British Rail Class 156
| British Rail Class 156 "Super-Sprinter" | |
|---|---|
 Class 156419 at Sudbury station, newly repainted into the National Express East Anglia livery, with a service to Marks Tey. | |
| Specifications | |
| Car length | 23m |
The British Rail Class 156 "Super-Sprinter" is a diesel multiple unit (DMU). 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 First Generation "Heritage" DMUs and locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
Description
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 - Driving Motor Standard Lavatory (DMSL)
- 57401-57514 - Driving Motor Standard (DMS)
The vehicles are based on the Mark 3 bodyshell, and are powered by 6-cylinder Cummins NT855-R5 diesel engines through Voith T211r hydraulic automatic transmissions and Gmeinder final drive units.[1] Unlike the Class 150 units, 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 85 - 90mph have been observed on level track, though not in regular service.
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.
In the summer of 1989, in connection with celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS, the Dutch Railways), British Rail was invited to send a representative example of their most modern train to be exhibited at Utrecht for two weeks in the summer. Class 156 unit number 156 502 from Glasgow was finally selected - unusual as it was in the Strathclyde Passenger Executive (SPE) livery of orange and black. On 16th June 1989, the unit was driven under its own power from the Railway Technical Centre by a Derby train crew all the way to Holland. In those far off days the Channel Tunnel was just a dream so the SNCF train ferry was utilised to cross from Dover Western Docks to Dunkirk from where the unit was driven through France and Belgium to the Dutch border at Essen and on to Utrecht with help from SNCF, SNCB and NS train crews. The unit was exhibited along with various items of rolling stock from across Europe for around two weeks after which it returned to the UK.
Current operations
After privatisation, the Class 156 fleet was split between several franchises, which are described below.
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains has a fleet 11 units, based across the network. These units were transferred from Central Trains, and are used on slower medium-distance trains. The fleet is used on a services such as Newark Northgate to Grimsby Town, Peterborough to Doncaster via Lincoln Central, Nottingham to Skegness, Leicester to Lincoln or Nottingham to Worksop. However, recently they have been seen working the 5 hour semi-fast journey between Liverpool and Norwich.
The fleet has been re-painted by East Midlands Trains at Derby Works. All units will be refurbished internally by the end of the franchise in 2015.
First ScotRail
First ScotRail operates the largest fleet of Class 156 units. They operate on both short distance commuter routes and services of up to five and a half hours (Glasgow to Fort William and 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 criticisms, but they proved to have much lower operating costs. They currently can be seen on many core routes including:
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 are currently 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 to Anniesland via Maryhill
- Glasgow to East Kilbride
In reality, both fleets are entirely interchangeable (except only Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) fitted units can operate the West Highland Line) and both liveries can be seen on any 156 route.
Class 156s also operate out of Glasgow Queen Street to Stirling, Dunblane, Cumbernauld and Falkirk. These services are worked by both First ScotRail and SPT liveried Units. 156s are also often seen working out of Edinburgh Waverley to West Calder, Newcraighall, Bathgate, Dunblane, Perth, Kirkaldy and Fife Circle services. Again, both liveries can be seen.
In September 2008 the Scottish Government's agency Transport Scotland announced that all ScotRail trains (including from the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport) would be eventually repainted in a new, blue livery with white Saltire markings on the carriage ends. This will be applied to all Class 156s operating in Scotland. [1]
156450, in Regional Railways ScotRail livery, was bought by Tickford and was refurbished with four different seating arrangements.
National Express East Anglia
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 and to compliment Class 153 units. 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'/National Express East Anglia had already been refurbished and were therefore painted in either Central Trains' green livery or white undercoat. However, the later units were repainted into the distinctive 'one' "rainbow" livery as they passed through works for refurbishment. National Express East Anglia now have a fleet of nine 156s, one train (156419) is in the new National Express East Anglia livery, two are in Central Livery, five in 'one' Livery and the unique 156402 currently in White with blue Chapelfield advertising livery. The first unit to be transferred to Norwich Crown Point traction maintenance depot (NC TMD) was white 156402 in exchange for 150235.
Northern Rail
Northern Rail’s 156s have two different interiors: one is dark blue with seating common to 156s (former First North Western units), the other is green with seating similar to that found on many Class 158 units (former Arriva Trains Northern units). The former Arriva Trains Northern units appear to have more comfortable seating. However, although the seating was designed to be comfortable for people of average height, it can be very uncomfortable for taller people as there is less leg room, and it is therefore unpopular with taller people. On the former First North Western units the seating is in good condition, although the carpets are in a very poor state. Since Northern Rail have taken over, former Arriva Trains Northern trains can be found on former First North Western routes and vice versa. Six former Arriva Trains Northern Class 156 units were transferred to the North West by Merseyrail to replace some overcrowded Class 142 Pacer units in the Merseyside area. However, this was only after more than 20 extra Class 158s had been introduced in Yorkshire (a former Arriva Trains Northern area).
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 with the white replaced by blue. There have also been several units with vinyls applied showing images of the Northern region - one of Eskdale, Cumbria, showing the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway (156461); one of various destinations on the Settle and Carlisle Railway (156484); another advertising the Sheffield-Leeds FAST service (156469), which has now been removed; one marketing the Tyne Valley Line and Hadrian's Wall (156448) and another celebrating 40 years since the end of steam on British Railways and the National Railway Museum's "1968 and all that" event (156490).
Former operations
Central Trains
Central Trains had a fleet of 11 units, based across the network. In the last days of Regional Railways, the class was repainted into a version of Regional Railways Express (as per the Class 158 original livery). Central Trains then repainted its fleet to its own green and yellow livery, these units are used on faster long-distance trains. The fleet was used on a wide variety of services including Birmingham to Nottingham via Derby or Leicester, Birmingham to Hereford, Birmingham to Shrewsbury and Nottingham to Skegness or Lincoln.
At one time Central Trains had a larger fleet of Class 156s, but some of these were replaced with newer Class 170 Turbostar trains and the Class 156 units went to First North Western. These are now operated by Northern Rail, although some of the Central Trains passenger notices have still not been removed.
In 2003, Central Trains proposed to swap its Class 156 fleet with ScotRail Class 158 units, which would be better suited to longer distance journeys. However, this deal fell through, although one unit, no. 156402, was repainted in ScotRail livery without brandings. Since then, Central Trains 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.
All units were transferred to East Midlands Trains after the Central franchise ended.
Fleet details
| Operator | No. of units | Unit nos. |
|---|---|---|
| East Midlands Trains (ex-Central Trains) | 11 | 156401/403-406/408/410/411/413-415 |
| First ScotRail | 48 | 156430-437/439/442/445-447/449/450/ 453/456-458/462/465/467/474/476-478/485/492-496/499-514 |
| Northern Rail | 46 | 156420/421/423-429/438/440/441/443/444/448/ 451/452/454/455/459-461/463/464/466/468-473/475/479-484/486-491/497/498 |
| --consisting of | (28) |
|
| National Express East Anglia | 9 | 156402/407/409/412/416-419/422 |
External links
- Metro-Cammell class 156 Super-Sprinter - Information about current and past Class 156 operation, including technical details, livieries and accident reports.
- The story in pictures of 156502's visit to Holland
- British Photo Database - Class 156 Super-Sprinter
References
- ^ The Railway Data File. ISBN 9781856054997.