33004 climbs out of the Severn Tunnel and approaches Pilning on 11 October 1986 with the 1O43 14:05 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour service. Sudbrook Pumping Station can just be seen in the distance (on the other side of the River Severn, directly above the tunnel entrance). This was later largely obscured with the construction of the new Severn Bridge approach road.

33008 Eastleigh & 33119 pass Lee with 4-TC set 8018 on 17 June 1989, working the 12:30 from Eastleigh, one of three special trains run to celebrate 150 years of railways in the town. The circular route was via Romsey (reverse) and Southampton. A warm summers day, with intermittent hazy sunshine.

33008 Eastleigh & 33119 have 4-TC set 8018 in tow as they pass near to Broadlands (to the south of Romsey) with the 15:00 special from Eastleigh on 17 June 1989, one of three special trains run to celebrate 150 years of railways in the town. The train is just passing under the A27 Romsey to Southampton road.

In brilliant sunshine (which unfortunately was not to last), 33008 Eastleigh & 33026 Seafire storm away from Kidderminster on 30 July 1995 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z33 08:05 Bristol Temple Meads to Carlisle 'Crompton Crusader' railtour. If Kidderminster is an unusual location for a pair of 33s, then the Settle to Carlisle line later in the day certainly would be!

33008 Eastleigh & 33026 Seafire pass Greenholme with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z33 18:34 Carlisle to Bristol Temple Meads 'Crompton Crusader' railtour on 30 July 1995. Shortly after taking this picture and driving back onto the M6 at Tebay, I went through one of the most spectacular thunderstorms I have ever encountered. So it was a good job that the train wasn't running late!

33015 heads south through the Herefordshire countryside at St Devereux on 10 November 1984 with the 10:03 Crewe to Cardiff Central service. These trains remained loco hauled for a further two years, before DMUs took over - a very poor substitute for six Mk1 coaches! Although they were Southern Region locos, as this picture shows the 33s did stray considerably from their home area on day to day workings in the 1980s.

33017 heads down the scenic Wylye Valley with the 12:05 Bristol Temple Meads to Portsmouth Harbour service on 8 March 1986. It was only a few miles from here that this loco met its end less than two years later, when it hit a fallen tree while working a Portsmouth to Bristol service. At that late stage in their careers, even minor damage was enough reason for withdrawal. 33017 was placed in store for a while, before being moved to Vic Berry's of Leicester, where it was broken up in 1990.

33019 Griffon & 33057 Seagull pull away from Banbury on 29 July 1995 with the Hertfordshire Railtours 1Z33 07:18 Paddington to Long Marston 'Honey Monster' railtour. 47348 St. Christopher's Railway Home can be seen on the rear of the train. The Cromptons seem to be doing their best to replace the local all pervading smell of coffee (from the Kraft Foods factory) with the smell of diesel fumes!

33019 Griffon & 33057 Seagull amble down the MoD Fenny Compton to Kineton line with the Hertfordshire Railtours 1Z33 07:18 Paddington to Long Marston 'Honey Monster' railtour on 29 July 1995. They have just passed over the M40 motorway and are about to enter the confines of the Army base. Army locos 277 & 273 would then be used for a tour of the camp.

33019 Griffon slows down for the severe speed restriction at the Congerstone footpath crossing on the Battlefield Line, during the line's Diesel Gala on 19 September 2009. It is working the 09:00 Shackerstone to Shenton service. The telegraph pole on the left certainly has been in use for a good few years!

33019 Griffon powers away from the speed restriction at Congerstone with the 16:45 Shenton to Shackerstone service during the Battlefield Line's Diesel Gala on 19 September 2009. There is certainly a mixture of liveries in this train!

Wearing its startling red livery (which thankfully it only carried for a short while), 33021 Eastleigh approaches Hinksey Yard (near Oxford) with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z41 05:30 Crewe to Dungeness 'Marshes Marauder' railtour on 7 April 2001. Although the tour had departed exactly on time, as often happens with railtours, it was 45 minutes late by the time it passed me, although thankfully just ahead of the Turbo unit coming down the relief line!

33025 Sultan & 33116 Hertfordshire Railtours pass Alrewas on 28 January 1995 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z27 05:20 Swindon to Gladstone Dock 'Gladstone Bag' railtour. Although a pair of 33s would normally be quite enough, the highlight of this tour would have been the use of a pair of 73s in the Merseyside area, well away from their former Southern Region home. However, MerseyRail would not sanction their use due to the loco's poor condition.

