It is, according to the Rule Book definition at least!
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One-coach trains?
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Qwerty133
Established Member
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rosschap
Member
Thanks everyone... I assumed that they would be used on rural routes, and I haven't travelled on a train up north in a long time (I've never been on a Welsh train).
I've seen some videos now of 153s which are in single coach formation! Now I know which lines they run on and what times you think they depart I'm going to try and take a ride on one this summer.
I've seen some videos now of 153s which are in single coach formation! Now I know which lines they run on and what times you think they depart I'm going to try and take a ride on one this summer.
David Goddard
Established Member
Well there are 70 Class 153s, two PPMs (easy to find them!) and a couple of 121s.
Best routes to check out 153s (from my observations) are:
Nottingham - Matlock
Peterborough - Lincoln - Doncaster
Coventry - Nuneaton
Sheffield - Gainsborough - Cleethorpes (Sats only)
Cleethorpes - Barton on Humber
Carlisle - Barrow
Shrewsbury - Llandrindod Wells -Swansea
Liskeard - Looe (one was on it today, but can be 150 in high Summer)
The 153s also work in multiple with 150s or 143s on the Paignton - Exeter - Exmouth turns
Best routes to check out 153s (from my observations) are:
Nottingham - Matlock
Peterborough - Lincoln - Doncaster
Coventry - Nuneaton
Sheffield - Gainsborough - Cleethorpes (Sats only)
Cleethorpes - Barton on Humber
Carlisle - Barrow
Shrewsbury - Llandrindod Wells -Swansea
Liskeard - Looe (one was on it today, but can be 150 in high Summer)
The 153s also work in multiple with 150s or 143s on the Paignton - Exeter - Exmouth turns
Qwerty133
Established Member
Nottingham to Matlock should be mainly 2 car M-F and is heaving summer weekends so not recommended, unless you can be at Derby by 08:55 M-F, which AFAIK is booked single 153 until September, and is not to busy past Derby, but is packed until Derby.
Derby to Crewe is often singular 153s. Coventry to Nuneaton, or Bedford to Bletchley would probably be the best bet from down south, all services on Nuneaton to Coventry are booked single 153 (except this weekend) and 1 out of 2 diagrams is booked 153 Bedford to Bletchley and I'm sure someone will be able to confirm which one it is (other than they're swapped on a Saturday, I can't remember).
GatwickDepress
Established Member
153s also work in tandem with 156s on Nottingham - Skegness services sometimes. When I went up there, the 153 was practically empty, while the 156 was packed... go figure. 
Exactly. Nitpickers getting it contextually wrong is one of my closet joys.Fortunately, as far as the operation of the railway is concerned (which is what we're discussing!), it's the Rule Book that counts, not Google or dictionaries.
Fortunately, as far as the operation of the railway is concerned (which is what we're discussing!), it's the Rule Book that counts, not Google or dictionaries
Just wait until the Plain English Campaign gets their hands on that one, and changes it into gobbledegook, much like some of the recent changes!
They've already done their worst with it! Thankfully they stopped short of the infamous 'faraway signal' though...
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
Usually at least one of the two units on Huddersfield-Wakefield is a 153, but thankfully not today with all the extra passengers thanks to 'le grand depart'... Won't be anything on there tomorrow though, what with Leeds being apparently the only place anyone in West Yorkshire will need to travel on a Sunday... :roll:
To be fair, Northern are giving Penistone Line passengers a train every 45mins tomorrow, so perhaps my accusations of Leeds-centricity are slightly undeserved!
To be fair, Northern are giving Penistone Line passengers a train every 45mins tomorrow, so perhaps my accusations of Leeds-centricity are slightly undeserved!
172212
Member
They definitely appear on the Shrewsbury - Crewes:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/madabouttransport/13564653793/
Hyphen
Member
Is it Whitchurch?
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Are there any forum members who travelled on the single car units manufactured by Waggon und Maschinebau whilst they were still in service on British branch lines. I know that there are preserved examples of this type.
What was the official seating capacity of these ?
What was the official seating capacity of these ?
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
Up until about 4/5 years ago, a 150 worked the Salop to Crewe local during the Winter with a 153 on the Blaenau Ffestiniog Branch, swapping over for the Summer due to tourism on the Branch. However, the 153s were unsuitable for the Blaenau Branch so became 150 on this and 153 on Salop/Crewe local all year round.
starrymarkb
Established Member
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
It must be remembered that 153s were not constructed as single vehicles. The decision was taken at the start of the 90s to split 155s (2 Cars), apart from 7 still in use for Northern Rail, to provide more units and with suitable capacity to mainly work Branch Line services. A new cab, together with, Controls were installed. This cab is known as "the small cab", which I believe is pretty cramped.
