SECOND HAND / REPAIRED OO GAUGE MODELS #1 - LIMA CLASS 33 [D6506]

Lima Class 33 - D6506. Came to me as a non runner. Has had a good service and now runs nicely in both directions. It had already received a lot of detail and love from it's previous owner, beginning life as a simple Lima RTR model they have added some bogie and buffer beam details and darkened the vents and all in all I think this is a nice loco for it's age.

For a relatively simple, early Lima model I think it's been very nicely detailed and fits well with my BR/60-70s period. Head code added to the drivers end 6A and there are red codes showing at the other end. Much easier to examine these OO Gauge locomotives, having spent the last ten years or so working with N Gauge, and clearly my poor eyes are suffering. Taken this apart with the body easing off with a little care, then unscrew the bogies so you can examine things. Checked all connections are good which they were and removed some grease which might have been clogging things up a little. Apply small amount of current and things begin to light up, put the chassis back together on only my test track ensure that there is some life present. After then reassembling the body too, gave it a 20 min run at slow speed to not overdo things. Only noted at the end that this has slightly different buffers, larger at the rear end compared with standard smaller 'round' at the running end. Doesn't bother me much it's still a lovely model and suits my general era perfectly.

CLASS 33 BACKGROUND

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 (1,550 bhp) 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 (BRCW) 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.

Would regularly be seen on the Southern Region covering the Fawley Oil refinery services, also based at Hither Green they would operate freight services down to Dover and the Night Ferry service too. Most famously they provided the motive power for the then unelectrified section between Bournemouth and Weymouth, traversing down the roads and parked cars to reach Weymouth Quayside. Sadly that route is now a thing of the past. 

CLASS 33 IN PRESERVATION

Twenty-nine locomotives have been preserved, probably makes it one of the largest preserved class in existence?

There are two locomotives that carry the same name, Eastleigh, 33 008 and 33 021, I have the latter in N Gauge which carries a red livery. There are plenty which still serve the southern region Heritage Railways such as the Bluebell and Swanage railways, but they can also be found far and wide including the East Lancashire Railway, Carnforth, and the Mid Norfolk Railway which demonstrates the versatility of this class and probably why it continues to have gathered plenty of mileage even into 'retirement' from official mail line service.