Class 33s were used to meeting third rail EMUs whilst working on the Southern Region, however this is not the Southern, it is on the Wirral! 33025 Sultan & 33116 Hertfordshire Railtours pass Hooton on 28 January 1995 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z27 05:20 Swindon to Gladstone Dock 'Gladstone Bag' railtour. The tour had just arrived from the Chester direction behind 56036 (the line goes off to the left by the fence in the background) and after reversing in Hooton station is now heading off towards Frodsham. This manoeuvre has slightly delayed 508125 which is working the 14:40 Ellesmere Port to Liverpool Central service.

33026 Seafire & 33008 Eastleigh speed through Ruabon on 30 July 1995 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z33 08:05 Bristol Temple Meads to Carlisle 'Crompton Crusader' railtour. Since this picture was taken another housing estate has sprung up on former railway land on the left edge of this picture.

With the driver seemingly pointing out something of interest up the valley off to the right, 33026 Seafire & 33008 Eastleigh cross Smardale Viaduct on 30 July 1995 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z33 08:05 Bristol Temple Meads to Carlisle 'Crompton Crusader' railtour.

33030 bursts out of Buckhorn Weston Tunnel on 6 July 1991 with the 1V10 11:14 Southampton to Plymouth Network SouthEast service. This train was booked for Class 50 haulage at the time and I remember being disappointed with this substitution. However, looking back on it, a Rail Blue 33, Inter City van and NSE stock certainly makes an interesting picture. Class 33s did of course appear on the route, along with ever increasing numbers of 47s towards the end of loco haulage.

33032 passes Ebbw Junction, Newport with the 1V62 12:10 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central service on 21 October 1985. Alexandra Dock Junction Yard can be seen in the background, while the site of the former steam shed is on the left. Although an excellent location for viewing westbound trains, it is impossible to take pictures of anything in the other direction, as this redundant road bridge is right up against the A4042 Newport by-pass.

33035 bursts out from under the bridge at Little Langford in the Wylye Valley on 8 March 1986 with the 1V24 10:10 Portsmouth Harbour to Bristol Temple Meads service. The 33s had just over two years to go on these trains before giving way to Sprinters. Both the locos and stock remained virtually exclusively rail blue until the very end.

33039 passes Bathampton with the 09:15 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central service on 1 September 1985. Not only has the loco been consigned to history, being withdrawn in May 1989 and cut up MC Metals at Glasgow two years later, but the bridge in the background has also been demolished. This was a farm occupation bridge, and as can be seen in this view it gave an excellent view of Bathampton Junction, where the Bradford-on-Avon line diverged from the Great Western Mainline.

A technique that I have only rarely used, but which can be very effective is panning, where the idea is to follow the train with the camera and fire the shutter while still keeping the camera moving, thereby giving the impression of speed. The possibilities of getting it wrong are endless, as to be effective a slow shutter speed is needed. At this time I was using two cameras on a bracket, which makes it even more difficult. However, it seems to have worked here. 33045 passes Little Langford on 8 March 1986 with the 1V25 11:10 Portsmouth Harbour to Bristol Temple Meads service.

33048 passes Keynsham with the 13:10 Portsmouth Harbour to Bristol Temple Meads service on 14 May 1988, the last day of Class 33 operation on the route. Although the hills in the background (part of the limestone hill range that further north are known as the Cotswolds) form an pleasant backdrop, the location here is a little restricted for photography, although thankfully there is just a sufficient gap to get a four coach train in the picture. The following day services ion this line went over to Class 155 DMU operation.

33053 accelerates away from Ferry Meadows with the 1M48 13:06 Peterborough to Wansford service on 1 March 2008., during the Nene Valley Railway's Diesel Gala. The stock being used here is former Western Region Class 117 DMU 51401, 59508, & 51367. This is made up from vehicles from former sets L419 L421, & L429.

33056 The Burma Star & 33021 pass Sevington with the 6C56 11:23 Grain to Shakespeare Cliff on 2 June 1989, conveying Channel Tunnel concrete lining sections. At this time construction of the tunnel was well underway, but the meeting of the British and French tunnels was still a year away. Class 33s were employed extensively on works trains, not just these concrete section trains, but ballast and spoil as well. This pair certainly look impressive in their matching Railfreight Construction livery, and they also sounded impressive too on such a heavy load!

33057 puts on the power as it passes through Patchway station with the 1O79 12:05 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour service on 17 December 1983. Although I have a number of pictures of Class 33s on this route, in retrospect more effort should have been put into photographing these trains before they went over to Class 155 operation in 1988. Of course now even the Class 155s are history - time marches on!

