CLASS 33/2 No. 33202 Dennis G. Robinson became the largest loco to visit the Isle of Wight when it attended the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s (IWSR) September 29-October 1 diesel gala.
The ‘Crompton’ is owned by Stewart Robinson, and based on the Mangapps Railway, Essex, and could only cross the Solent at high tide because the weight of loco and trailer exceeded 120 tons.
However, all was not straightforward. There was a problem with the height of the load, but haulier Simon Reid obtained a new, low-loading trailer from Spain.
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This was delayed, and when it arrived at Norden on the Swanage Railway via Poole harbour, was found to have the wrong carrying bed.
It had to be dismantled and the correct bed put in place – using a Google search to translate the manual from Spanish.
Various other problems occurred at this stage, and then the winch diesel failed with blocked filters, which were all rectified by 02.00 on September 27.
The loco was transported from Epping Ongar Railway following its gala appearance to Norden, where the transfer from one trailer to the other took place.
The new trailer’s tyres were found to be underinflated for UK roads so all 48 had to be increased to the correct pressure.
Read more in November’s issue of The RM – on sale now!
