BRITISH RAIL CLASS 153

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

Contents

Description

Current operations

Arriva Trains Wales

Central Trains

First Great Western

'one'

Northern Rail

Fleet Details

References

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.
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.

Current operations

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

Arriva Trains Wales

Arriva Trains Wales have a fleet of 13 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.

Central Trains

Central Trains use a class 153 on quiet or rural routes in the East Midlands
including
Nottingham to Skegness (stopping service), Peterborough to Lincoln Central and Doncaster, Newark Northgate to Cleethorpes, Nottingham to Mansfield Woodhouse
And can be seen on commuter lines in the West Midlands Including Coventry to Nuneaton and the Stourbridge Town Branch Line. As of October 2006, according to station information signs at Stoke-on-Trent among others, there are plans afoot to increase consists from 1 to 2 cars on the Nottingham line, most likely meaning that the 153 will be replaced.

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. Units carry one of four distinctive liveries, which advertise the routes on which they work.

★ ''Devon and Cornwall'' - local services in Cornwall and Devon (units 153302/308/374/377/380/382)

★ ''Heart of Wessex'' - Bristol to Weymouth line (units 153305/318/355/368/370/372/373)

★ ''St Ives'' - 153329

★ ''Looe Valley'' - 153369
In mid-2004, Wessex Trains received a further two units from Central Trains (unit nos. 153329/369) to allow it to lengthen some services.
According to First Great Western, they will operate only 7 153 units under the new franchise from 2006 - This is part of their strategy to standardise on Class 150 and 158 units for the former Wessex routes.
Following the introduction of the current timetable on 12th December 2006, four units were taken off lease and stored at the former Alsthom works at Eastleigh. They are Nos. 153302,153308,153355 and 153374. This decision has been heavily criticised 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.

'one'

one railway 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:

★ 153306 - Edith Cavell ★ 153309 - Gerard Fiennes ★ 153311 - John Constable ★ 153314 - Delia Smith

★ 153322 - Benjamin Britten ★ 153326 - Ted Ellis ★ 153335 - Michael Palin

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.

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.

Fleet Details

Operator	No. of units	Unit nos.
Arriva Trains Wales ★ ex-First North Western	10 (4)	153310/312/320/321/323/327/353/361/362/367 ★ 153310/361/367
Central Trains	16	153325/333/334/354/356/364-366/371/375/376/379/381/383-385
Northern Rail ★ ex-Arriva Trains Northern ★ ex-First North Western	20 (12) (8)	153301/304/307/315-317/319/324/328/330-332/351/352/357-360/363/378 ★ 153301/304/307/315/317/319/328/331/351/352/357/378 ★ 153316/324/330/332/358-360/363
'one'	7	153306/309/311/314/322/326/335
First Great Western ★ ex-Central Trains	11 (2)	153305/318/329/368-370/372/373/377/380/382 ★ 153329/369
Stored	4	153302/308/355/374

References