33057 Seagull & 33019 Griffon throw out a spectacular column of clag as they accelerate away from Fenny Compton with the Hertfordshire Railtours 1Z33 07:18 Paddington to Long Marston 'Honey Monster' railtour on 29 July 1995. The tour had just traversed Kineton Army depot, and was now heading for another (Long Marston) via a reversal at Oxford.

Unusual motive power on the Cotswold Line. 33057 Seagull & 33019 Griffon pull away from Moreton-in-Marsh station on 29 July 1995 with the Hertfordshire Railtours 1Z33 17:05 Long Marston to Paddington 'Honey Monster' railtour. After a little late running earlier in the day, the tour was now running exactly to time, thanks to the nearly two hours of booked time at Long Marston allowing some recovery. The weedkilling train doesn't appear to have been this way recently, and certainly not up the two sidings!

33060 just manages to escape a patch of cloud, as it accelerates away from Sevington with another string of empty wagons for Shakespeare Cliff on 2 June 1989. It will shortly return with another load of Channel Tunnel spoil. The Sevington site can just be seen on the left of this picture.

33063 races through Winchfield with the 14:10 Waterloo to Salisbury service on 28 August 1987. One year after the launch of Network SouthEast the rebranding had only extended as far as the repainting of two of the coaches in this train, plus of course the inevitable red lamposts on the platforms. Long after the removal of freight services from the station, a coal merchant was still trading from near the up platform in 1987.

33065 Sealion passes Norton Fitzwarren on 30 October 1991 with the 6O74 11:20 Meldon Quarry to Tonbridge ballast train. Note the Taunton Cider vans on the right, a traffic flow that managed to briefly survive the end of Speedlink, which had ceased a few months before this picture was taken. In 1995 all cider production was moved to Shepton Mallet and this factory was closed.

Possibly the first ever visit of a Class 33 to Goole. 33103 waits to depart wrong line with 4-TC set 417 on 15 January 2000 with the Branch Line Society's 'River Don' railtour. The tour which had started from Birmingham New Street had earlier visited freight lines around Shirebrook and Sheffield before arriving at Goole via the little used Knottingley and Snaith line. The very brief stop here while the crew changed ends was just sufficient for this time exposure before the tour headed away into the night towards Doncaster, gaining the correct running line just after the level crossing to the south of the station.

33103 Swordfish leads 'Slim Jim' classmate 33202 Meteor through the Silver Birch lined cutting next to Kingsbury Brickworks at Dosthill with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z97 04:10 Yeovil Junction to Buxton 'Buxton Rotator' railtour on 1 May 2004.

33106 races past Newton Tony (between Salisbury and Andover) with the 09:29 Salisbury to Waterloo service on 19 April 1986, comprising 4TC trailer set 423. At this time the Salisbury trains were working in push pull mode using Class 33/1s, while the Exeter trains were principally in the hands of Class 50s. Although there are some good locations in the area, it is not recommended to venture too far, as the proximity to Porton Down makes the likelihood of the Military Police taking an interest in any photographers quite high!

Very nearly a unique picture. Apart from a local walking his dog, only one other photographer was standing in the rain at Stranraer Harbour on 18 May 2002 to witness the remarkable sight of a pair of Class 33s at this remote Scottish outpost. 33108 Vampire & 33021 Eastleigh slowly pull out of the Harbour station with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z33 18:32 (the previous day!) Crewe to Glasgow Central 'Rhins & Machars Crompton' railtour. 56106, on the other end of the train had brought the train in to Stranraer from Largs. As can be seen, the weather was absolutely terrible.

One of the attractions of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's Summer 2009 Diesel Gala was the arrival of 33109 Captain Bill Smith RNR from the East Lancashire Railway. It is seen here passing Bishops Cleeve with the 14:45 Winchcombe to Cheltenham Racecourse service on 10 July 2009.

The 1852 built Peel Tower (commemorating Sir Robert Peel, the founder of the modern police force) dominates the background of this view, as D6525 Captain Bill Smith RNR rounds the curve at Burrs on 7 March with the 2J84 16:16 Rawtenstall to Heywood service, during the East Lancashire Railway's Diesel Gala. Correct headcode on this one!

33110 approaches Water Eaton, on the Bicester to Oxford line with the Hertfordshire Railtours 1Z25 'Concrete Cow' railtour on 12 January 1985. Needless to say with a name like that, the tour had just visited Milton Keynes, and was heading back towards the Southern Region on what at the time was still a freight only line. The stock comprised 4-TC units 401 & 421, with 33106 on the rear working top'n'tail.

