- Built: 1961
- Current Status: Undergoing overhaul
- Owned By: B350 Ltd
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Class 33 locomotives were not just a specific Southern Region class, but were closely associated with services at East Grinstead in the early 1960s, and were still working peak-hours East Grinstead – London Bridge trains in the 1980s. The Bluebell having concluded that a thunderbird and dry weather/fire-risk cover locomotive was required, a group of Bluebell Locomotive Department members purchased this locomotive – see pdf document with full information/news release here.
On arrival at the Bluebell Railway, it has not entered service immediately, but the new owners (who also own and maintain shunter D4106) are implementing a re-commissioning programme to ensure the locomotive is reliable before being made available for service, and at the same time will undertake a number of bodywork and roofing repairs to make the loco weathertight. It will be hired for use on the Bluebell on an as-required basis.
