British Rail Class 153

Class 153, no. 153304 at Doncaster on 27th July 2003. This unit is painted in Arriva Trains Northern livery.

153383 at Coventry 1 September 2005 in Central Trains livery.

Class 153, no. 153312 at Crewe on 1st November 2003. This unit is operated by Arriva Trains Wales, and carries Heart of Wales livery.

Class 153, no. 153316 at Carlisle on 27th August 2003. This unit is operated by First North Western and is painted in North Western Trains livery.

Class 153, no. 153335 'Michael Palin' at Cambridge on 11th July 2003. This unit is one of only two repainted in Anglia Railways livery.

Class 153, no. 153373 at Plymouth on 29th August 2003, with a service to Penzance. This unit is operated by Wessex Trains and carries Heart of Wessex livery.

Class 153, no. 153385 at Nottingham on 24th September 2003. This unit is operated by Central Trains and retains its original Regional Railways livery.

The British Rail Class 153 "Super-Sprinter" is a diesel multiple unit. These single cars units were originally built as two-car Class 155 units by Leyland from 1987-88, but were converted by Hunslet-Barclay at Kilmarnock from 1991-92. In a tradition following on from the Class 121 and Class 122 units, these units are sometimes referred to as "Bubble-cars", and are also sometimes derogatorily referred to as "Dogboxes". The layout of the original non-cab ends was subtly different from the original cab end, so the ends are noticeably different, and the vehicle not symmetrical. The new cab is significantly smaller than the original Leyland cab and pushes back into the door area, which can lead to slow boarding.

The original Leyland cab end of a class 153

The new cab of the same Class 153 - note the asymmetric windows, different headlamp position and split door cover

Units are numbered in the range 153301-335 and 153351-385. Individual cars are numbered 52301-335 and 57351-385 (originally 57301-335), with the last three digits corresponding to the unit number.

Current operations

Upon privatisation of British Rail, the Class 153 fleet was divided amongst several different operators.

Anglia Railways / One Railway

Anglia Railways inherited a small fleet of seven units, for local services in Suffolk and Norfolk. Services operated by these units included Ipswich to Cambridge, Peterborough and Felixstowe, the East Suffolk Line (Ipswich to Lowestoft), the Wherry Lines (Norwich to Great Yarmouth/Lowestoft), and the Bittern Line (Norwich to Cromer). One set was also hired to First Great Eastern for use on the Sudbury branch to Sudbury.

Anglia Railways named its Class 153 fleet after famous local figures:{
*153306 - Edith Cavell
*153309 - Gerard Fiennes
*153311 - John Constable
*153314 - Delia Smith