Karl, Hi
Class 33/1s and Class 442s were designed to operate together using the SR style 27 pin jumper cable, supplemented with power provision from the 33s ETH jumpers. When the Class 442s were under construction at Derby I was a driving instructor at the Waterloo training school and we took a 33/1 to Derby for some early tests.
After delivery to Bournemouth and commissioning all went well, but as the 33s received minor electrical modifications so problems started to show up. I can remember one morning a 33/1 and I think 2407 were diverted from Basingstoke to Eastleigh via Andover and Laverstock we had major problems after the guard released the doors at Andover, this set of the fire bells on the 33. We eventually got the train to Eastleigh and then Bournemouth where it was found that wires in the 33 jumper did not correspond fully with the 442. After one or two more failures and problems it was agreed that 33s would haul the 442s but not try and operate in full MU format.
As designed and built it should have been totally possible, but like everything else on the BR network at the time being broken up, changes were made to one train and not the other so full inter-coupling became a major problem. The same problem befell the Class 158s and 159s!
Glad you like MLI.
Colin Marsden
Colin J. Marsden
Editor
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