If this should be on a different thread please redirect. Does anyone have details of class 33 haulage in the Birmingham area in the 70s and 80s? I recall travelling from Reading to New St in December 1981, stuck sitting in the guards van (BSK) on top of masses of luggage, discussing the class 33 loco with the guard who reckoned it was rare for them to venture to Birmingham. Not sure if there was no heating either. We did wonder if the train would make it to Birmingham, as it seemed under powered for the 10 coach train.
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Class 33 diesels Birmingham
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Romsey
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Back in the 1970's train crew route knowledge didn't spread as far as it does nowadays. Eastleigh and Basingstoke only signed as far as Banbury. Reading and Didcot freight links would have signed further north, but didn't normally sign class 33's.
The only times that 33's went further north where when a Southern driver had transferred "up north". At least one Saltley and one Stoke driver took 33's to all sorts of locations beyond Birmingham on oil or car trains. All that changed when Cree mixed traction signed them for the few years of class 33's on the North and West.
The only times that 33's went further north where when a Southern driver had transferred "up north". At least one Saltley and one Stoke driver took 33's to all sorts of locations beyond Birmingham on oil or car trains. All that changed when Cree mixed traction signed them for the few years of class 33's on the North and West.
Aha, I do recall seeing a 33 at Bescot on a freight once (possibly the oil train?). They were so rare noone believed me when I told them! The passenger train I took was 33 all the way to New St, maybe the driver had a traction inspector with him from Banbury? It was a cold snowy day so I guess the booked loco had failed to materialise at Reading and the 33 that must've brought it from the southern region just soldiered on.
gg1
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In my years as a 'spotter from 1988 to 1991 (ish) I only once recall seeing a 33 at New Street, hauling what I thought at the time was a rake of mk1s but could conceivably have been a couple of 4TC sets.
SuspectUsual
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I’m sure I got a 33 from New Street in the early 80s, possibly to Stafford. Sadly all the notebooks have long since disappeared
Mine too, I found some Ian Allen spotters books but they dont say where I saw the locos. I only recall the journey in 1981 because the weather was so bad I couldn't get a lift home and literally was moving house with all my luggage! You simply could not do that by train nowadays!
There was a Fridays only Portsmouth to Leeds that regularly took class 33s to New Street in the early 80s.
There’s some useful detail on it here by Peter Hall:
There’s some useful detail on it here by Peter Hall:
Thanks, very interesting. My 33 haulage in 1981 may well have been Friday 18th December, 6 months before what might have become regular turns.There was a Fridays only Portsmouth to Leeds that regularly took class 33s to New Street in the early 80s.
There’s some useful detail on it here by Peter Hall:
No problem. It looked like an interesting service that could produce all kinds of different locos in each direction from Birmingham.
randyrippley
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ten coaches would have exceeded the loco ETH rating
I guess so, although a 33 could definitely handle that kind of load if need be. Pretty punchy machines...
I can add a few to the list:
04/01/81 33007 19:22 New Street - Reading (14:40 Newcastle - Poole) via Coventry. 20->45' late. This was load 12.
The train right behind this, the 18:26 Manchester Piccadilly - Paddington - was 31117 + 31121!
23/05/82 33005 03:57 Crewe - Birmingham New Street via Cannock. Believed to be the first passenger run of a 33 via Cannock (unless anybody knows different).
,,, and in later years
04/09/96 33202 + 33025 16:28 Reading - Birmingham New Street (14:20 Brighton - Manchester Piccadilly) via Coventry. 80->90' late,having replaced a failed 47 on the Southern.
04/01/81 33007 19:22 New Street - Reading (14:40 Newcastle - Poole) via Coventry. 20->45' late. This was load 12.
The train right behind this, the 18:26 Manchester Piccadilly - Paddington - was 31117 + 31121!
23/05/82 33005 03:57 Crewe - Birmingham New Street via Cannock. Believed to be the first passenger run of a 33 via Cannock (unless anybody knows different).
