Most Under Employed Class Of Locomotive?

[43096]

They are 'higher tech', more complex, more heavy-haul capable machines than the class 66 - the work that really *needed* them declined, so it wasn't worth spending the money maintaining them all when the 66's could cover the work that was available (and the 66's were all originally leased, so had on-going lease payments to be paid, whereas the 60's were owned by EWS/DBS/DBC so there was probably little cost in not using them). The nearest equivalent to a 60 in haulage capability is probably a class 59, which are still in active use because they are simple, rugged, reliable machines - the oldest ones have spent nearly 35 years hauling some of the heaviest trains ever to run in UK.

Note that EWS ordered the 66s primarily as replacements for the freight 47s/56s/58s etc. *not* to replace the 60s.

Basically EWS ordered far too many locos - probably around 100-150 too many - to support Ed Burkhardt’s fantasy growth plan. In some ways, though, it wasn’t the EWS 66s that killed the 60s but the Freightliner and GBRf ones as those companies took contracts off EWS.

Although the 66s were leased, that is not to say the 60s were cost free: they would have to be depreciated via a hit to the profit and loss account each year.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Though quite a few of them were quite well-used by subsequent users in industry (mostly the NCB).

And British Steel, at least at Corby.

 

[xotGD]

The Claytons must be in with a shout. Didn't exactly have a long service life.

 

[KevinTurvey]

The class 58's seemed to come and go in the blinking of an eye as well. Its hard to believe its now 20 years since they started being withdrawn from UK service, anyway some only after 13 years.

 

[randyrippley]

the 58s are relatively long lived compared with the 41/42/43 Warships and the 22 baby Warships. But you've also got to look at the history of the MetroVicks (how many times were they mothballed?) and the class 83 & 84 electrics, both of which spent a lot of time hidden away from sight

 

[reddragon]

The class 21s always win.

They were built, delivered and did not work. (The Eastern Region just dumped them out of site & they were sent back). After heavy mods, they'd go out catch fire, gutted above the sole bar and dragged back to keep others workable. I read at best 20% would be available at any one time and they were based next door to the North British factory so they could keep making new parts for them. So bad were they that they went out in pairs, so effectively only 5 diagrams could be covered out of 58 locos.

NBL then went bust with them months old and 20 locos beyond repair were rebuilt with new parts as class 29s. The rest were stored then scrapped.

At least the NER electric locos worked when asked!