British Rail Class 153

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British Rail Class 153 "Sprinter"
153174 at Lincoln Central on the 17th November 2007
In service	1991/2 - present
Manufacturer	Leyland Motors
Family name	Sprinter
Number built	70 (35 as Class 155s)
Formation	1 car
Capacity	75
Operator	Arriva Trains Wales East Midlands Trains First Great Western London Midland National Express East Anglia Northern Rail
Specifications
Car length	23.2 metres
Width	2.7 metres
Maximum speed	75mph
Weight	41.2 tonnes
Gauge	1435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)
Safety systems	AWS, TPWS

Both the EMT liveried 153's (153374 and 153355) at Lincoln on the 29th December 2007

153317 at Lincoln on 17th November 2007. This unit was the first 153 in Northern Rail's livery.

153375 at Lincoln Central railway station. At this time, the unit was Central Trains operated but is now employed by London Midland.

Class 153, no. 153373 at Plymouth on 29th August 2003, with a service to Penzance. This unit is operated by First Great Western and no longer carries the Heart of Wessex livery depicted.

Class 153, no. 153335 'Michael Palin' at Cambridge on 11th July 2003. This unit is one of only three units repainted in Anglia Railways livery, and is now operated by National Express East Anglia

Class 153, no. 153304 at Doncaster on 27th July 2003. This unit is painted in obsolete Arriva Trains Northern livery.

153365 at Doncaster on 4th September 2007. This example is now operated by London Midland.

Control desk of a Class 153

153375 coupled to 153385 approaching Lincoln Central on 6th September 2007

The British Rail Class 153 "Sprinter" is a diesel multiple unit.

[edit] Description

These single-car units were originally built as two-car Class 155 units by Leyland from 1987-88, but were converted by Hunslet-Barclay at Kilmarnock from 1991-92. In a tradition following on from the Class 121 and Class 122 units, these units are sometimes referred to as "Bubble-cars" or "super-bubbles", and are also sometimes derogatorily referred to as "Dogboxes" or "V1 Flying Bombs" / "Scuds" - as they take off but one has no idea where they might end up. The layout of the original non-cab ends was subtly different from the original cab end, so the ends are noticeably different, and the vehicle not symmetrical. The new cab is significantly smaller than the original Leyland cab and pushes back into the door area, which can lead to slow boarding. They look much like a one-car 156, but the doors on a 153 are the plug type and a 156's doors are sliding. The front of a 153 also looks similar to a 156. Units are numbered in the range 153301-335 and 153351-385. Individual cars are numbered 52301-335 and 57351-385 (originally 57301-335), with the last three digits corresponding to the unit number.

[edit] Current operations

Upon privatisation of British Rail, the Class 153 fleet was divided amongst several different operators.

[edit] Arriva Trains Wales

Arriva Trains Wales have a fleet of 8 Class 153s. They are normally used on rural branchlines, such as the Heart of Wales Line from Shrewsbury to Swansea and the line from Wrexham to Bidston but are also used on some mainline services, which can lead to overcrowding. Since December 2005 Arriva have employed a Class 153 to "shuttle" along the Butetown Branch Line between the Cardiff Queen Street and Cardiff Bay stations. However a bubblecar is now used on this line.

As of the timetable change on the 9th December 2007, Arriva Trains Wales has lost 3 Class 153 units. Two to East Midlands Trains with the other transferring to First Great Western.

[edit] East Midlands Trains

East Midlands Trains use class 153s on quiet or rural routes in the East Midlands.

These are: Nottingham to Worksop

Nottingham to Skegness(stopping service)

Peterborough to Lincoln Central and Doncaster

Newark Northgate to Cleethorpes

Leicester to Lincoln Central

Derby to Matlock

Derby to Crewe

East Midlands Trains inherited a "mixed bag" of Class 153 units, receiving 6 examples of the class from Central Trains, 3 from National Express East Anglia and four from storage at Eastleigh depot (formerly in service with First Great Western). As of 9th December 2007 East Midlands Trains has also received 2 additional Class 153 units from Arriva Trains Wales (Numbers 153310 and 321) and two additional trains from Northern (153319 and 357).

