British Rail Class 60

The British Rail Class 60 is a class of Co-Co heavy freight diesel-electric locomotives built by Brush Traction. They are nicknamed Tugs by Rail Enthusiasts.

History
In the 1980s, British Rail decided it had a requirement for a high powered Type 5 diesel locomotive for use on its Trainload Freight sector. On 10 August 1987, the British Rail Board issued a competitive tender for response by 7 November, for a fleet of 100 locomotives. Of the six companies invited to tender, only three bid responses were received:
 * Metro-Cammell - offered a MetroCammell body with an option of traction packages, many untried, and could not offer performance guarantees as stipulated by the tender
 * GEC - a partnership with General Motors Electro Motive. They offered a state-of-the-art Class 59, built in the UK, probably at BREL Crewe Works, which had an existing partnership for construction of the Class 91 electric locos
 * Brush Traction - offered a locomotive powered by either a Mirrlees or Ruston engine, and used separately-excited (Sepex) traction control, as previously tested on the Class 58.

Of the three bidders, Brush was selected, and an order placed for 100 locomotives in a deal worth around £120 million.

Brush sub-contracted parts construction, with final construction at Brush's erecting shops at Loughborough. The bodyshells, shared with the Class 92 electric locomotives, were fabricated by Procor (UK) of Wakefield. The engine was a higher-powered development of the Mirrlees engine previously fitted experimentally to British Rail Class 37 nos. 37901-37904.

The first locomotive was delivered in June 1989 and sent to Derby for testing, which revealed a number of teething problems. Parts requiring modifications included the axle box suspension and the Mirlees engine cylinder head.

Design
Unlike the Classes 59 and 66 (solid girder underframe) the Class 60s have a monocoque stressed skin construction with diagonal trusses - with the external bodywork providing support for the internal components.

The main alternator is a Brush BA1006A type, providing power for the traction motors (via rectification circuits to DC, the auxiliary alternator is Brush BAA 702A Auxiliary Alternator, providing power for the radiator fans, lubricating and fuel oil pumps, traction motor cooling fans and air compressors amongst others. The main and auxiliary alternators are both driven by the main engine.

Each of the six axles are driven via a reduction gear by one nose suspended axle hung traction motor (Brush designed and built TM2161A four pole motors). Each motor has a separate microprocessor-controlled power supply (SEPEX in Brush's designation - from "Separately Excited"), a system that was first tried on the Class 58. One feature of this system is that if one set of wheels/axle/motor starts to wheelslip the speed can be reduced on this device without affecting the other motors.

The engine is an 8 cylinder, 145 litre Mirrlees Blackstone 8MB275T diesel traction engine (275 mm cylinder diameter); the Mirrlees engine was one of the most fuel efficient available at the time (189g of fuel per kWhr), but relatively heavy; low cylinder count for rated power was expected to result in lower maintenance costs.

Operational history
By 1990, the class had started to be introduced onto the mainline, replacing previously double headed Class 33 Type 3s in the South East region, as well as Classes 20, 26, 27, 31 and 73. The class 60s primarily worked on aggregate (specifically stone) traffic also replacing Class 56s and Class 58s, some of which were withdrawn, others transferred.

Initially operations were split between British Rail Load-Haul, Trans-Rail and Mainline Freight divisions. Their introduction replaced double-heading and also allowed longer and/or heavier trains to be worked.

Following the privatisation of British Rail all 100 units came under the management of the English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS), which in June 2007 was itself acquired by DB Schenker, a wholly owned subsidiary of the German railway company, Deutsche Bahn AG.

It was EWS's policy not to reduce the 100 strong fleet, with both fire and collision damaged locomotives receiving repairs. In 2003/4 a number of the fleet were stored, surplus to requirements. Between 2004 and 2007 typically between 50–75% of the fleet would be out of action at a given time. In 2007 the operational fleet was estimated to be 60 locomotives.

Since working for EWS/DB Schenker, Class 60s have typically been employed on stone, aggregate, ballast and petroleum traffic and also on steel trains. By 2009 many Class 60s were in storage, with only fifteen in operation at any one time.

In September 2010 twenty of the class were offered for disposal by DB Schenker UK. DB Schenker UK have in November 2010 said that they are to overhaul 20 of the class.

In January 2011 DB Schenker announced that seven units would undergo an overhaul, with an option of an overhaul on a further fourteen units.

Naming and liveries
In 1989 Railfreight named the Class 60s in traditional fashion; those locomotives attached to the construction and metals sectors were named after British mountains as were some attached to the coal sector. The others (coal and petroleum sectors) received the names of famous British citizens, with an emphasis on those whose contribution had been to science and engineering. Locomotives numbered 60001 and 60098 were exceptions, being named "Steadfast" and "Charles Francis Brush" respectively. The locomotives received the standard liveries of their respective sectors.

After coming into EWS's ownership, the Class 60 locomotives were repainted in the yellow and red EWS livery as and when repainting was necessary. Many others carried vinyl stickers on their sides over the former BR sector liveries, demonstrating EWS's ownership. A few locos received names including 60033: Corus (60033) and 60081: repainted in a mock Great Western Railway green livery and renamed Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 2000.

In 2007/8, two locomotives received special liveries: 60074 received a 'powder blue' livery and was named "Teenage Spirit" at the NRM in York as part of a charity event for the "Teenage Cancer Trust". 60040 was repainted in a red livery and named "The Territorial Army Centenary" as part of the celebration of that event.

In 2010 class 60 number 60099 was repainted into a Tata Steel silver livery and logo at Toton TMD and unveiled at Tata's Scunthorpe plant on the 27 September.

In January 2011, 60011 became the first member of the class to receive the standard DB Schenker livery, after a repaint at Toton TMD.

Preservation
The Class 60 Preservation Group was formed in February 2008 with a view to preserving at least one member of the class.

Models
The locomotives have been reproduced in scale model form by Lima and Hornby in OO scale and Graham Farish in British N scale.