
60085    Stored    EWS Red        Toton     
60086    Stored    EWS Red        Toton     
60087    Stored    EWS Red         Toton
60088    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton    
60089    Stored    EWS Red         Toton
60090    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton
60091    In Use    DB Schenker Red    Toton
60092    Stored    EWS Grey    Toton     
60093    Stored    EWS Red         Toton
60094    Stored    EWS Red        Toton
60095    Stored    EWS Grey    Crewe
60096    Stored    EWS Red         St Blazey    
60097    Stored    EWS Red         Toton     
60098    Stored    EW&S Red    Toton     
60099    In Use    Tata Silver    Toton
60100    Stored    EWS Red        St Blazey        
60500    Stored    EWS Red        Toton