#5486· Class 70
British Rail Class 70
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by General Electric· from 2008· class of 37 GE diesel-elctric locomotives used in the UK
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 70007 at Ipswich: Joshua Brown from Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom· CC BY-SA 2.0
- 2. Trimley Branch Line - Freightliner 70017: Geof Sheppard· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The British Rail Class 70 is a Co-Co mainline freight GE PowerHaul locomotive series manufactured by General Electric in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. They are operated in the United Kingdom by Freightliner and Colas Rail. These locomotives replaced the Class 59 as having the highest tractive effort of any Co-Co Diesel locomotive in use in the United Kingdom when they were introduced.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 18 years ago, in 2008.
- 2.8 MW is about 32 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 22 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 21.7 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 2008–2017
- in service from
- 2009
- number built
- 37
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- General Electric, GE Transportation
- operators
- Heavy Haul Rail, Colas Rail, Freightliner
- top speed
- 121 km/h
- power
- 2.8 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Co′Co′
- length
- 21.7 m
- weight
- 129 t
- Dutch name
- Class 70
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q749509, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 70 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.