,,, and in later years
04/09/96 33202 + 33025 16:28 Reading - Birmingham New Street (14:20 Brighton - Manchester Piccadilly) via Coventry. 80->90' late,having replaced a failed 47 on the Southern.
matchmaker
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I have noted in my 1971 Ian Allan Combined Volume that I spotted 6523 and 6541. As I live in Scotland, the only time I could have seen them was on a £5 day trip to Euston from Glasgow Central in or around 1973. 2x 50s to Preston then 86 to Euston.
Of course, the locomotives were all built in Birmingham ...
Separately, they always had some far-ranging duties. Even in the 1960s-70s a pair of 33s used to double-head the daily cement train from Kent to Scotland as far north as York, so must have been signed by some ER crews. It was quite an out-of-territory run for them, so featured in the magazines of the time. They were commonly to be seen in the afternoon in the sidings south of York, where they handed over to a Class 40 and picked up the return working.
Separately, they always had some far-ranging duties. Even in the 1960s-70s a pair of 33s used to double-head the daily cement train from Kent to Scotland as far north as York, so must have been signed by some ER crews. It was quite an out-of-territory run for them, so featured in the magazines of the time. They were commonly to be seen in the afternoon in the sidings south of York, where they handed over to a Class 40 and picked up the return working.
Mostly only a single loco in my experience
Would that explain the cold train? Mind you it was snowy and very cold that December.
eastwestdivide
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If you didn't go beyond Euston, then these could possibly have been in the Willesden area - they certainly worked freight and excursions to/from the SR around West London for a loco change 'the other side'.
matchmaker
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I didn't get past Euston - the furthest I got was Collector's Corner!
Mitchell Hurd
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What a shame such direct services don't exist now - those long journeys in a Mark 1 behind a 33 part of the way (meaning until Birmingham New Street where it would have reversed) must have been luxury
!randyrippley
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Don't forget it wasn't unknown for the Southern to send XC services back to Brum in the care of a pair of electro-diesels in the certain knowledge it would be a one-way trip due to cooling failure. A 33 seems to be a good thing in comparison.What a shame such direct services don't exist now - those long journeys in a Mark 1 behind a 33 part of the way (meaning until Birmingham New Street where it would have reversed) must have been luxury
Possibly though may be the coaches were steam heated only.
The ETH limit was 8, despite which Waterloo - Exeter had sets of 9 including two vans - presumably unheated
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Gloster
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The Salisbury-Exeter limit was 8 coaches, or 9 with the ETH off, but there are some hefty gradients on that route. I am not very familiar with Reading-Birmingham, but I don’t think that it is as much of a challenge. (I stand to be corrected.)
33s regularly lifted 8 coaches from a standing start up the bank from Exeter St David’s, I had a cab ride in one once up there and although it was slower than a 50 it didn’t have any problems even through the tunnel on damp rails.
Excellent little machines
I started trainspotting in 1967 and did the most intense travelling with two older friends called Mick and Dave in 1969-1971 after most of my other spotting friends had given up. There was only one loco on the whole of BR which I had seen and neither of the other two had - D6500, which I saw on the cement train passing through either York or Doncaster in 1967, and the prize of the day. Much to my chagrin, it turned up at Eastleigh on one bash a couple of years later where they both gleefully "copped" it.
GusB
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Is there any chance that we could have that post in English, please?
43096
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New St - station in BirminghamIs there any chance that we could have that post in English, please?
Crompton - nickname for Class 33
phots - photographs
Bit late to the party but was mooching through my old moves book last night. Sunday afternoons at New St in the early 80s were a good bet for Cromptons heading south on the Leeds-Portsmouths. Back in 1984 the Sunday 1518 Leeds - Portsmouth produced 33012 on 25/3/84, 33020 on 26/2, 33203 on 22/1 (only went to Guildford that day, apparently), 33034 on 20/11/83, 33119 on 30/10/83, 33038 on 23/10/83, 33043 on 9/10/83 and 33052 on 11/9/83. Further back into 1982 I’ve got the 1511 Leeds - Portsmouth was a pair 33111/027 on 2/9/82.
Thanks for that detailed intel.
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