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Class 156, no. 156427 at Carlisle on 27th August 2004, with a service to Barrow-in-Furness. This unit is operated by First North Western , whose livery it carries. Class 156, no. 156443, at Carlisle on 27th August 2004, with a service to Leeds and York. This unit is operated by Arriva Trains Northern, but is painted in it predecessor's Northern Spirit livery. Class 156, no. 156450, at Hexham on 30th October 2004. This unit is painted in ScotRail livery, and is seen working a service to Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The British Rail Class 156 "Super-Sprinter" is a diesel multiple unit. 114 of these units were built from 1987-89 by Metro-Cammell (now owned by Alstom) at their Washwood HeathWashwood Heath is an area of Birmingham, England. Birmingham, England. Works in BirminghamThis article is about Birmingham in England. See also Birmingham, Alabama or other places called Birmingham. Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. Being the country's second largest city, it is usually considered B. They were built to replace elderly 'heritage' DMUsA wide variety of Locomotives and Multiple units have been operated on Great Britain's railway network. This page lists every locomotive and multiple unit allocated a TOPS classification and all modern traction (e. diesel, electric, gas, petrol) stock use and locomotive-hauled passenger trains. The units were all built as two-car sets, numbered 156401-514, with individual carriages numbered 52401-514 and 57401-57514.
After privatisation, the Class 156 fleet was split between several franchises, which are described below.
Arriva Trains Northern (previously known as Northern Spirit) operates a large fleet of units, based at either Neville Hill depot in Leeds, or Heaton depot in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Arriva uses its fleet for longer-distance trains, such as Leeds to Carlisle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Carlisle, and York to Manchester.
Central Trains operate a fleet of 20 units, all based at Tyseley Depot in Birmingham. Central Trains quickly repainted its fleet from the original Provincial livery, to the more modern Express Regional Railways livery, since they were used on faster long-distance trains. The fleet was used on a wide variety of services including Cardiff to Nottingham, Birmingham to Cambridge, Liverpool to Norwich and Birmingham to Aberystwyth.
However, from 1999, Central Trains introduced new Class 170 "turbostar" units, which took over most long-distance trains. Therefore, the Class 156 fleet were mostly displaced onto shorter journies, such as Worcester to Nottingham, Birmingham to Leicester and Crewe to Skegness. Another new development was the introduction of the new Central Trains green livery.
In 2003, Central Trains proprosed to swap it Class 156 fleet with ScotRail Class 158 units, which would be better suited to longer distance trains. However, this deal fell through, although one unit, no. 156402, was repainted in ScotRail livery without brandings. Since then, Central Trains have refurbished their fleet at Doncaster Works.