The British Rail Class 33 also known as the BRCW Type 3 or Crompton is a class of
Bo-Bo diesel locomotives built for the Southern Region between 1960 and 1962. A total
of 98 was built by BRCW, and they were called "Cromptons" after the Crompton-Parkinson
electrical equipment installed in them. They began service on the South-Eastern Division
of the Southern Region but rapidly spread across the whole Region, and many were
used much further a field. They were built with the ability only to supply the new
type of electrical train heating, not the more traditional steam heating which most
passenger carriages then used, so in the early years their use as winter-time passenger
locomotives was restricted to the more modern passenger carriages.
There were three different types:
1.) 86 were built as standard locomotives, and the remainder of this type which were
not converted (see below) - 67 in total - had numbers beginning 33/0;
2.) 19 of the standard type were subsequently fitted with push-pull equipment to
handle trains between Bournemouth and Weymouth (trains operating on this line started
at London Waterloo where they were powered by third-rail electric traction via Winchester
and Southampton until Bournemouth. They usually consisted of 12 carriages divided
into three blocks of four carriages - one of these blocks would be powerful 3200hp
4 REP electric multiple unit, while the leading blocks would be "trailing" - un-powered
- 4TC multiple units. At Bournemouth, the block at the rear would be detached, and
a modified Class 33 diesel-powered locomotive would be attached to the front un-powered
carriages so that they could continue over the non-electrified tracks to Poole and
Weymouth. The electric unit remained at Bournemouth or returned back to London with
another train. Meanwhile the un-powered carriages, when returning from Weymouth to
Bournemouth, had the locomotive remain at the rear, pushing them, and a separate
driving compartment at what was then the front of the first carriage was used to
control the train). These modified push-pull locomotives were given numbers starting
33/1;
3.) 12 were built with bodies which were 7 inches narrower for the Hastings Line
(their numbers begin 33/2). These locomotives were smaller in order to fit the reduced
gauge on that line.
Most of these locomotives have now been withdrawn from active duty, though some are
still in service with Fragonset, Direct Rail Services and on preserved railways.
