Class 33 (Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company 1,550hp Type 3 Diesel-Electric)

The Class 33 was built for British Rail's Southern Region in the early 1960s as the region's main diesel locomotive. It was based on the earlier Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon locomotives, the Classes 26 and 27 though benefited from the lack of a need for gangway connections so had a much neater cab design [1]. It was also more powerful than the earlier locomotives being a true Type 3 (over 1, 500hp).

D6515 arrives into Kidderminster Town

They were originally intended mostly for freight work but, with good foresight by Southern Region, they were fitted with electric train heating only - indeed the lack of a need to carry a boiler for steam heat had allowed a more powerful diesel to be fitted in the same body shell as the earlier locomotives [2]. They were often to be found on passenger services on the Kent Coast and to Bournemouth and elsewhere.

Information
Number built:	98
Built:	1960-62
Builder:	Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company
Engine:	Sulzer 8LDA28 diesel
Power:	1, 550 hp (1, 156 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	Bo-Bo

Most Class 33s were in the standard 33/0 sub-class, however a number were also fitted for push-pull operations as 33/1 and operated with the 4-TC (Class 438) [3] though could also work with any Southern Region Electro-Pneumatically controlled multiple units and locomotives. 

A batch of locomotives was also reduced in width by 178mm for operation on the Hastings Line with its restricted clearances as the 33/2. Sadly the expense and effort in modifying the design for what turned out to be a small batch of locomotives is said to have contributed to BRCW's bankruptcy in the mid-1960s.



Nowadays a handful of the locomotives, known as Cromptons by enthusiasts after the Crompton Parkinson electrical equipment installed in them, remain in mainline use with the West Coast Railway Company however twenty-nine have been preserved covering all three sub-types.

33 103 in BR Blue at Wirksworth

The difference a repaint makes! 33 103 at Wirksworth again but in BR engineers grey

33 108 and a Class 14 at Kidderminster Town

Side view of D6515

33 035 at Kidderminster Town

[1] Brian Haresnape, Production Diesel-Electrics Types 1-3 (Ian Allan, 1983) p. 58
[2] David Brown, Southern Electric Vol 2 (Capital Transport, 2010) p. 215
[3] John Vaughan, Diesels on the Southern (Ian Allan, 1980) p. 33