#3533· Class 33
British Rail Class 33
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company· from 1960· class of 98 Bo′Bo′ 1550hp diesel-electric locomotives
4 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 33 008 Woking station: Barry Lewis· CC BY 2.0
- 2. BR 33 208: Murgatroyd49· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3. Class 33 D6501 Buckfastleigh: PeterSkuce· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 4. Dartford station Class 33 'Crompton' 33033 February 1991: themightyhood· Public domain
what is it?
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.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 66 years ago, in 1960.
- 1.2 MW is about 14 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- 15.2 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Still in service after 66 years.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1960–1962
- in service from
- 1960
- status
- in service
- number built
- 98
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company
- operators
- British Rail, Southern Region of British Railways, Eastern Region of British Railways, Direct Rail Services, DB Cargo UK, FM Rail, West Coast Railway Company, heritage railway
- top speed
- 137 km/h
- power
- 1.2 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Bo′Bo′
- length
- 15.2 m
- nicknames
- Cromptons (All locomotives), Bagpipes (33/1s only), Slim Jims (33/2s only)
- Dutch name
- Class 33
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4970769, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 33 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.