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!

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!

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.

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

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.

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!

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!

'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.