British Rail Class 158

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Class 158, no. 158751 at Westbury on 16 April 2004. At the time of phot this unit was operated by Wessex Trains and still carried its original Express Regional Railways livery. It has since been repainted into Wessex Silver and is now operated by First Great Western

Class 158, no. 158788 at Cambridge on 23 May 2003, whilst forming a service to Birmingham. This unit is operated by Central Trains, whose livery it carries.

Class 158, no. 158798 at Doncaster on 27th July 2003. This unit is painted in TransPennine Express livery, and is one of seventeen purpose-built 3-car units. At the time these services were operated by Arriva Trains Northern, but since been transferred to TransPennine Express. This unit is now with First Great Western

Class 158, no. 158823 at Bristol Temple Meads on 3 September 2003, with a Wales and Borders service to Cardiff. This unit is now operated by Arriva Trains Wales, but is painted in its predecessor's Wales and Borders blue and silver livery.

Class 158, no. 158869 at Truro on 23 August 2003, whilst forming a service to Penzance. This carries the silver and maroon Alphaline livery of Wessex Trains, its then operator. The unit is now operated by First Great Western

Class 158, no. 158908 at Doncaster on 27 July 2003. This unit was operated by Arriva Trains Northern on services around Leeds. It is painted in the original West Yorkshire Metro livery. It has since been repainted into the new Metro livery and is now operated by Norther

Class 158, no. 158955 at Ely on 31 May 2004. This unit is one of the eight 3-car units created by Central Trains by reforming 12 standard 2-car units. Transpennine Express and Wessex Trains also operated Class 158s in this way

One of the two Class 158 units used on Bristol to London Waterloo services.

The popular British Rail Class 158 "Express Sprinter" (or 'BREL express' after its manufacturer) is a diesel multiple unit, built from 1989-92 by BREL at Derby Works. They were built to replace elderly 'heritage' DMUs and locomotive-hauled passenger trains. Class 159 units are almost identical to 158s having been converted from 158 to 159 in two batches.

BREL also built similar units for Thai State Railways [1]

[edit] Description

A total of 182 units were built, numbered 158701-872 and 158901-910. The majority of units were built as two-car sets, with individual carriages numbered 52701-872/901-910 and 57701-872/901-910. Seventeen units (nos. 158798-814) were built as three-car units, with the centre carriages numbered 58701-717. The final ten units (nos. 158901-910) were built specifically for the West Yorkshire PTE-sponsored services around Leeds.

There were three varieties of unit when built. The standard batch, two and three car units from 158701 to 158840 and 158901 to 158910 had 350 hp Cummins engines. The next batch, 158841 to 158860 were built as non-standard to enable 350 hp Perkins engines to be fitted to maintain Perkin's interest in train manufacture. The final batch, 158863 to 158872 were given higher power Cummins engines, 400 hp, as it was originally intended that these units work the steeply graded Newport to Shrewsbury Welsh Marches Line. Another 22 of these high power units were built, and became Class 159. Nowadays, however, the units have become mixed up as franchises changed and higher and lower power units can be seen working the same diagrams.

The Class 158 is not based on the Mark 4 bodyshell design, although the latter was developed at roughly the same time. The similar sloping sides of the coaches may have given rise to this mistaken notion.

When first introduced, the Class 158s, being lighter than other similar units, had traction problems on steeply graded routes, particularly during the autumn, giving rise to the apochryphal "leaves on the line" media stories. For this reason two car units were formed using one car from a class 158 and another from a class 156 sprinter unit.

[edit] Operations since privatisation

After privatisation of Britain's railways, the Class 158 fleet was divided amongst several franchises, all of which are detailed below.

There is currently an ongoing fleet shuffle with many units being swapped between operators,

[edit] Arriva Trains Northern

Arriva Trains Northern (ATN), originally called Northern Spirit, inherited a large fleet of units. However, all but ten units have been transferred to TransPennine Express. The ten remaining sets (nos. 158901-910) are primarily used on services around Leeds. The ATN franchise became part of the new Northern Rail franchise in late 2004.

