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Class 33 Book


slilley
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11 hours ago, Bert Cheese said:

I ordered a copy from BRCW which arrived very well packed within a couple of days recently.

 

First impressions are very good, hopefully I can find time at the weekend to have a proper read...thanks for the effort involved Simon...

Bert

 

Good to know you like it. Hopefully as you read it over the coming days you will enjoy it even more.

 

Best wishes

 

Simon

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11 hours ago, Ben04uk said:

can anyone set out the contents page for this book? Interested to see what it covers.

Ben

It covers their full life story from inception to around Feb 2020.

 

1. Background & Origins

2. Design & Construction

3. Into Service

4. The 1960s

5. Livery Changes - The Transition from Green to Blue

6. Bournemouth Electrification Scheme

7. Maintaining the Fleet

8. The 1970s

9. Names - The BR Era

10. The 1980s - Changes of Work & Withdrawals

11. Life Expectancy & Further Withdrawals

12. Privatisation

13. Preservation

 

Appendix 1: Locomotive History

Appendix 2: Main Technical Dimensions

Bibliography

Index. 

 

Hope this helps. It is just over 81,000 words for the main text, over 200 photos black and white and colour most of which are published for the first time. These include pictures of the locos under construction, something rarely if ever seen.

 

Available from http://www.crecy.co.uk/the-class-33s

 

Best wishes

 

Simon

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8 minutes ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

I usually post a review on "Amazon", when I buy a book Simon. though I forgot to do one when I got your Class 47 tome...:o I suppose it's not too late to do one now, come to think of it.

 

Looking forward to the Class 33s. 

 

Stay safe and think of Peaks.....

Peter

 

I shall look out for your review. You could still add a review of the 47 book if you wished. 

 

As for future writing, well watch this space. Hopefully I will be able to make an announcement on something soon.

 

Best wishes

 

Simon

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54 minutes ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

I've just posted a review of your Class 47 book on Amazon, Simon. 

Thank you for that Peter. To pick up on your comment about allocation histories of each loco, we did consider that briefly, but given how some locos had moved around a great deal, it would have added goodness knows how many more pages to the book. Besides that information is easily accessible online so its exclusion from the book was not a major ommission.

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On 13/10/2020 at 15:19, slilley said:

Thank you for that Peter. To pick up on your comment about allocation histories of each loco, we did consider that briefly, but given how some locos had moved around a great deal, it would have added goodness knows how many more pages to the book. Besides that information is easily accessible online so its exclusion from the book was not a major ommission.


I agree, I’ve got the recent book on Co-bo diesels which includes individual locomotive histories in detail.  Even for such a small class it makes the book very big and very expensive. I suspect the price put many potential buyers off.   Not read my copy of the 33s yet.

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My review coming out in the Jan/Feb SLS Journal is favourable. The review copy will be going into the Society library now I have some Christmas money to allocate a personal copy will be ordered.

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Hi Mr Lilley,

 

As an ex-HG Driver, it would be unthinkable for Me to not indulge in a copy of this book, and I’m very glad I did!

 

The pictures are fantastic and very much stir memories of some great times working with these machines. Although I never personally signed 33’s, I managed plenty of Driving them, I don’t actually think I had a bad day at work where 33’s were involved...I’ll be diving into the text a bit later on.

 

A couple of searing ‘Trainman’ memories for me were firstly, when taking the nuclear flask along the Dungeness branch with 33 008 ‘Eastleigh’ around 1995 or 1996(?). This was well before mobile phones and internet were commonplace and yet, every foot crossing was lined with enthusiasts who somehow knew there was a celeb loco on the front, I still haven’t worked out how they all knew in advance, considering the last minute substitution instead of the booked Class 73?

 

Then, there was the time we had 2 x 33’s in full multi on the Marcons Angersteins to Kings Cross FT. We had been brought to a stand on North Pole bank, heading towards Mitre Bridge Junction with twenty loaded wagons. I’d poked my head out of the back cab window to listen to these two lift the train away from a steep uphill standing start and at the front, I could see my colleague with his head out of the window trying to communicate something to me, gesticulating away but not getting the message to me however much he waved his arms and waggled his fingers!

Anyhow, the engines wound up and I noticed the exhaust manifold glowing bright red as the train started to move, weirdly, the Locos appeared to become quieter the harder they worked! But, lift the train they did, smoothly, all two thousand odd tonnes of it, no stress, no drama, no fuss.

On arrival at Kings Cross I asked what my colleague had been trying to tell me back at North Pole, to which he replied

 

”I was trying to tell ya to get your head in, as the wind resistance would cause problems getting away”

 

Comedians in the workplace, don’t you just love em?

 

So, one final thought on the book....such a shame how this shows us in glorious technicolour, what the modern railway has lost in terms of multiple working coupling compatibility. The whole ‘Blue Star’ thing was such a useful tool in keeping things going as opposed to modern systems where the computer says no.

 

Talking of useful, back to that book......I can already see it was one hell of a purchase!

 

Kindest Regards,

 

Shed.

 

 

 

 

 

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Well... overall a good read but unless I’ve missed it, you’d be hard placed to realise that Class 33s had daily passenger work (both HG and EH locos) on the Reading - Tonbridge line for over ten years, from the withdrawal of steam traction in 1965 until 1978 when additional DEMUs became available to support the six Tadpoles. Not even a photo on one of the trains. As my local line growing up, that’s a disappointment.

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On 02/01/2021 at 18:25, brushman47544 said:

Well... overall a good read but unless I’ve missed it, you’d be hard placed to realise that Class 33s had daily passenger work (both HG and EH locos) on the Reading - Tonbridge line for over ten years, from the withdrawal of steam traction in 1965 until 1978 when additional DEMUs became available to support the six Tadpoles. Not even a photo on one of the trains. As my local line growing up, that’s a disappointment.

Andrew

 

Thank you for the feedback. I know I mentioned their work over the Reading to Tonbidge line and I can only apologise that it was not as much as you had hoped for. I was originally contracted to write 70,000 words on them, and delivered a manuscript that was 81,450 words. Gallons into pint pots springs to mind.

 

Best wishes

 

Simon

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On 28/12/2020 at 14:36, Robert Shrives said:

Agreed a good read, shared in office yesterday. Good pics as well keep me entertained and better informed on the build history. 

Thanks for investing the time and effort! 

Robert  

Robert

 

Thank you for that. Good to hear that you enjoyed it.

 

Best wishes

 

Simon

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