The NS Class 600 were a class of 65 shunting locomotives built by English Electric in England between 1950–1957 for

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and t ...

(NS). The first 10 were built at

Dick, Kerr & Co Dick, Kerr and Company was a locomotive and tramcar manufacturer based in Kilmarnock, Scotland and Preston, Lancashire, Preston, England. Early history W.B. Dick and Company was founded in 1854 in Glasgow by William Bruce Dick. The company wer ...

, Preston and the remaining 55 at

Vulcan Foundry The Vulcan Foundry Limited was an English locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire (now Merseyside). History The Vulcan Foundry opened in 1832, as Charles Tayleur and Company to produce girders for bridges, switches, crossin ...

, Newton-le-Willows. They are very similar to the British Rail Class 11. Twenty-three locomotives were later fitted with radio remote-control, and renumbered in the range 671–693.British built shunters return to UK soil ''

Railways Illustrated ''Railways Illustrated'' is a British monthly railway magazine. Inside there is detail of news, stock changes, tours, and more. It is aimed at railway enthusiasts. Founded in 2003 by Ian Allan Publishing, it was published by Key Publishing ...

'' issue 35 January 2006 page 44 In 2013 there are still two locomotives active daily in The Netherlands. One is active for Railpro in Crailoo and the other is active for LOCON Benelux in

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. It is located about 60 km east of Utrecht, 60 km west of Enschede, 25 km north of Arnhem and 35 km south of Zwolle. Th ...

Class 500

There was also the similar NS Class 500. The difference between the two classes is that Class 600 has a "6KT"

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

of and a Knorr braking system for train use, a Class 500 has a "6K" diesel engine of and only an engine brake. The first ten locomotives of the class 500 were built for the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

and were taken on by NS after the war after service in Europe. NS subsequently placed orders for a further 35 locomotives. There was also an order for 15 locomotives to be delivered without engines that would have an alternative engine fitted in the Netherlands. These were numbered as 451-465 briefly before being renumbered to 701–715.

Post-NS use

This class was withdrawn by NS in the early 2000s. Many have been preserved, including several which have been repatriated to England.Dutch locos back in Britain '' Entrain'' issue 45 September 2005 page 65 Some are still in use by the private company Rotterdam Rail Feeding in the Netherlands. Privately owned 663 was moved from the

Dartmoor Railway The Dartmoor line is a railway line in Devon, England. From , the line runs alongside the Tarka Line to the site of the former Coleford Junction where it diverges west to . Previously a heritage line, it is owned by Network Rail. The route ...

to the NRM annex at Shildon on 17 October 2006 to take up pilot duties. As of 2012 it has been at the

Ribble Steam Railway The Ribble Steam Railway is a standard gauge preserved railway in Lancashire, in the United Kingdom. It was opened to the public on 17 September 2005, running along Preston Docks. The railway began by housing much of the collection from the ...

in Preston, where it first worked after repatriation in 2005. Although part way through a repaint 663 is in running order.

Modelling

There is a well known and accurate H0 scale model offered in various liveries by

Roco Roco, based in Salzburg, Austria, is a manufacturer of model railway equipment. History The company was founded in 1960 by Ing. Heinz Rössler and started with a plastic Minitanks series of military vehicles. After export to the USA became succ ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ns Class 600 0600 English Electric locomotives C locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the Netherlands Diesel-electric locomotives of the Netherlands Railway locomotives introduced in 1950