Mid-Norfolk answers KESR’s SOS with Class 33 diesel loan
AN SOS – Save Our Services – issued by the Kent & East Sussex Railway as the mid-August heatwave continued was answered by the Mid-Norfolk Railway with the offer of a Class 33 diesel.
Staff and volunteers at the KESR became concerned after switching to diesel-hauled trains to eliminate the threat of a spark from a steam locomotive starting a lineside fire, but as a heritage line based on steam, diesel motive power was in short supply in what was the railway’s peak month.
Fortune, however, smiled on the Tenterden-based railway thanks to three KESR volunteers who were 75 miles away assisting another heritage line, the Epping & Ongar Railway, using their track maintenance machinery on heavy infrastructure work.
During a casual conversation about locomotive availability, Jamie Douglas and his fellow volunteers were told that the Mid-Norfolk Railway may be able to loan a diesel, and within days a hire was agreed and Class 33 Bo-Bo No. 33202 arrived in Kent from Dereham and started passenger operations on August 13.
KESR operations manager Peter Salmon said: “It was a huge relief given the weather forecast and meant we had another diesel to ensure we could deliver services in our peak month of operation in the main season.
“The continuing period of extreme fire risk meant it would have been irresponsible to operate our usual steam service.”
Explaining how it was possible to put the Class 33 to work so soon, he said: “Testing, commissioning, and crew familiarisation were all undertaken, and with a number of our volunteers already competent for this type of diesel locomotive, we were able to put it into service very quickly. The loan is an impressive example of how co-operation between railways helps overcome challenges.”
No. 33202, which carries the name Dennis G. Robinson after the owner’s father, was built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Co in February 1962 as D6587 and allocated to Hither Green (73C) before being transferred the following year to the Hastings shed of St Leonards (73D).
It returned to Hither Green in 1967 and was renumbered under the TOPS system in 1973.
It was then withdrawn in 2007 after a service life of 45 years.
The locomotive, which will remain on the KESR until next month, is no stranger to the area, for when based at St Leonards it would often work on the Tonbridge-Hastings line, which the original KESR (that ran from 1900 to 1954) joined at Robertsbridge.
While at the KESR it will share duties with D9526, a Class 14 ‘Teddy bear’ 0-6-0 on long-term loan from the West Somerset Railway as a stand-in for fellow Class 14 D9504, which is currently undergoing overhaul.