33110 & 33065 pass Gunstone Mill with the 6O74 11:20 Meldon to Tonbridge ballast train on 7 November 1990. Although the train appears to be running wrong line, what looks like a double track mainline is in fact two single lines. The right hand track is the Barnstaple branch, which the Meldon line joins at Crediton, a few miles to the east of this spot. Unfortunately I was experimenting with film in the Pentax 6x7 at this time, and this picture is taken on the truly awful Kodak Ektachrome 400, so apologies for the poor technical quality!

33116 Hertfordshire Rail Tours is appropriate traction for that company's 1Z33 07:35 Waterloo to Weymouth 'Push Pull Farwell' tour, seen here at Cockhill (near Castle Cary) on 22 January 1994. The two 4-TC units (417 & 410) had been leading from London to Bristol (via Exeter!) and are pictured here heading for the coast in fading light.

33116 (D6535) Hertfordshire Railtours passes through Tolworth station en-route to Chessington South with the D-Tours 'Tatty Cat' railtour on 4 March 1995. Utilising 4-VEP EMU 3581 as coaching stock, the tour started from Clapham Junction at 10:00, and traveled via Twickenham and Raynes Park to Waterloo. It then retraced its steps to Raynes Park, traveled down the Chessington Branch, before proceeding to Wimbledon, Guildford, Norwood Junction, Tattenham Court, Purley, Caterham, London Bridge, and finally Victoria. The 4.25 mile long Chessington branch was the last line to be constructed by the Southern Railway, opening just before the Second World War. All the stations on the branch have this distinctive 1930s Art Deco appearance with curved concrete platform awnings.

33116 Hertfordshire Railtours is appropriate motive power for the Hertfordshire Railtours 1Z33 08:33 Kings Cross to Skegness 'Swineshead Revisited' railtour on 22 March 1997. It is pictured here passing Saxondale in the company of classmate 33051 Shakespeare Cliff. With the various mixed combinations of coaching stock used on later railtours, note how professionally turned out and neat this rake of Inter City liveried Mk 1s looks (ignoring the single white roof!).

33117 passes the site of Bletchingdon station (or Bletchington as the GWR called it) with the 1E22 12:46 Fridays only Portsmouth Harbour to Leeds service on 17 June 1983. This train regularly brought a Class 33 to the Oxford to Banbury line during the 1980s. Although the loco survives, this viewpoint does not! While in 1983 the old station site was just an overgrown area with a few piles of abandoned timber, today it is a thriving industrial unit, and the whole area is dominated by towering piles of pallets! Even if it was possible to stand in this spot now, you wouldn't be able to see anything of the railway!

33201 & 33002 pass Newton St Cyres station on a cloudless 1 August 1990 with the 7V84 Eastleigh to Meldon Quarry ballast empties. This completely open view, with the remnants of the old down platform and various huts has since disappeared behind the inevitable wall of vegetation, leaving only a very head on picture from the bridge. Not of course that you are going to see a pair of 33s on freight at this location today!

D6586 approaches Heap Bridge on 3 July 2011 with the 2J83 14:45 Heywood to Rawtenstall service, during the East Lancashire Railway's Diesel Gala. D6586 is a long way from its original home, being one of the special narrow bodied Class 33s built for use on the Hastings line.

The unusual appearance of a couple of 'Slim Jim' 33s in the Thames Valley. 33202 & 33207 pass Culham with the Hertfordshire Railtours 1Z36 07:28 Clapham Junction to Carlisle 'Eden Serpent' railtour on 8 November 1986. Didcot Power Station dominates the background, at what used to be (and to some extent still is) a popular location for northbound trains in the Oxford area. Probably the main reason for this is that it is on a main road and you don't have to walk very far from your car!

33202 approaches Bradford-on-Avon with the 1O36 10:07 Bristol Temple Meads to Portsmouth Harbour service on 21 February 1987. 33202 was one of a dozen Class 33s built with a narrower body profile for working on the Hastings line with its restricted clearances. Class 33 haulage was to last just over a year on this route, and although I have a fair number of pictures, in hindsight a few more visits to the area wouldn't have gone amiss!

33202 passes Sevington on 2 June 1989 with a Shakespeare Cliff to Sevington spoil train. The wagons contain material excavated from the Channel Tunnel, which at this time was still far from complete, with the British and French ends still a year away from meeting up under the sea.

'Slim Jim' 33202 accelerates away from Swanley station with a short rake of ARC PGA stone hoppers on 30 May 1998. This bridge affords an excellent vantage point in both directions, although you do have to know which way something interesting is going to come from as the road is the very busy A20 Swanley bypass and is not easy to cross in a hurry!

