‘Crompton’ crash mystery
I AM interested if any of my fellow readers can identify this Type 3/Class 33 ‘Crompton’? The images are from the summer of 1966 and taken just west of Addlestone station on the down line.
The ‘33’ had jumped a set of points on a mile-long siding leading to Coxes Lock Mill after shunting grain wagons to the mill, which was a common occurrence at the time. The telegraph pole is clearly the only item stopping the loco from rolling into someone’s back yard.
As I recall, they righted the loco during the night, so that the Weybridge-Addlestone-Chertsey line remained open during the day. You could see the loco from the station foot bridge, about 200 metres away.
Steve Clarke
By email