Graham Farish - 371-399 - Locomotive, Diesel, Class 66/7 - GB Railfreight - 66783

Specific Item Information: The Class 66 is a type of six-axle diesel electric freight locomotive developed in part from the Class 59, for use on the railways of the UK. Since its introduction the class has been successful and has been sold to British and other European railway companies. In Continental Europe it is marketed as the EMD Class 66 (JT42CWR). Placing what was termed as "the biggest British loco order since steam days," EWS placed an order for 250 units in May 1996 to be built at the EMD plant in London, Ontario, Canada; the first locomotives were ready in 1998. They were given the Class 66 designation in the British classification system (TOPS). In 1998 Freightliner placed an order for further locomotives. They were followed by GB Railfreight, and then Direct Rail Services. The last of more than 500 built over an 18-year period was No 66779, Evening Star, delivered to GB Railfreight in spring 2016.

Road Name History: GB Railfreight is a rail freight company in the United Kingdom. It is owned by EQT Partners through its subsidiary holding company Hector Rail. GB Railfreight was founded in 1999 by GB Railways. Unlike competitors DB Cargo UK and Freightliner, the company was not formed from parts of the privatised British Rail freight sectors. In April 2000, after winning an eight-year contract to operate infrastructure trains for Railtrack, GB Railfreight ordered seven Class 66 locomotives. An operator's licence was granted in July 2000. Operations commenced on 1 April 2001. In February 2002, GBRf commenced operating its first Intermodal container contract from the Port of Felixstowe for MSC Mendite. Also in 2002, GBRf began its first bulk freight contract for British Gypsum.

From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: Graham Farish is a British brand of N gauge model trains, that belongs to Bachmann Europe.
The company entered the model train business in the early 1950s, focusing on British OO gauge rolling stock, track and accessories.
In the 1970s, it started to produce N gauge models under the GRAFAR label. After the withdrawal of Lima and Minitrix from the UK market in the late 1980s, Graham Farish was the only major supplier of British outline models in N gauge, soon withdrawing from the OO scale market.
In 2001, Graham Farish was purchased by Kader Industries of Hong Kong, and absorbed by its subsidiary Bachmann Industries. Bachmann immediately closed the British manufacturing facility and moved production to China.
Bachmann have since increased the size of the Farish range, by duplicating models introduced to the Bachmann OO range; often, an OO scale Bachmann Branchline model is followed between 6 months to a year later by an N gauge Graham Farish model.

Manufacturer Information: Bachmann, a US company founded in 1835, was purchased by Kader Industries in 1987. Kader formed Bachmann Industries Europe in 1989 with their main UK headquarters in Moat Way, Barwell, Leicestershire, UK (former Palitoy location) and the following year launched the Bachmann Branchline range for the British market with the moulds that had previously been used for the Palitoy Mainline and Replica Railways model railway products. From this starting point Bachmann has developed the range further and now produce a large range of models.
In 2001 Bachmann Branchline bought Graham Farish, an N gauge manufacturer, and since then many of their models have been made available in both gauges.
Bachmann Europe portfolio also comprises other model trains brands such as Liliput.