The British Rail Class 156 Super Sprinter is a diesel multiple-unit passenger train. A total of 114 Class 156 sets were built between 1987 and 1989 for British Rail by Metro Cammell's Washwood Heath works. Class 156 were built to replace elderly first-generation DMUs and locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
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The design of the Class 156 was relatively conservative in comparison to Metro Cammell's earlier Class 151 design. Specific changes include the bodyshell being primarily composed of steel instead of aluminium; the deliberate decision was made to model the cab design on the earlier Class 150 was allegedly taken to ease union acceptance. Each Class 156 coach is powered, being outfitted with a single six-cylinder Cummins NT855-R5 diesel engine coupled to Voith T211r hydraulic automatic transmissions and Gmeinder final drive units. The Class 156 can achieve a top speed of 75 mph (121 km/h).
Construction of the Class 156welded bodyshells was subcontracted out with Procor Engineering, Wakefield completing 118, WH Davis 60 and Standard Wagon 50. Aston Martin Tickford were awarded the interior fitout contract. The Class 156 units were all built as two-car sets, numbered 156401-514. Each Class 156 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), containing an area for storing wheelchairs, bicycles, bulky luggage etc.
Unlike the Class 150 units, the 156s have a single-leaf sliding door at either end of each coach. This reflected the expected longer journeys with fewer stops that the Class 156 was supposed to operate. As with the Class 150, all the doors are operable by passengers when released by the guard using one of two passenger door control panels; they are energised using a carriage key to turn a rotary switch situated on the cab bulkhead. Class 156 units operated by Abellio ScotRail have additionally been fitted with door-control panels near the centre sets of doors for the convenience of the guard.
Operations
British Rail
On 10 November 1987, 156401 conducted its first Class 156 test run from Washwood Heath to Banbury. Between January and July 1988, Class 156 156401-156429 were delivered to Crown Point TMD entering service on 16 May 1988 on new services from East Anglia to North West England as well as existing services from Norwich and Cambridge to Birmingham. Class 156 also operated boat trains from Harwich to Blackpool and later Liverpool.
The remaining 85 Class 156 were delivered to Heaton, Neville Hill, Haymarket and Inverness. With the Class 155 units withdrawn due to faulty door mechanisms, 25 were transferred to Cardiff from December 1988, with the last remaining until November 1989. In this guise they operated services as far south as Portsmouth. In May 1991, six were transferred from Crown Point to Derby Etches Park.
On 15 June 1989, Class 156 156502 was sent to the Netherlands as part of the Dutch Railways 150th celebrations. It returned on 10 July. On 21 October 1993, Class 156 156405 became the first Sprinter to accrue 1 million miles, whilst working the 10:10 Great Yarmouth to Norwich service.
The first 100 Class 156 were painted in Provincial sector's livery of blue and beige with light blue stripe. Twenty Class 156 units, (156401-419/422) based at Tyseley depot, were later repainted into Regional Railways Express livery after the rebranding of Provincial. The last fourteen Class 156 units were operated by Strathclyde PTE, and carried an orange and black livery. Following the delivery of the Class 158s in the early 1990s, the 156s began to be cascaded to less important services.
In the early 1990s, British Rail was looking to save costs on rural routes, and decided that operating two-car trains was too expensive. The company planned to convert a number of Class 156 units into single-car vehicles, named as Class 152. In the event, the decision was taken to do this with the Class 155 instead, forming the Class 153 fleet.
Post-privatisation
As part of the privatisation of British Rail, the Class 156 fleet was sold with Angel Trains taking ownership of 76 and Porterbrook 38. These were leased to several train operating companies.
Northern England
Following privatisation, both Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western operated Class 156s and implemented their own refurbishment programmes. The two fleets were united when Northern Rail took over both franchises in 2004. Within the Northern region, Class 156s are concentrated in the North-West and also the North-East where Class 158s and other unit types are used instead.
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