Running 90 minutes late (which at least meant the rain had stopped!) 33202 Meteor & 33103 Swordfish pass Up Hatherley (near Cheltenham) with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z48 06:27 Salisbury to Crewe 'Crewe Crusader' railtour on 10 September 2005.

33202 Meteor & 33103 Swordfish head west near Codsall Wood with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z53 05:36 Taunton to Barmouth 'Cambrian Borderer' railtour on 29 April 2006. Still heavily backlit despite running an hour late, the 33s had taken over from 47703 at Birmingham New Street. At Machynlleth the 33s would split and work the train top'n'tail to Barmouth.

With just a very faint trace of evening sunlight remaining, 33207 passes South Marston (near Swindon) with the SEG / RCTS 1Z27 'Birmingham Boomerang' railtour on 16 June 1984. Starting from Waterloo at 08:00 this tour had visited Birmingham (naturally!), Shrewsbury, Llanwern, and Avonmouth before being pictured here en-route back to the capital. Although the buildings on the edge of Swindon can just be seen in the background, the relentless expansion of that town has resulted in this view having changing considerably since 1984. The field on the left is now occupied by a large retail park, while on the right a siding diverges into the Honda car plant.

33207 & 33029 pass Warton with the 6C51 11:51 Sellafield to Heysham Power Station nuclear flask on 9 June 2005. Here we have two thirds of the DRS Class 33 fleet, which was disbanded shortly after this picture was taken. 3100 hp is is possibly a little over the top for a single wagon! This was a lucky shot, as I just stopped off at the line on spec on my way to Scotland.

33207 Jim Martin crosses over the River Lochy at the appropriately named Lochyside with the Royal Scotsman 1H86 08:23 Spean Bridge to Fort William 'Western Tour' on 6 October 2007, which has just reversed at Fort William, and is now en-route to Mallaig, before returning to Fort William later in the day. Just a few years ago the sight of a Class 33 in Scotland would have been considered exceptional, but now this is a dedicated Royal Scotsman loco. As is often the case, Ben Nevis in the background is enveloped in cloud.

Running sedately through Ashchurch station five minutes early, and obviously not wanting to gain any more time prior to the Cheltenham pick up, 33207 Jim Martin & 33025 Glen Falloch work the Pathfinder Tours 1Z33 05:58 Crewe to Weymouth 'Dorset Coast Explorer / Great Wey Round' railtour on 23 August 2008. The seven inch difference in width between the narrow 'Hastings Gauge' loco at the front and the standard width machine can clearly be seen in this view.

33207 Jim Martin & 33025 Glen Falloch pass through Charlbury station with the 1Z34 14:36 Weymouth to Crewe 'Dorset Coast Explorer / Great Wey Round' railtour on 23 August 2008. No doubt the highlight of this tour for many on board was the visit to the south coast, but for me it was definitely the chance to see a pair of 'Cromptons' on the Cotswold Line. Despite the atrocious lighting, I was not going to miss a picture of this unusual traction passing Brunel's 1853 built grade 2 listed station building. Unfortunately the tour's exemplary time keeping fell fowl of this single track section of the Cotswold Line, as it was delayed waiting for the late running 17:07 Great Malvern to Paddington First Great Western HST to clear the section at Wolvercote Junction.

Joint Line Railtours ran their first special train on 5 September 2009 utilising a WCRC Class 33 & 37 in top'n'tail formation. 33207 Jim Martin is pictured here approaching Ardley in a very lucky patch of sunshine with the 1Z37 06:45 Worksop to Claydon LNE Junction (via Marylebone) 'Merry-le-Bone' railtour. Rather confusingly the headboard reads 'The Master Cutler'! 37516 is bringing up the rear. I had wanted to get a picture of this train on the Chiltern line, rather than opt for somewhere like Banbury, which sees far more diesel hauled specials. I had considering going to Fritwell, but looking at this picture it's certainly a good job I didn't, as that bridge (the second one in the distance) is completely in the shade.

Surrounded by a smokescreen from LMS 'Black 5' 44767 at the head f the train, preserved D6593 (33208) brings up the rear of the 'Pines Express' railtour on 22 November 1997, as it heads back to Guildford from Crewe and passes Heamies (near Norton Bridge). This was the first occasion that a preserved Class 33 worked on the mainline.

The single track branch line from Sutton to Epsom Downs was one of the highlights of the Pathfinder Tours 1Z96 08:55 Finsbury Park to Cannon Street 'Buffer Puffer' railtour on 8 January 2000. D6593 is pictured arriving at Epsom Downs, with the top'n'tail locomotive (73129) hiding behind the trees in the background. The tour visited various other locations around the south of London.