The General Electric Powerhaul Class 70 is the most powerful diesel locomotive on the modern railway, and it makes for an interesting weathering project. MIKE WILD explains how he brought his Bachmann ‘OO’ gauge model to life with a realistic finish.
Modern diesel locomotive design had become consistent in the early 2000s. The prime mover of freight traffic was the General Motors Class 66 which dominated orders for new locomotives. But in 2007 Freightliner announced a joint plan with General Electric to develop a new and more efficient heavy freight locomotive – the result was the Class 70, a new breed of diesel locomotive which delivers 3,690hp.
Freightliner has a fleet of 20 locomotives with the first entering traffic in 2009 for use on container, coal and cement traffic. Colas Rail has 17 Class 70s, numbered in the Class 70/8 series which are used for a wider range of duties including engineering movements and fuel oil trains.
The Freightliner fleet has had a chequered career with periods of storage at the company’s Leeds Midland Road depot, but more recently some of the stored locomotives have been returned to service for long-distance container traffic.