Didn't do the W&M units, which I believe were based at Cambridge for all their limited life, but did ride in a comparable AC Cars unit on the Western. They rode and sounded like a freight wagon. It was ludicrous that old BR bought no less than five designs together of the railbuses, just a handful of each, all together.
The W&M, imported from Germany, were the largest, with 56 bus-type seats arranged 3+2. The ones by Wickham were the smallest at 44 seats. I think the W&M units, which were a standard DB type of the era, were the only ones to have buffers and drawgear. The WR ones were found to be too light to operate track circuits reliably and were soon confined to small one-engine-in-steam branches; I believe they needed special bell codes and procedures if sent along the main line. I always wondered, if track circuits were not that reliable, how they could be expected to identify a single wagon somehow detached on the main line.
If we are discussing single units, I wonder which routes might have had all three generations of single car units; the original GWR designed ones (actually built for them by Park Royal and Gloucester RCW), the 1960-era single units, initially all on the Western but later spreading elsewhere, and lastly the class 153. I can think of a few routes that have used two generations of these, but offhand not one that used all three.
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The cab is smaller but actually has more knee room than the other end.
edwin_m
Veteran Member
Lotsi of details on railbuses here:
http://www.railcar.co.uk/type/index.html (scroll down to the bottom)
Not sure if all of what was on the old site has been transferred over yet.
http://www.railcar.co.uk/type/index.html (scroll down to the bottom)
Not sure if all of what was on the old site has been transferred over yet.
route:oxford
Established Member
- Joined
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- 4,949
Will we ever see a new-build single car unit (other than a PPM)?
A Class 172 would look quite tidy as railcar.
A Class 172 would look quite tidy as railcar.
It's formally known as 'number 2 end' but small end will do, or 'bag of ****' if you're the guard with a lot of coins to cash up (as apart from a tiny ledge there's no desk on the secondmans side).
40012Railrover
Member
How about an example of a one coach loco-hauled service.
Back in the early 1980, the 1710 Perth-Arbroath could sometimes be a single Type 2/Type 3 with a single Mk1 BSO.
See http://www.railrover.co.uk/memories.php#partthree for more details of this working.
Cheers
Mike
Back in the early 1980, the 1710 Perth-Arbroath could sometimes be a single Type 2/Type 3 with a single Mk1 BSO.
See http://www.railrover.co.uk/memories.php#partthree for more details of this working.
Cheers
Mike
Kite159
Veteran Member
I have a soft spot for the 153s.
Especially the First Great London Midland ones
Especially the First Great London Midland ones
A friend informs me that they are #$£%ing horrible to drive as the brakes take about a week to release, apparently any 153 is bad in that respect but those 2 are especially bad. In fact if you want to upset him just mention 153325 or 153333 and off he goes, every time!
They are a bit green inside.
I love how they have the electronic display board inside... That's more than about 90% of the rest of FGW's stock.
(Even if they do only have "Class 153" written on them)
edwin_m
Veteran Member
A friend informs me that they are #$£%ing horrible to drive as the brakes take about a week to release, apparently any 153 is bad in that respect but those 2 are especially bad. In fact if you want to upset him just mention 153325 or 153333 and off he goes, every time!
I've often wondered if the brakes had to be modified on conversion from 155s to provide more redundancy in the equipment (loss/isolation of a bogie's worth of brakes is a bit more critical on a single car!) and whether that has increased the air consumption to a bit more than the system can happily supply. However I've never seen any confirmation of this.
David Barrett
Member
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I don't know about modifications but I have noticed the tendency for the brakes to drag for a while during initial acceleration away from stations/signals. I just put it down to the possible presence of a choke in the system to (a) prevent too sharp an application and (b) help to contain any air loss following on from a defect, a leaking brake cylinder seal for example, which in the event of not being bypassed during release also slows down the rate at which air is vented out of the system.
I didn't take much notice, so will have to pay more attention the next time I'm travelling on one, whether the remaining 155s are the same.
I didn't take much notice, so will have to pay more attention the next time I'm travelling on one, whether the remaining 155s are the same.
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