British Rail Class 33
The British Rail Class 33, also known as the BRCW Type 3 or Crompton, is a class of Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives, ordered in 1957 and built for the Southern Region of British Railways between 1960 and 1962.
They were produced as a more powerful Type 3 development of the 1,160 bhp Type 2 Class 26. This was achieved, quite simply, by removing the steam heating boiler and fitting a larger 8 cylinder version of the previous 6 cylinder engine. This was possible because of the traffic requirements of the Southern Region: locomotive-hauled passenger traffic depended on seasonal tourist traffic and was heavier in the summer, when carriage heating was not needed. In the winter, their expected use was to be for freight. Thus, they became the most powerful BR Bo-Bo diesel locomotive. The perennially unreliable steam heating boiler could also be avoided.
A total of 98 were built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and they were known as "Cromptons" after the Crompton Parkinson electrical equipment installed in them.
Like their lower-powered BRCW sisters, the Class 26 and Class 27 locomotives, their bodywork and cab ends were of all steel construction. They were very similar in appearance to Class 26 locos, but carried Southern Region two-digit headcode blinds between the cab windows.
The original number sequence was D6500–D6597.
Background
The locomotives were initially needed, unusually, because of an electrification scheme. The 'Kent Coast scheme' was one of five major electrification schemes put forward by the 1955 Modernisation Plan. Under Stage 1 of the scheme, the majority of railway lines east of a line drawn between Reading and Portsmouth would be electrified. On secondary and branch lines not electrified, such as Tonbridge – West St. Leonards, diesel electric multiple units would work passenger services. The scheme involved the electrification of 250 route miles of track at a cost of approximately £25m. The British Transport Commission approved the scheme in February 1956.The Southern Region established an Electrification Committee, which met monthly from August 1955. On the South Eastern section, electrification was to be carried out in two phases. Phase 1 would cover the north Kent routes via and, including the Sheerness line, which had not featured in any previous electrification proposals. Phase 2 would cover the remainder of the South Eastern section routes that were to be electrified. The initial assessment was that eighty-eight and twenty Bo-Bo diesel locomotives would be needed, plus twenty electric locomotives. By November, it was thought that 98 locomotives of would be needed. That figure was based on the locomotives collectively achieving annually. The locomotives would be used on passenger, van and freight trains, as well as working inter-regional services. The British Transport Commission approved the electrification scheme in February 1956.
By April 1956, it was apparent that the new locomotives would not be powerful enough, as the Southern Region was intent on eliminating the steam heating of its trains in favour of electric train heating. As an interim, it was intended that fifteen Sulzer Type 2 locomotives would be allocated to the Southern Region. The Electrification Committee informed the BTC of their requirements in October, advising them that they had been in contact with Sulzer Brothers Ltd. to determine whether or not a locomotive in the range could be built. On 4 December, a meeting between the General and Assistant General Managers of the Southern Region and the BTCs Secretary-General, Chief Mechanical Engineer and a Technical member, it was agreed to approach English Electric to build the locomotives. This was against the competitive tendering policy in force at the time, but was done as it was thought that this would be the quickest way to acquire the locomotives. A few days later, BTC Chairman Sir Brian Robertson told a director of Vickers-Armstrong Ltd. of the plan at a social event. Vickers-Armstrong was the builder of Sulzer engines in the United Kingdom. The company was not happy with the situation and a protest was made. In February 1957, the BTC decided to put the process for the procurement of the new locomotives out to tender.
