British Rail Class 156

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Class 156, no. 156408 at Cambridge on 8th March 2003. This unit carries Express Regional Railways livery.

The British Rail Class 156 "Super-Sprinter" is a diesel multiple unit. 114 of these units were built from 1987-89 by Metro-Cammell (now owned by Alstom) at their Washwood Heath Works in Birmingham. They were built to replace elderly 'heritage' DMUs and locomotive-hauled passenger trains.

[edit] Description

Class 156, no. 156443, at Carlisle on 27th August 2004, with an Arriva Trains Northern service to Leeds and York. It is painted in the obsolete Northern Spirit livery.

These units were all built as two-car sets, numbered 156401-514. Each unit was formed of two driving motors, one of which contained a toilet. Individual carriages numbered as follows:

• 52401-52514 - DMSL
• 57401-57514 - DMS

The units are powered by 6-cylinder Cummins NTA855R5 diesel engine through Voith automatic transmissions. Unlike the class 150s, the 156s have a single leaf sliding door at either end of each coach - this feature reflected the anticipated longer journeys (with fewer stops) that the Class 156 was supposed to operate. They have a top speed of 75mph, although in practice speeds of around 85mph have been observed on level track.

The first 100 units were all ordered by the Provincial sector of British Rail, and therefore carried Provincial livery. Twenty units, nos. 156401-419/422, all based at Tyseley depot, were later repainted into Express Regional Railways livery.

The last fourteen units, nos. 156501-514 were ordered by Strathclyde PTE, and carried a distinctive orange black livery. This was later replaced by an attractive carmine and cream livery, reminiscent of the 1950s livery carried by Mk.1 coaching stock.

Class 156, no. 156416 at Cambridge on 22nd July 2005. This unit carries the distinctive new 'one' livery.

[edit] Current operations

After privatisation, the Class 156 fleet was split between several franchises, which are described below.

[edit] 'one'

In early 2005, 'one' started to receive several former Central Trains Class 156 units, which were exchanged for Class 150 units. The newer Class 156 units are more suitable for several of the longer-distance routes, and also provide extra passenger accommodation. The units will be used on Norwich-Cromer-Sheringham, Norwich-Great Yarmouth/Lowestoft, Ipswich-Lowestoft/Felixstowe, Marks Tey-Sudbury local services, as well as longer distance Norwich-Cambridge and Ipswich-Cambridge/Peterborough services.

The first units to be transferred to 'one' had already been refurbished and were therefore painted in either Central Trains's green livery or white undercoat. However, the later units were repainted into the distinctive 'one' "rainbow" livery as they passed through works for refurbishment. It is expected that 'one' will eventually have a fleet of between seven and ten units. The first unit to be transferred to Norwich was white 156402 in return for 150235

Class 156, no. 156410 at Nottingham on 24th September 2003, with a service to Worcester. This unit had just been repainted into Central Trains livery after refurbishment at Doncaster works.

[edit] Central Trains

Central Trains inherited a fleet of 20 units, all based at Tyseley Depot in Birmingham. Central Trains quickly repainted its fleet from the original Provincial livery, to the more modern Express Regional Railways livery, since they were used on faster long-distance trains. The fleet was used on a wide variety of services including Cardiff to Nottingham, Birmingham to Cambridge, Liverpool to Norwich and Birmingham to Aberystwyth.

However, from 1999, Central Trains introduced new Class 170 "Turbostar" units, which took over most long-distance trains. Therefore, the Class 156 fleet were mostly displaced onto shorter journeys, such as Worcester to Nottingham, Birmingham to Leicester, Crewe to Derby and Nottingham to Skegness. Another new development was the introduction of the new Central Trains green livery.

In 2003, Central Trains proposed to swap its Class 156 fleet with ScotRail Class 158 units, which would be better suited to longer distance trains. However, this deal fell through, although one unit, no. 156402, was repainted in ScotRail livery without brandings. Since then, Central Trains have refurbished their fleet at Doncaster Works.

In early 2005, a number of Central Trains Class 156 units were transferred to 'one' Anglia, in exchange for Class 150 units.

Class 156, no. 156427 at Carlisle on 27th August 2004, with a First North Western service to Barrow-in-Furness.

Class 156, no. 156451 at Lancaster on 1st April 2005. This unit carries the first version of Northern Rail livery, which was used for the launch of the franchise in December 2004.

[edit] Northern Rail

Northern Rail, who in 2004 took over the franchises in the north of England from Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western, operate a large fleet of units. In the former Arriva Trains Northern area the units are based at either Neville Hill depot in Leeds, or Heaton depot in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and are used for longer-distance trains, such as Leeds to Carlisle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Carlisle, York to Blackpool, and on the Esk Valley Line between Whitby and Middlesbrough. In the former First North Western area, a small fleet remains on various routes including Barrow-in-Furness to Carlisle and Buxton to Manchester. Initially, the First North Western and Arriva fleets were kept quite separate, although with some changes to diagrams and fleet transfers there are, albeit still rare, occasions where North Western units can be seen on North Eastern routes and vice-versa.

Northern Rail has so far introduced three new liveries. The first, carried by no. 156451 is mainly purple (mauve), but with white bands. The second livery, as carried by nos. 156425/460/464 is the inverse of the first livery. The final livery, first applied to no. 156461, is similar to the second livery, but the white replaced by blue.

Class 156, no. 156457 at Oban on 25th June 2005. This unit is painted in ScotRail livery, but with First Group branding.

Interior of a Northern Unit

Class 156, no. 156434 wearing the colours of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport. Dunlop, Ayrshire, Scotland. June 2, 2005.

[edit] ScotRail / First ScotRail / Strathclyde Partnership for Transport

First ScotRail operates the largest fleet of Class 156 units. They operate on both short distance commuter routes and services of up to five hours (Glasgow to Mallaig). Their initial introduction was controversial as they replaced locomotive hauled stock (particularly Class 37 hauled) on these longer routes. Various issues such as limited toilet facilities were cited as criticism, but they proved to have much lower operating costs. They currently can be seen on many core routes including:

• Glasgow to Stranraer Carlisle via Kilmarnock
• Glasgow to Oban and Mallaig
• Glasgow and Edinburgh to Perth and Inverness
• Fife Circle services
• Glasgow and Edinburgh to Dundee and Aberdeen
• Inverness to Thurso and Wick
• Glasgow Central to Edinburgh Waverley via Shotts, Cambuslang and Bellshill.

They are also used on Glasgow local services. These services are worked by units nos. 156500-514, which are operated by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and painted in their carmine and cream livery. These units in particular are often seen working through to Newcastle on two services per day (from Girvan and Stranraer) as these services are jointly operated by First ScotRail and Northern Rail.

• Glasgow to Paisley Canal
• Glasgow to Whifflet
• Glasgow via Maryhill to Anniesland or Westerton
• Glasgow to East Kilbride

[edit] Fleet details

[edit] External link

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: British Rail Class 156

• Metro-Cammell class 156 Super-Sprinter - Information about current and past Class 156 operation, including technical details, livieries and accident reports.