Two 153 units have also been repainted into EMT colours - specifically 153374 and 153355.

[edit] First Great Western

First Great Western took over the Wessex Trains fleet upon the merger of the two franchises. Wessex Trains had, in turn, inherited its fleet of 13 units from its predecessor, Wales and West. Units are operated on local services in Cornwall, Devon, and around Bristol. They are also used on Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth, Southampton, and Worcester services and Swindon via Melksham to Southampton service.

In mid-2004, Wessex Trains received a further two units from Central Trains (unit nos. 153329/369) to allow it to lengthen some services.

Following the introduction of a new timetable on 12th December 2006, four units were taken off lease and stored at the former Alsthom works at Eastleigh. They were Nos. 153302,153308,153355 and 153374. The decision was heavily criticised at the time by passengers for increasing overcrowding on services in the West Country, and in the case of the Looe-Liskeard line, depriving it on occasions of operational units. After a period in storage these four units were been pressed into service with East Midlands Trains.

On 9th December 2007, First Great Western received an additional Class 153 (number 153361) from Arriva Trains Wales bringing the total to 12.

From late 2007, a refurbishment programme commenced to refurbish the 153 fleet. This included fitting new seats, refreshing the interior and applying the First 'Local Lines' livery, an adaptation of the 'Dynamic Lines' livery comprising of names of local places and attractions forming the lines. This refurbishment programme was completed by early June 2008.

[edit] London Midland

London Midland use 10 class 153 DMUs on commuter lines in the West Midlands including Coventry to Nuneaton, Stourbridge Town Branch Line and the Birmingham to Stafford via Walsall line. All ten units were inherited from Central Trains and carry its livery. Train-crew training is currently taking place to allow the introduction of these trains on the Marston Vale Line between Bedford and Bletchley.

[edit] Northern Rail

The new Northern Rail franchise started operations in December 2004. They inherited the fleets previously operated by Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western, whose routes the new franchise incorporated.

Northern inherited a fleet of eight units from First North Western (FNW) units, which are used on local services around Manchester, Chester and on Lancaster to Barrow-in-Furness to Carlisle and Preston to Ormskirk services. The fleet was repainted in the now obsolete North Western Trains blue and gold livery. Prior to becoming part of Northern, four former FNW units were transferred to the Arriva Trains Wales franchise, since the lines operated by FNW in Wales were transferred to this new company.

A larger fleet of twelve units were inherited from Arriva Trains Northern (ATN). These have been refurbished and carry the now obsolete Arriva Trains livery. They are used on various local services around Leeds, Doncaster, and Sheffield.

In December 2007, two units were taken off lease from Northern and promptly transferred to East Midlands Trains. Both units, 153319 and 153357 carried Arriva livery.

From late 2007, a re-livery programme has started on Northern's Class 153 trains. All will be repainted into Northern livery.

[edit] National Express East Anglia

National Express East Anglia inherited a small fleet of seven units, for local services in Suffolk and Norfolk. Services operated by these units included Norwich to Sheringham and Great Yarmouth , Norwich to Lowestoft, they were also sometimes seen on the Ipswich to Cambridge line.

Anglia Railways named its Class 153 fleet after famous local figures:

In 2003, Anglia started to refurbish its fleet, and repaint them in Anglia Railways livery. However, only three (unit nos. 153309/322/335) were completed. In early-2005, two units were due to be transferred to other franchises, the first being unit no. 153311 to Arriva Trains Wales followed later by 153326, these two Regional Railways Livered units returned to One Railway in Spring 2007, along with North Western Blue 153313. The three last inherited units, 153311,313 & 326 have now been transferred to East Midlands Trains.

[edit] Fleet Details

[edit] References

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British Rail Class 153