To enable Phase 1 of the electrification to be implemented in June 1959, forty-five diesel locomotives would be needed. In addition, fifteen Type 2 locomotives would be loaned by the London Midland Region. Tenders were returned to the Electrification Committee in July 1957. The committee made its recommendations to the BTC, which met on 8 August. The BTC discussed an order for forty-five locomotives at a cost of £76,970 each. They were to be built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company, with Crompton Parkinson electrical equipment and Sulzer engines. Deliveries were to start in April 1959, with thirty locomotives in service by June. Despite offering a cheaper locomotive and better delivery times, English Electric did not gain the order. The BTC approved the order on 26 September. The order was not placed until 5 December. Under the terms of the tender, deliveries were to start 21 months from the placing of the order, and continue at three per month thereafter. This meant that the first locomotives would be delivered in November 1959 and completed by February 1961. None of the locomotives would be in service for the planned start date of Phase 1 of the electrification plan. At their January 1958 meeting, the Electrification Committee heard that delivery of the locomotives would be calculated once all technical details had been agreed. One locomotive would be delivered 21 months thereafter, two the following month and three per month after that. This pushed back final delivery until March 1961.
In February 1958, the BTC approved the purchase of thirty-four Type 2 locomotives, but deferred a decision on 51 others due to be built in 1959, including twenty needed for Phase 2 of the electrification programme. In November, the Electrification Committee was informed that due to the delays in delivery, the phasing out of steam locomotives would be delayed. It was agreed to push for the purchase of the second batch of 20 locomotives. The BTC discussed the purchase later that month, and agreed to accept BRCWs tender of £78,940 per locomotive. Eleven locomotives were to be delivered by December 1960 and the rest by February 1961.
In February 1959, the Electrification Committee discussed a third batch of 33 locomotives, including 12 suitable to work the Hastings line. The BTC approved the locomotives for the Hastings line in May, but deferred a decision on the other 21. These locomotives would cost £78,858 each. In July, the Electrification Committee expressed the view that the remaining locomotives should be ordered without delay. In August, there was concern that late deliveries would impact on driver training. The BTC approved the order of the final 21 locomotives in September at a cost of £78,380 each. In December, BRCW reported to the Electrification Committee that the first locomotive would not be delivered until 8 January 1960. The Electrification Committee met again on 14 January, and were told that the first locomotive would not be delivered until 22 January, with another in February and a total of 9 by 16 April. It was hoped that all forty-five locomotives of the first batch will have been delivered by October. The committee met again on 19 January. It was stated that the intention was that the second batch of locomotives would have been delivered by 11 September 1961. The third batch were needed in service by June 1962. It was hoped that deliveries would begin in July 1961 and be completed in September. The first locomotive, numbered D6500, was delivered on 30 January.
The Electrification Committee met again on 10 March, when they were told that only thirteen of the twenty locomotives of the first batch would be in service by June, although it was hoped that all forty-five would be in service by October. Concerns were expressed that Ramsgate Motive Power Depot would not be able to close by 14 November as planned. Its site was needed for the construction of a new maintenance facility for electric multiple units. The committee met again in May. As delivery of all forty-five locomotives of the first batch was projected not to be completed until 31 January 1961, the closure of Ramsgate MPD was postponed. The committee was told that delays in the delivery of the third batch would mean that the replacement of steam on the Hastings line would have to be postponed. The committee met in June. It was agreed that Ramsgate MPD could close once thirty-five locomotives had been delivered. It was anticipated that this would be achieved by 30 November allowing the shed to closed on 1 December. By the time the Electrification Committee met on 10 November, thirty locomotives had been delivered. Consequently, Ramsgate MPD would not be able to be closed until at least 19 December. Delivery of the locomotives for the Hastings line was also likely to be delayed. When the committee met in December, the thirty-five locomotives had been delivered and permission was given for the closure of Ramsgate MPD. The BTC wanted to arrange a test of the ETH system fitted to the locomotives. It was agreed that a locomotive would be released at the end of January 1961 for three weeks.
