"Northern Rail" diesel fleet post 2020?

[61653 HTAFC]

Didn't BR run 156s formed as 3-car units for a while back in the late 1980s? Have a feeling it might have been in Scotland though I could just be tripping, or it may have just been a temporary thing due to accident damage...

153/155 into 28 3-car sets is a no-brainer for me. The only issue is whether one set (3-cars) might be better sacrificed for spares to keep the others going. That and which way round to put the 153s as apparently some staff prefer the new cabs to the old!

 

[Philip Phlopp]

Didn't BR run 156s formed as 3-car units for a while back in the late 1980s? Have a feeling it might have been in Scotland though I could just be tripping, or it may have just been a temporary thing due to accident damage...

153/155 into 28 3-car sets is a no-brainer for me. The only issue is whether one set (3-cars) might be better sacrificed for spares to keep the others going. That and which way round to put the 153s as apparently some staff prefer the new cabs to the old!

BR ran 3 car Class 156s on the WHL, and between Aberdeen and Inverness whilst waiting for 158s to be delivered. Central messed around with their formations too, and there were 156/158 hybrids as a result of the Class 158 bogie/track circuit problems.

 

[superkev]

153/155 into 28 3-car sets is a no-brainer for me. The only issue is whether one set (3-cars) might be better sacrificed for spares to keep the others going. That and which way round to put the 153s as apparently some staff prefer the new cabs to the old!

I wonder about the remaing life of the 153/155s which have similar construction to the rust infected 142's. Truly horrid things, noisy, too high window sills and seating for passengers with no legs. For me good riddance.
Regarding concentrating rust together how about putting a dda compliant 153 in the middle of a 142.
K

 

[Bletchleyite]

I wonder about the remaing life of the 153/155s which have similar construction to the rust infected 142's. Truly horrid things, noisy, too high window sills and seating for passengers with no legs. For me good riddance.

They aren't particularly nice, but they could be improved a little by replacing the seats with ones with a very high base (such as the new Electrostar seats; fitting ex-158 seats to them as Wales & West/Wessex did was a terrible idea) and spacing them out a bit more on the tracks. ISTR that the Northern 155s have a wider seat pitch than 153s.

 

[ainsworth74]

I wonder about the remaing life of the 153/155s which have similar construction to the rust infected 142's. Truly horrid things, noisy, too high window sills and seating for passengers with no legs. For me good riddance.

I think 153s are liable to being killed off by the coming DDA compliance fiasco rather than corrosion (144 ePacer to the rescue!) whilst I believe the 155s are starting to sag quite badly in the middle of each coach which cannot be a good sign (153s also seem to have this which would be logical due to their origin as 155s)!

 

[sprinterguy]

Didn't BR run 156s formed as 3-car units for a while back in the late 1980s?

Regional Railways North East operated hybrid 3-car class 156 formations on the Settle & Carlisle line for a couple of summers around 1993, and, as other posters have said, Scotrail were operating similar hybrid formations on the West Highland line around the same time period.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

This "sag" issue keeps being brought up about the Leyland Super Sprinters, but looking at a 155 the other day I couldn't see it myself. The fact that they have lots of small windows does make the cars seem longer than they are, and I agree with the point about the windows not being low enough. I do wonder if the sag thing is just a myth/optical illusion though. I've not seen or heard anything to confirm it.

Porterbrook have already said they don't plan to make the 153s 2020-compliant, and have suggested that they're only used to strengthen services which are run by compliant units after that deadline. Reforming them into 3-car sets would reduce the cost of any work though, as only 1/3 as many accessible toilet modules would be needed.