[edit] Arriva Trains Wales

Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) is the new name for the Wales and Borders franchise. Wales and Borders (and their predecessor, Wales and West) had originally operated a large fleet of units (nos. 158815-842/863-872) on long-distance services, such as Cardiff to Manchester, Cardiff to Penzance and Cardiff to London Waterloo, but some of these units were subsequently transferred to Wessex Trains.

The fleet was increased with the addition of 12 units (nos. 158843-854) when Cambrian Line services were transferred from Central Trains in 2003; by the end of 2006 these units were returned to the leasing company as Arriva transferred various 158-worked services to other rolling stock.

Most of the Arriva fleet was refurbished while in use by Wales and West prior to 2001 and repainted in new blue and silver livery at Doncaster works. Arriva have since repainted some units in their own turquoise livery, and started to install CCTV inside carriages.

[edit] Central Trains

Central Trains inherited a large fleet of units, which it used on long distance journeys. These included Birmingham to Cambridge and Stansted Airport, Liverpool to Norwich, and Nottingham to Cardiff. With the introduction of newer Class 170 "Turbostars", some units were cascaded onto other routes, such as Birmingham to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli. A new Central Trains livery was introduced in 1999 to replace the original Express Regional Railways livery.

In 2003, Central Trains reformed some of its standard 2-car units into 3-car units, numbered 158951-958. These were composed of three driving motor cars, with the innermost cab locked out of use. These units allowed the lengthening of carriages of some of the busiest trains during the summer months.

In late 2004, the three-car units were disbanded and reformed as two-car units. Due to the arrival of 17 Class 170/1 units from Midland Mainline, several units were transferred to other operators, leaving Central Trains with just 12 units.

In February 2007, five three-car units transferred from First Transpennine Express which will be joined by 4 more in the next few months. Once in service, these are expected to be used mainly on Central's services between Liverpool and Norwich, and Birmingham and Stansted Airport, being based at Cambridge depot.

[edit] First Great Western

First Great Western inherited the Wessex Trains fleet following the merger of the Great Western and Wessex francises. Some of the fleet have recently been refurbished at Doncaster Works, and was repainted into Wessex Trains's silver and maroon Alphaline livery. The fleet is used on the long-distance Cardiff to Portsmouth/Brighton, Bristol to Penzance and Bristol to Worcester and Great Malvern services.

In late 2004, Wessex Trains received further units from Central Trains. This allowed the formation of several 3-car units, which were renumbered into the 158961-968 range. Like the Central Trains three-car sets, they were formed of three driving motors, with the middle cab locked out of use. However these are being disbanded and reformed as two carriage sets following the DfT blocking the transfer of ex TransPennine Express units to Great Western. Following further negotiations with the DfT, FGW will be taking on some of the Transpennine fleet. Unit 158750 arrived in June 2006, with 158762-158765 arriving on the 1st August 2006. All have gained unofficial names based on the female characheters from the BBC SitcomLast of the Summer Wine. These have since been joined by 158766-158769, 158776 and 158778, and three-car 158798. Two units have joined the fleet from Northern, 158784/790. These are former Central Trains (whose base green livery they still carry) and TransPennine Express (whose vinyls they carry). They are both in need of refurbishment. Meanwhile, 158863 has been transferred to First Scotrail at Haymarket depot. It is rumoured that 158863-872 will eventually be based at Haymarket, FSR require more units within the next few years. Possibly in preparation for this, all the former three driving car sets have now been disbanded. 158961 and 158968 are operating as two car sets with hybrid numbered cars and 158748/9/51/815-7/864-6 are in service as two car sets again. First Great Western is awaiting three further units from TransPennine Express. On arrival of these, 158870-158872 will probably be taken off lease, thus paving the way for the above transfer.

[edit] First ScotRail

ScotRail inherited the largest number of sets, originally having a fleet of 46 units from new in 1989. These were employed on Glasgow to Edinburgh services, as well as services to Aberdeen and Inverness. From 1998 onwards, units were reliveried in ScotRail Railways livery.

