Why Europe’s Class 66 Locomotive Still Haunts EMD

This video shows how EMD won Britain and parts of Europe with a simple idea: make a reliable American two-stroke work inside tight European clearances. Class 59 proved it, then Class 66 scaled it with standard parts, microprocessor controls, and a service model operators could actually run.

Then the ground moved. New emissions rules demanded aftertreatment and cooling volume the 66 never had. Fuel burn and maintenance crept up, while four-stroke rivals showed up with compliance baked in and cleaner operating costs.

The result was not a dramatic failure but a slow shift in new orders. Class 66 kept working and earning, but procurement pivoted to MTU, Caterpillar, and GE PowerHaul platforms that fit Stage IIIB realities. Reliability stayed a strength. The future went elsewhere.
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