The class K7, which is basically a class L2 without a pilot truck, is the 2023 version of the wildly successful class K locomotive family.

The K7s are slightly shorter than previous versions of the Ks, and the Parsons Vale’s units come equipped with power bus bars for operating with diesels that have been fitted as MPUs. And like the class L’s their electronics are derived from, they are capable of producing 9000 HP. They are capable of operating on all of the tensions available on the Parsons Vale system, even – with an MPU attached – on unelectrified segments of the system.

The first two units – one painted in I&M blue&purple, the other in the LT&L tricolor – are in service on the CTRC, and the next 20 were divided between the P&W and the OSW.