Accurascale and DB Cargo announce new Class 66 for charity

Having already raised £250,000 for the charity over the last five years, DB Cargo team members approached Accurascale to produce a charity fundraising special edition of their Class 66 locomotive model in similar vein to the previous models, which raised money for Prostate Cancer UK and Samaritans UK and 66 190 is the first locomotive from run 2 of the Class 66 to be announced.

Featuring the iconic DB red and grey livery, along with white-walled tyres and other small embellishments that set it apart from the rest of the DB Class 66 fleet, this model faithfully captures this special squadron member 66. The distinctive and colourful nameplate will be printed on our models with etched replacements in the accessory pack of each model. Accurascale has also included the Accurascale "a" headboard, modelled on the Railfreight depot plaques associated with triple grey livery from the 1980s and 1990s, as an etched item in each accessory packet, too.

As with any Accurascale Exclusives model, 66190 will come in special presentation packaging and feature a limited edition certificate, and will only be available via the Accurascale website. Proceeds from the sale of each loco will go to Martin House Children's Hospice.

Set up in 1987, and only the second Children's Hospice in the UK at that time, Martin House is based in Yorkshire and provides family-led care for children with life-shortening conditions. It is a place where children, young people and their families can come to stay from time to time along their journey and find support, rest and practical help.

Such is the demand for their vital services that they now need a more suitable building, which is estimated to cost £2 million to complete. DB Cargo has already helped to raise funds through railtours and special events, and has now partnered with Accurascale to produce this special charity locomotive.

Speaking about the announcement, Rosie Mellor-Silvester, Head of Mass Relationships at Martin House, outlined her delight about the collaboration; "We are delighted that Accurascale has chosen to support Martin House Children’s Hospice through creating a model of the Martin House Class 66 locomotive. The first-ever model has pride of place in our reception! The money raised from the sales of this model will help support children, young people and their families when they need it the most, which is something we are incredibly grateful to Accurascale for."

Fran Burke, Director of Marketing, PR and Sales for Accurascale, added; "We are honoured to partner with two fantastic organisations and yet again have the opportunity to work with our customers to help raise a significant amount of money for a brilliant cause. Thank you to DB Cargo and Ross Taylor in particular for bringing us all together and I hope that we can sell enough of these cracking models to hit our £10,000 goal, and with a bit of luck, exceed that total."

Available in both DC/DCC ready and fully loaded DCC sound fitted with Accurathrash, as well as all the other tech you expect to find in Accurascale locomotives, they are priced at £179.95 and £279.95 respectively. Due in stock in Q2 2025, it will be joined by the rest of run 2 of the Class 66, which will be announced later this month.

About the prototype

Originally part of the ‘Red Revolution’, a term used to describe the dominance of English, Welsh and Scottish (EWS) class 66’s across the UK freight scene, 66190 arrived on British soil early in the year 2000. One of 250 near identical locomotives, 66190 was put to work almost immediately on a wide variety of freight work, as the class 66’s were the “go anywhere” type at EWS’s disposal. The first modification came in the summer of 2001 as 66190 was fitted with the now standard swinghead buckeye coupler (locomotive 66200 and above had these fitted from new along with revised lashing eyes)

66190’s first turn in the limelight came on July 19th, 2003, when it hauled the Mossend to Inverness leg of Pathfinder Tours’ Grampian Gyrator. Incidentally, fellow Accurascale Exclusive 66001, worked Stafford to Crewe then Crewe to Stafford on the same tour. 66190 settled back into its normal working life again until mid-2007 when it was readied for transfer to Euro Cargo Rail (ECR), at Toton. ECR was a subsidiary of EWS, as EWS sought to widen its market into the European Railfreight business. Despite German operator DB buying the EWS business in 2007 and rebranding to DB Schenker taking place in 2009, ECR continued to be known as such until 2021 when it rebranded as DB Cargo France.

During June 2021, 66190 was returned to DB Cargo stock in the UK via the channel tunnel and headed to Toton depot in Nottinghamshire for a full overhaul and conversion back to UK specification. It emerged in standard ‘De-branded’ EWS maroon and gold livery, albeit with new LED lighting clusters and was used on many routes around the midlands before returning to Toton during early 2023 for a full repaint into DB house colours.

A very shiny 66190 made its way to York on the 2nd of June 2023 for a naming ceremony, where its “Martin House” plates would be revealed by Rosie Mellor-Silvester, from the Martin House charity. 66190, as a standard pool locomotive, is used all across the country from china clay work in the southwest to Biomass in the north but it is always treated as a bit of a “pet” by DB staff, the white wall tyres and silver buffers being maintained as much as possible, makes this locomotive stand out from the rest of the fleet.

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