[UK] Class 66 locomotives in new distinctive liveries; an overview

Over the past months, several Class 66 diesel locomotives in the United Kingdom got a new, non-standard livery. As we want to give diesel locomotives more visibility, we present you the newest UK designs:

DB Cargo UK

Maritime International: Maritime International, a partner of DB Cargo UK, gets its own livery of five Class 66 locomotives. Named “Maritime Intermodal One to Five”, they only differ from corporate livery by changing the red colour to blue. Serving two new rail services from DP World London Gateway, locomotives deliver daily trains to Trafford Park near Manchester and to Wakefield in addition to existing services to Felixstowe and Southampton.

Locos 66005, 66047, 66051, 66142 and 66162 have already received the new colour scheme, yet they do not operate on the trains of this customer only.

Today DB Cargo UK are supporting the @Maritime_UK Family Open Day at Birmingham International Freight Terminal. Our Class 66 locomotive (66047) – Maritime Intermodal Two, will be on display! #DBCUK #FirstChoiceForRailFreight pic.twitter.com/yFllalMO7C

— DB Cargo UK (@DBCargoUK) July 7, 2019

Interestingly enough, GBRf also operates one locomotive with the same livery: It is 66727, only distinguishable from DBC UK locomotives by its owner’s logo under the front left driver’s window. Its name partially overlaps with 66005, but it is just shorter: “Maritime One”.

PD Ports branding: And there is one more: Locomotive 66109 has received PD Ports branding, also inspired by an intermodal service provided by DB Cargo UK for its clients. Most recently, a new direct service operates 5 times a week between Teesport and Grangemouth; thus the “blue fleet” is even more visible.

DB Cargo UK is proud to commence a new direct Intermodal service between Teesport and Grangemouth on behalf of our customer @PDPorts . The return service will operate 5 days per week.#TeamRed #FirstChoiceForRailFreight #Intermodal pic.twitter.com/NYOgeIo4M1

— DB Cargo UK (@DBCargoUK) July 29, 2019

GB Railfreight

2019 Brighton Pride: The true pioneer of unique liveries on Class 66 locomotives in the UK is GB Railfreight though. Most recently, the whole scale of rainbow colors was used on 66773 on the occasion of 2019 Brighton Pride. Rainbow font color on GBRf, rainbow flags on the front left cab, and GB Railfreight overlined and underlined with rainbow recognizes LGBT+ employees across the rail industry and underlines the commitment to ensure equality and diversity in the sector.

What else is to be spotted on GBRf locomotives? Here is an overview:

• 66709 MSC Shipping Livery
• 66711 Aggregate Industries
• 66718 London Transport
• 66720 Childrens Rainbow
• 66721 London Transport White
• 66727 Maritime Blue
• 66743 Brown Maroon Livery
• 66746 Brown Maroon Livery
• 66747 Newell & Wright Transport
• 66779 Brunswick Green
• 66780 Cemex Blue/White
• 66783 Biffa Red Orange
• 66789 BR Large Logo

Freightliner

ONE: DBC UK and GBRf are no exceptions in the changing livery landscape of Class 66 in the UK. After the takeover of Freightliner by Genesee & Wyoming, the standard green is slowly changing into the new corporate orange, black and yellow. Like the DBC UK, there is already an exception on rails. The distinctive pink color of container shipping company ONE headquartered in Singapore has been implemented on 66587.

We are delighted to present our newly painted loco, 66587, named “AS ONE WE CAN” in @OceanNetworkExp magenta. A fantastic symbol of our continued partnership. #rail #railways #logistics pic.twitter.com/8KNreO4vhx

— Freightliner Grp Ltd (@RailFreight) June 10, 2019

Conclusion

Overall, with the standard new red and yellow livery of DBC UK repainted on approximately 50 locomotives now, Genesee and Wyoming have a ‘longer’ way to go, with just four of their locos (66413, 66415, 66419 and 66623) in the UK in its new colour scheme. However, as recent development shows, we can expect the UK rail freight scene to become more and more ‘railcolorful’.