The Electrification Committee met in February 1961. Delivery of the first of the second batch of locomotives was due to start on 24 February and be complete by 7 July. The third batch was due to be delivered between 8 December and 23 February 1962 and the fourth batch by the end of June 1962. The final locomotive of the first batch, D6544, was delivered fourteen months later than the original delivery date. Delivery of the first of the second batch of locomotives was on 7 March. The committee met again in April. Although delivery of the second batch of locomotives was still on schedule for 7 July, by the time at Phase 2 of the electrification scheme was put into operation in June, there would be a shortfall of fifteen locomotives against the number required. When the committee met in May, delivery of the last of the second batch of locomotives had been put back to 15 July. The third batch would not start to be delivered until 23 February 1962, with completion by 31 March. The fourth batch was scheduled to be delivered between 23 January and 31 March 1962. The committee met again in July. Completion of the second batch of locomotives had been pushed back to 29 July. Start of deliveries of the third and fourth batches had been delayed, but final deliver dates remained the same. The Electrification Committee met for the final time on 14 September. Delivery of the fourth batch had started; 69 locomotives had been delivered up to that date. As Phase 2 of the electrification scheme had been implemented, the Southern Region set up the Traction Committee, which met for the first time on 15 December. Eighty-one of the 85 Restriction 4 locomotives had been delivered, but the final locomotive was not now due for delivery until 12 January 1962. Delivery of the locomotives for the Hastings line was due to start a week later, and be complete by 6 April 1962. At that meeting discussion took place in respect of the annual mileage the fleet would accrue. The original estimate of had been revised upwards to but had then been revised down to due to the introduction of electric multiple units for most passenger trains and changes in freight requirements. This meant that only 70 locomotives would be needed, leaving 28 surplus to requirements. Reallocation of the surplus locomotives was discussed. BTC approval was needed for reallocation, although the BTC had the power to order the locomotives to be reallocated. They could have challenged the Southern Region as to why the order had not been amended. By this time, two locomotives had been transferred to the Eastern Region to work cement trains between Cliffe, Kent and Uddingston, Lanarkshire.
The Traction Committee met again in January 1962. With seven locomotives allocated to the cement trains, work had to be found for the remaining 21. If these locomotives were allocated to the South Western Division to work tank trains from Fawley Refinery to various destinations in the London Midland and Western Regions, 36 steam locomotives could be withdrawn from service. The oil traffic was a new introduction, for which no provision had been made in the locomotive building programme. By the time then next meeting of the committee in March, some of the locomotives had been temporarily transferred to the South Western Division. The BTC were apprised of the situation in respect of the spare locomotives. It was stated that the new timetable due for introduction in June had a substantial reduction in freight, which had only been recently decided upon and could not have been foreseen when the locomotives were ordered. The BTC replied that they were concerned at the drastic cut in numbers required. They felt that the locomotives could be used following Stages 2 and 3 of the electrification programme. Another possibility was using the locomotives in the Sheffield area, where the order of a number of Type 3 locomotives had already been authorised. The locomotives lack of steam heating was a factor against their use however. The committee responded that the use following the implementation of Stages 2 and 3 held good. They appreciated the BTCs position over the Sheffield scheme, but would put forward proposals that kept the locomotives on the Southern Region. In March, the General Manager's department held a meeting to discuss the use of the locomotives on the Fawley oil trains. The Traction Committee met in April. They were told that the South Western Division had identified that the twenty-one locomotives could be used on the Fawley oil trains. A formal justification would be made to the BTC for the use of locomotives on the cement trains. This traffic was profitable and the contract had been negotiated on the basis that diesel locomotives would be used.
A meeting between the Southern and Eastern Regions on 31 May resulted in a decision that only four locomotives would be needed to work the cement trains. The Central Division had identified that the three spare locomotives could be used on freight trains between and. The BTC met on 29 June to consider the reallocation of the spare locomotives. Fifteen were to be allocated to the Fawley oil traffic, nine to cross-London freight traffic from Feltham and four to the Cliffe cement traffic. The use of the locomotives on the South Western Division would allow the withdrawal of forty-nine steam locomotives and a loss of thirty-five jobs. A meeting of Southern Region officials on 16 July discussed the exact information that the BTC required for the permanent reallocation of the spare locomotives. The issue would be discussed at a Board meeting of the Southern Region to be held on 6 September. The Western Region had reservations about the locomotives working the Fawley oil trains single-headed. A test with a 1,000-ton train between Winchester and on 31 July had been successful. The Western Region had agreed that these trains could be worked single-handed by 12 September, when the Traction Committee met.