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When did the Sprinter Chapman seat conversion begin?

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NoOnesFool

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The Sprinter fleet, excluding Class 158s and the prototype 150 were introduced with Ashbourne seats. However, most (excluding Scotrail and Northern Spirit 156s) had these replaced with Chapman seating. When did this happen? Was it before privatisation? There must have been a strong reason for an almost UK wide refitting of seats on what were relatively new units. I can recall being on a 153 as a child in 1998 that still had Ashbourne seating and bright orange tables too!
 
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Neptune

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It was around 1995/96 that North West Regional Railways started refurbishing their 156’s with Chapman seats. Regional Railways Central followed suit shortly afterwards with theirs. The 153’s for both companies were done shortly after the 156’s too. Regional Railways North East did the 155’s in around 1997.
 

NoOnesFool

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It was around 1995/96 that North West Regional Railways started refurbishing their 156’s with Chapman seats. Regional Railways Central followed suit shortly afterwards with theirs. The 153’s for both companies were done shortly after the 156’s too. Regional Railways North East did the 155’s in around 1997.
Interesting, they look a lot more modern than 1995!
 

61653 HTAFC

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I think it had several types of seats, including bench seats and the metro style PEP seats.
My very vague memory of riding it along the Cambrian Coast in 1989 (and my older brother and I insisting on the whole family walking the whole unit to find the best seats!) supports this.
 

Failed Unit

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Indeed the proto-type sprinters did have various types fitted including bench.

150/1 had the same type of seat they can currently be found in the 318s. 2+3 all facing.

But I remember the chapmans getting fitted per-privatisation. Big improvement and still nice today.
 

LOL The Irony

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My very vague memory of riding it along the Cambrian Coast in 1989 (and my older brother and I insisting on the whole family walking the whole unit to find the best seats!) supports this.
I've only ever seen pictures from the brochure, but I remember seeing Ashbourne seats fitted in those images as well.
 

61653 HTAFC

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I've only ever seen pictures from the brochure, but I remember seeing Ashbourne seats fitted in those images as well.
My memory is that different sections (by which I mean ends of carriages or central sections- between the doors) all had the same seating types within each section- so for example one end of a carriage had Ashbournes with the centre section the other side of the vestibule having benches*.

But I was 7, so my memory of it is very vague.

*=examples for illustration purposes only, so the actual makeup of the vehicles was probably different. It may have differed between carriages with each carriage only having one type.
 

Sprinter107

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150001 had various seating types throughout the train. One car had the tip up seats for parcels use behined the driving cab, then 2 + 3 bench type seats, covered with a red tartan material, later changed to a bright green tartan material. The centre car had both PEP type seating and Ashbourne type seating. The PEP seating as I remember was a brown colour. The third car, with toilet, had better type seating throughout, again in different moquette colours. Remember Inter City type seats in one saloon in that car, with magazine racks, arms, and light grey moquette, with a row of multi coloured chevrons down the centre. The other 2 saloons in that car also had two other types of better seating, but I cant remember the types exactly. One was horizontal stripes in various shades of green, and the third type of seat in that car, I think was horizontal stripes in various shades of brown. The vestibule areas and doors were red, with the panelling around the windows being beige, but below the windows being grey. Dark grey linoleum covered the floor throughout. The overhead luggage racks had a grab handle running the length of them. I had photos of all of those saloons, but dont know where they are now.
 

Sprinter107

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The first class 150/1 to have Ashbourne seating was car 52144 of 150144 when based at Tyseley in the early 90s. It was done on behalf of Centro, to try and squeeze in more seats. Think they got an extra 8 seats, but I'll stand corrected on that. The 57 car remained as built at that time. Think the seats may have been used from one of the withdrawn class 150 cars that had collision damage at the time, as I remember graffiti scratched into the back of some of them, but again, I'll stand corrected on where those seats came from. They were in the original Sprinter moquette. The first 150/1to be fitted entirely with Ashbourne seats was 150116 when it emerged in Centro green livery, the moquette being beige with a red thread running thro it, that moquette also being applied to 150130, which was the next one to be refurbed with Ashborne seats. Subsequent 150/1 refurbs for Centro were fitted with Ashbourne seats, but with the same beige moquette, but this time with a green thread running thro it.
 

NoOnesFool

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The first class 150/1 to have Ashbourne seating was car 52144 of 150144 when based at Tyseley in the early 90s. It was done on behalf of Centro, to try and squeeze in more seats. Think they got an extra 8 seats, but I'll stand corrected on that. The 57 car remained as built at that time. Think the seats may have been used from one of the withdrawn class 150 cars that had collision damage at the time, as I remember graffiti scratched into the back of some of them, but again, I'll stand corrected on where those seats came from. They were in the original Sprinter moquette. The first 150/1to be fitted entirely with Ashbourne seats was 150116 when it emerged in Centro green livery, the moquette being beige with a red thread running thro it, that moquette also being applied to 150130, which was the next one to be refurbed with Ashborne seats. Subsequent 150/1 refurbs for Centro were fitted with Ashbourne seats, but with the same beige moquette, but this time with a green thread running thro it.
Very interesting! So, the other half of 150144 had bench seating, or PEP?
 

mde

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It was around 1995/96 that North West Regional Railways started refurbishing their 156’s with Chapman seats. Regional Railways Central followed suit shortly afterwards with theirs. The 153’s for both companies were done shortly after the 156’s too. Regional Railways North East did the 155’s in around 1997.
Would this be based on the 'Tickford Prototype'? If so, it seems the first reveal of the various options was in January 1995.

It is a shame that the ScotRail fleet didn't end up getting Chapman's, as, the SC1.x really is a much better seat than the Ashbourne. Of course, those have nearly all been replaced by Fainsa's, but, that's a different story.
 

Neptune

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Would this be based on the 'Tickford Prototype'? If so, it seems the first reveal of the various options was in January 1995.

It is a shame that the ScotRail fleet didn't end up getting Chapman's, as, the SC1.x really is a much better seat than the Ashbourne. Of course, those have nearly all been replaced by Fainsa's, but, that's a different story.
I believe so. 156450(?) was fitted with 3 new seat types (including Chapman) and also one section retained the Ashbourne seating with higher headrests fitted. It also had a refurbished toilet along with alternate fixtures and fittings throughout the saloon.
 

Sprinter107

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Very interesting! So, the other half of 150144 had bench seating, or PEP?
No. After the Ashbourne seats were fitted into 52144, car 57144 retained it's original seats, and seating layout. The production 150/1s were never fitted with bench seats.
 
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