When ScotRail leased new Class 170 units in 1999, the Class 158 fleet was cascaded onto other routes, such as services to Thurso and Wick. The resultant cascade of older units allowed ScotRail to finally retire its elderly Class 101 'heritage' DMUs and end the lease on the Class 150. Six units were also transferred to other franchises. First Scotrail have begun to repaint the fleet into First's corporate pink and purple livery. 158863 joined the Scotrail fleet on loan from First Great Western on the 9th December 2006. This unit carries standard Wessex Trains "Alphaline" livery

[edit] TransPennine Express

TransPennine Express was a new franchise created in 2004, it is formed of the express routes previously operated by Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western. The franchise inherited the majority of the Class 158 units from ATN, and has slowly added its new brandname over the top of the existing liveries, with interesting results. The fleet is used on long-distance journeys, such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne to York and Leeds, Manchester to Cleethorpes, and Liverpool to Leeds services. The TransPennine Express fleet includes the seventeen 3-car units (nos. 158798-814).

In late 2004, TransPennine Express received further units cascaded from Central Trains. This allowed it to form six 3-car units, numbered 158971-976. These were formed of three driving motors, with the central cab locked out of use.

TransPennine Express's Class 158 units will gradually be replaced by new Class 185 units starting in 2006. The future operators of the TransPennine Express class 158 units is unclear at present. The 3-car units are being transferred to South West Trains to be converted into Class 159/1s from summer 2006. The initial batch of 3 units is currently at Wabtec being converted)

The Cascade began in June 2006

• First Great Western - 158750/762-765
• South West Trains - 158803/804/807 (Currently being converted to 159 1xx)

As of January 2007:

• First Great Western - 158750/760-769/776/778
• South West Trains - 800/801/803/804/805/807/809/811 (all to be/have been converted to Class 159)

It has been reported that the following transfers will take place in addition to those above:

• Central Trains - 2 units selected from 158770/772/774/777 plus 3-car units 158799/806/810/812/813 and centre

cars 58701/702/708 from 3-car units 801/802/808

• First Great Western - 158771 plus 2 units from 158770/772/774/777
• Northern - 158784/790
• South West Trains - 158737/42/43/44/73/75/79/81 and the outer driving cars from 3-car units 158802/808/814.

[edit] Northern

The new Northern Rail franchise started operations on 12 December 2004. This incorporated the old Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western franchises. The current Class 158 fleet consists of eight former FNW units, the ten ATN metro units, 2 former Central Trains units (still in Central Trains livery) and 2 units on hire from Arriva Trains Wales (also both in Central Trains livery).

A general fleet shuffle took place in June 2005 with all 158 units transferred to Leeds to work former Arriva Trains Northern services in exchange for Class 150 units

An additional 4 units were subleased to First Great Western in 2006, all are former Central units in full central livery and in a poor state of repair. These are presently returning to Northern, with 158793 arriving in August

In March 2007 it was announced that Northern will aquire an additional 30 Class 158s from Angel trains in conjunction with the DFT. 6 are to be sponsered by Merseyrail for use on the City Line. It is also reported that around 20 class 142 Pacers will be withdrawn from service and placed in Storage as these class 158s appear in service.

[edit] South West Trains

In late June 2005, South West Trains started operating two former-Central Trains units for the Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads service that was previously operated by Arriva Trains Wales. Though refurbished and repainted to match the South West Trains 159 fleet, these units then moved on to First Scotrail in 2007.

South West Trains has now received several former TransPennine Express units in exchange for their Turbostar fleet, with a view to increasing West of England services. The three-car units will be converted into Class 159/1's, while the two car units will simply be refurbished and repainted.

[edit] Virgin Trains

Prior to the introduction of the Class 220/221 Virgin Voyagers, Virgin Cross Country operated a small number of Class 158 units, numbers 158747-158751. These were used on Manchester Airport/Liverpool Lime Street to Glasgow/Edinburgh services via the West Coast Main Line. Most of these units are now operated by First Great Western. 158750 is operated by First Great Western and is the sole unit still in Regional Railways livery, albeit with TransPennine Express vinyls from the windows down.

[edit] Current Fleet Details

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British Rail Class 158