A wintery scene at Dartford station as Class 33 'Crompton' 33033 hooks up to a pair of 4-EPBs, ready to drag the units to Charing Cross
<b>The Big Freeze - London, February 1991</b>
At the beginning of February 1991, a bitterly cold spell of weather brought heavy snow to eastern and central England. Temperatures remained below zero in these areas continuously between the 6th and 9th of February and maximum temperatures were between -3 and -5C. During the night of the 7th the snow became heavy and persistent in London, bringing 20 cm in central London and 25cm in boroughs such as Croydon and Bromley, the deepest snow since the winter of 1962-1963.

This brought the rail network into chaos, Heathrow was forced to cancel flights and Gatwick and Birmingham airports were closed. On the 8th of February, the snow was lighter and started to ease. However, the cold spell and the snow lasted for several days. More information here: 
<a href="http://www.weathercast.co.uk/nc/weather-news/news/article/heavy_snow_in_england_25_years_ago.html" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.weathercast.co.uk/nc/weather-news/news/article/heavy_...</a>

and here: <a href="http://www.netweather.tv/forum/topic/34026-winter-1990-91-the-gr.." rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.netweather.tv/forum/topic/34026-winter-1990-91-the-gr..</a>.

<b>Everyone likes a bit of rail chaos - especially when you were a basher in the 1980s-90s!</b>
A very wintery scene at Dartford station! Another time capsule from the Big Freeze of Feb 1991. 

After the massive 56032 had sadly been removed, rescue Crompton 33033 rolled up to drag a pair of 4-EPBs on a local NSE service to Charing Cross. An extremely rare event indeed and I couldn't believe my luck, as I'd just had a Crompton drag out from my home station of Lewisham. A Crompton all the way into Charing Cross - massive ;) 

<b>Locomotive History</b>
D6551 entered service in Apr 1961
Apr 1961 Allocated to Hither Green
Dec 1966 Re-allocated to Eastleigh
May 1971 Re-allocated to Hither Green
Oct 1971 Re-allocated to Eastleigh
Jul 1973 Re-allocated to Hither Green
Jan 1974 Re-number from 6551 to 33033
Apr 1975 Re-allocated to Eastleigh
Oct 1976 Re-allocated to Hither Green
Nov 1976 Re-allocated to Eastleigh
Oct 1977 Re-allocated toHither Green
Apr 1979 Re-allocated to Eastleigh
Mar 1988 Re-allocated to Stewarts Lane
Oct 1988 Overhauled at Eastleigh Works
May 1993 Withdrawn at Stewarts Lane
Jan 1997 Cut up by MRJ Phillips on site at Stewarts Lane

<b>Class 33</b> - in December 1957 British Railways ordered forty-five Type 3 diesel-electric locomotives from the Birmingham Railway Carriage &amp; Wagon Company (BRCW) for Southern Region duties. They were required as part of the general modernisation resulting from Phase I of the Kent Coast Electrification scheme. The number was later increased to a total of ninety-eight including twelve special ’slim line’ locomotives for use on the width-restricted Tonbridge-Hastings line. Based on the BRCW type 2’s (Class 26/27) of the Scottish Region, the Southern locomotives were more powerful with eight cylinder Sulzer engines and Crompton-Parkinson electrical equipment. All were delivered new to Hither Green MPD, beginning in 1959, and were allocated the numbers D6500-97.

All 86 of the first delivery were built as standard locomotives, numbered D6500 to D6585. Under TOPS they became class 33/0 and the surviving locomotives, excluding the 19 that were converted for push-pull operation (33101 to 33119), were renumbered 33001–33065. The 12 narrow-bodied locomotives were originally numbered D6586 to D6597, and later renumbered 33201 to 33212. More info here: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_33" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_33</a>

Taken with a Nikon F-501 SLR camera with 75-200mm lens.

You can see a random selection of my railway photos here on Flickriver: <a href="http://www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.flickriver.com/photos/themightyhood/random/</a>
4epb emu class33 crompton 33033 networksoutheast nse dartford london stations snow weather drag class415 5452