Rolling stock › In serviceData updated
Class 155 Super Sprinter
Leyland Bus's two-car regional diesel of the late 1980s, built at Workington. Only seven are left as two-car trains, all with Northern: the West Yorkshire passenger transport executive's units, sold to Porterbrook in 2011. The other 35 were split into single-car Class 153s.
Drawing to come
- Type
- Diesel multiple unit
- Builder
- Leyland Bus, Workington
- Built
- 1987–1988
- In service
- since 1988
- Operators
- Northern
- Formation
- 2 cars (DMSL-DMS), each 23.21 m long
- Trains in fleet
- 7
- Fleets
- Northern: 7
- Top speed
- 75 mph (121 km/h)
- Power
- Diesel
- Car height
- 3.746 m
- Car width
- 2.70 m
- Profile
- main-line
- Total capacity
- 152 or 160 seats and 56 or 60 standing per unit, 208 or 220 in all (Northern's 2022 contract)
- Status
- In service with Northern: seven two-car units. Northern plans to replace them, with its Class 150s and 156s, in the first phase of its new-train programme, from about 2031.
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMSL | Driving motor standard with lavatory (DMSL) | 23.21 m | 2 single |
| DMS | Driving motor standard (DMS) | 23.21 m | 2 single |
Sources
- Vehicle Diagram Book No. 220 for Diesel Multiple Unit Trains (Railcars), with the Class 150/2 (DP242, DP243; October 1986), Class 156 (DP244, DP245; March 1987) and Class 155 (DP248, DP249; September 1988) diagrams, British Railways Board, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Department (PDF copy by J. D. Faulkner, 2010, from the book lent by L. Anton; copyright BRB Residuary Ltd), 1982, revised to March 1989, pp. DP248 (PDF pp. 90-91) (23,208 mm coupled (22,640 mm over the body), 2,700 mm wide, 3,746 mm high; diagram of September 1988)
- DfT OLR Holdings Limited and Northern Trains Limited 2022: services contract (public register copy, version 1.1x), Department for Transport, 24 February 2022, pp. 145-146 (Appendix 1 to Schedule 1.6, Table 1) (seven two-car units (14 vehicles); 152 or 160 seats and 56 or 60 standing per unit)
- West Yorkshire DMUs sold to Porterbrook, Railway Gazette International, 23 May 2011 (Porterbrook buys the seven two-car Class 155s from Metro (West Yorkshire PTE), May 2011; leased to Northern Rail; financed by Metro in the 1980s)
- Class 153, Angel Trains (Leyland Bus; 75 mph; 23.21 m and 2.70 m (the Class 153s, converted from Class 155 cars))
- Reality Check: Class 153 DMU (Evan Green-Hughes, Hornby Magazine HM221), Key Publishing / Hornby Magazine, 2025-11-01 (Class 155s built by Leyland Bus at Workington, 35 later split into single-car 153s)
- Class 153 single car railcars, Railways in Worcestershire (miac.org.uk, enthusiast) (Class 155s built 1987/88)
- Northern's new trains, Northern (Northern Trains Limited), accessed 7 October 2026 (phase one of the new trains replaces the Class 150s, 155s and 156s)
- Passenger benefits key to Northern's lease of Class 350s, Rail, 13 July 2026 (replacement of the 150s, 155s and 156s planned for 2031)
- British Rail Class 155, Wikipedia, accessed 7 October 2026 (seven left; 75 mph; 1988 (cross-check))
unverified built 1987–1988 and introduced 1988: the seven are BR's diagram DP248 of September 1988; Wikipedia gives 1986–1987 for the class's construction and 4 August 1987 for the first 155s in service, and 1988 for these (citing Marsden); an enthusiast site gives 1987/88, car figures: BR's diagram DP248 (DMSL), as read for the site's Class 153 record; DP249 (DMS) wasn't read and is taken to match, doors: single-leaf sliding plug doors near each end, two a side (as on the Class 153, converted from Class 155s; Wikipedia), the 35 split into Class 153s: Hornby Magazine (2025) and Wikipedia; the 153s were converted in 1991–92, engine: Wikipedia gives a Cummins NT855-R5 and Voith hydraulic transmission under each car, not checked