PHOTO REPORT -
NEWLY OVERHAULED CLASS 33 'STAN SYMES' UNDERTAKES SHUNTING DUTIES AT HARMAN'S CROSS - 10th March 2007
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News Item and Photo Report from Andrew P.M. Wright - dated 11th March 2007
Official photographer & press officer, Swanage Railway.
Photographs are copyright Andrew P.M. Wright. To view a larger version of any photograph on this page, just click on the thumbnail photograph and subsequently use the Back button on your browser to return to this page. Photos on these pages are low resolution versions. Full resolution photos are available for media use.

Andrew P.M. Wright has supplied over 100 great photos of Class 33 diesel loco D6515 'Stan Symes' (BR TOPS number 33 012) on shunting duties after its recent ovehaul. To see the full set of Andrew's photos, please scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Class 33 diesel loco D6515 'Stan Symes' stands at Harmans Cross on 10th March 2007

Fresh from its winter overhaul and shining like a new pin thanks to its fresh paint job, the Swanage Railway's Class 33 diesel-electric locomotive D6515 'Stan Symes' has stretched its legs and left the confines of Swanage station to undertake shunting duties at Harman's Cross.

Class 33 diesel loco D6515 'Stan Symes' (BR TOPS number 33 012) at Harmans Cross on 10th March 2007.

The activity - which saw the newly repainted 1959/1960 built locomotive resplendent in its two-tone green livery with grey roof and yellow cab ends - took place on the morning of Saturday 10th March, 2007.

There is something about the sound of a 1,550 horsepower Sulzer engine drifting on the spring breeze at a country station with, in the background, the Purbeck Hills as they dip down to Kimmeridge and Worbarrow Bay.

The 1,550 horsepower Sulzer engine of Class 33 diesel loco D6515 'Stan Symes'

But that is precisely what I was able to enjoy as the Class 33 'Crompton' built at the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company undertook its duties between the service train - hauled by ex-BR Standard Class 4 Tank No. 80104 built at Brighton in 1955 - and the two-coach driver experience trains hauled by fellow ex-BR Standard Class 4 Tank No. 80078 built at Brighton in 1954.

Class 33 diesel loco D6515 'Stan Symes' waits in the sidings at Harmans Cross on 10th March while being passed the service train - hauled by ex-BR Standard Class 4 Tank No. 80104 built at Brighton in 1955. Also working on 10th March were the two-coach driver experience trains hauled by fellow ex-BR Standard Class 4 Tank No. 80078 built at Brighton in 1954.

Equipped with electric train heating equipment - a novelty back in the early 1960s - the BR Type 3 Class 33s are known as 'Cromptons' after the manufacturer of the locomotives' motors and generators and were designed and manufactured for the Southern Region of British Rail.

The crew enjoying the delights of the newly outshopped Class 33 owned by the 71A Locomotive Group were long-time Swanage Railway volunteer Pete Duncalfe from Wareham as driver and Simon Moore from Swanage at the second man and shunter.

Long-time Swanage Railway volunteer Pete Duncalfe (right) from Wareham as driver and Simon Moore (left) from Swanage at the second man and shunter

The sight - and sound - of a Class 33 diesel-electric locomotive shunting a quiet country station - was a common sight in the 1960s and one that could still be enjoyed at Ringwood on the 'Old Road' to Brockenhurst until 1968, West Moors until 1974 and Wimborne until May, 1977.

Indeed, D6515 - whose 1970s BR TOPS number was 33 012 - made its own piece of Dorset railway history, being the last Class 33 to clear the large yard at Wimborne station of wagons after the line closed to traffic in May, 1977.

Simon Moore, second man on board the Class 33 diesel loco D6515 'Stan Symes', receives the signal token from the Swanage signalman, Mike Rogers from Wareham, at Swanage signal box on 10th March 2007. The loco is driven by Long-time Swanage Railway volunteer Pete Duncalfe

'Stan Symes' - named after the BR Bournemouth driver who was based at the motive power depot from 1939 to 1987 and who helped train the Swanage Railway's fledgling train crews in the 1980s - used to run on the Swanage branch during the days of steam; hauling London trains to and from Swanage between 1963 and 1966.

Its push-pull fitted Class 33 sisters - hauling or propelling the new Bournemouth electrification Mark One 4TC stock - provided the motive power for London trains that ran down to Corfe Castle and Swanage between July, 1967, and October, 1969, when the through workings were withdrawn.

The Class 33s still visited the doomed branch line on special ramblers' trains - sometimes double-heading the Mark One 3TC and 4TC stock. After the branch line was closed on Monday, 3rd January, 1972, several Class 33s ran down the branch as far as Corfe Castle on track-lifting trains during the summer of 1972.

But, the end of the Swanage branch was not the end of the line's association with the Class 33s because the locomotives continued to run down as far as Furzebrook - three miles from Worgret Junction - on the ball clay trains. The Class 33s also hauled oil trains from the BP Wytch Farm depot opposite the Furzebrook clay sidings, sometimes being double-headed.

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