The career of the BB 25660 :

The main stages :

• June 7, 1975 : commissioning of the BB 25660 at the Paris depot of Montrouge ;
• February 20, 1984 : transfer to the Achères depot ;
• On January 1, 1999, when the various activities were created, the BB 25660 was assigned to the FRET activity, still at the Achères depot ;
• December 11, 2006 : transfer to the Lyon depot of Vénissieux ;
• September 8, 2009 : transfer to the Lens depot for assignment to the TER (regional trains) activity. On July 20, 2009, the BB 25660 had accumulated 3,836,840 km since its entry into service ;
• October 6, 2011 : still in Lens, assignment to STF NPdC (Technical Supervision of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Fleet), within the framework of the new methods of managing the fleet of machines.

In summer 2015, in order to lubricate the rails, once or twice a week a BB 67400 (equipped with lubricators) runs alone on the Côte d'Azur line. This arrangement removes a 67400 from their regular run on the Côte Bleue line, which is penalizing. This is why it was decided to transfer a BB 25500 equipped with rail lubricators from Lens to Blancarde, because the last 25500 locomotives at Marseille are at the end of their life, at the limit of travel. It is the 25660 (equipped with rail lubricators) which is designated. It therefore provides TER (regional trains) service on the Côte d'Azur in order to reduce costs (TER + rail lubrication provided in one go).

At the start of 2016, the BB 25660 was one of the last three BB 25500 based in Marseille (25646, 25660 and 25661), parked most of the time, in reserve of the TER fleet. During 2016, the 25660 ran very little, with only 4,744 km made, compared to 25,474 km in 2015 and just over 40,000 km in 2014.

• November 21, 2016 : last maintenance operation carried out at the Marseille depot workshop ;
• November 29, 2016 : the BB 25660 went alone from the Marseille-Blancarde depot to the Avignon depot to be preserved there by the APCC 6570. At this date, it had accumulated 4,131,976 km since its delivery in 1975.

Below : a photo gallery of the BB 25660 during its active service, in its different liveries (original livery, "concrete" livery and "traveling" livery).

Click on the picture above to access the BB 25660 photo gallery.

Below : various reports on the main phases of the preservation of BB 25660 by APCC 6570.
All these steps required a lot of work on the part of the members of the association:

• technical file on the heavy work carried out by our association on engine 2, in 2017 (English translation not available yet) ;
• the Avignon - Aubagne running-in walk of September 29, 2018 ;
• overview of the documentation required to return the BB 25660 to its historic livery ;
• the painting and marking work for its return to its original livery (carried out by the APCC 6570) ;
• all maintenance operations (preventive and curative) carried out on the BB 25660 ;
• the Avignon - Aubagne running-in walk of September 8, 2021.