How the Class 158 and 159 saved Regional Railways

I worked for regional railways northwest when the 158 came out, it was a step change from what we had had beforehand to be sure. My funniest story one of our drivers was going to Blackpool(I think)and he was going into Preston and at Preston the guard comes up to him and tells him to slow the hell up.....he had forgotten he had a 142 trailing and was heading down the WCML at 90mph with a 142 rocking along at the rear!

The Centre carriage of the 158 (3 car) or 159, it's one of the most comfortable and quite seats on the train network. I almost always was asleep before I left Waterloo. Sometimes I'd wait for a Salisbury or Exeter train, rather than take a 444 or 450 with their harder and in the case of the 450 more cramped seats.

As a Driver at Manchester Piccadilly we had the 158's on Sheffield's, Blackpool's and Barrow, Windermere's and as far as Crewe on the Cardiff's. I never broke down once. Step One on the Brake was really only for holding the train at a Station stop but Steps 2 and 3 were powerful from 90mph down to about 20mph. I was an Instructor on them and we were sorry to lose them.

I remember back in 2007 first time I travelled on a scotrail 158 and you could hear the incredible braking on them and you could really feel the acceleration too! I’m gonna miss the super sprinters they were a great little train

The 158’s are great machines, love catching one from my local station

Rode on one out of Temple Meads recently and they are just as comfortable as ever

Fantastic exhaustive presentation as usual well done I love it. Guess can't help being struck with a weird coincidence of growing up in Andover in the diesel-hauled era (33s), which is now served by 158s, and now living in Thailand where 158s are still a common sight on the main line network to all regions of Thailand. a reminder of the not-so-distant times when Britain made world-beating trains. Their overall disposal today has become that niche of the last mile branch line. It's also worth noting that liveries may come and go but 158s go on forever.

6:52 Yes, we always got everyone else's cast offs !!

Even before the days of the sHitachi 800 series on the GWR services, the 159s from Waterloo were my preferred method of getting to Exeter. I've noticed since First took over that the SWR 158s are quite common on the Salisbury and Exeters. In SWT days 158s rarely strayed off the Salisbury-Romsey-Eastleigh services. Love watching the 9 car (3×159) or 10 car (2×158 + 2×159) formations belting through Surbiton. Did the Norwich to Liverpool in 2019 on a 158, lovely journey. Northern have 3 car 158s which are regulars on services from Yorkshire to Blackpool.

Nice selection this had to be one of the nicest liveries shame they aren't like this now mate

As an occasional user of Waterloo-Exeter services, I thought the 159's were a huge improvement over the loco-hauled services they replaced. Much as I enjoyed the romance of 50's and 33's, it was game over for them, run up the white flag and take a bow as you leave chaps.

Thank you, Ruairidh! I would be interested in a corresponding documentary on the GTW/FLIRT/KISS family of trains (by Stadler from Switzerland) that have reversed downward trends to upward on many lines on the Continent, at least here in the Netherlands, mainly with Arriva. There are many driver's eye videos to be found here on YouTube, ranging from the narrow-nosed GTW DMUs to the polycurrent FLIRT EMUs in the Netherlands to a GTW EMU in Greece reaching 160 km/h (100 mph) on a stopping service. From idle GTW DMUs on the Greek narrow-gauge lines to the rural commuter FLIRT EMUs on the scenic Bergen line in Norway.

Used to ride on 158 from Dorchester to Bristol about 2 years ago. Didn't realise they were so old!

They're certainly pretty comfortable and very much a step up from a 156 or the horrible 155, but still this fixation with 2-car sets. They should all have been three car at the very least.

That go-livery picture at Derby works is my picture you will find on Flickr.

Glad to see this video back up

I have been a train driver in Holland from 92 untill 2001. The 158 and 153 were always my favourites in the UK. I loved driving them diesels back then.

Thoroughly absorbing and comprehensive history of my absolute favourite DMUs. Great pace and variety too, so well done to RM.

They were a massive improvement on went before but, compared with the turbo stars, feel rather cramped and certainly have longer dwell times on busy routes. I suspect a few more seats were crammed in as capacity became an issue in many instances of their use. Latterly, though, the biggest issue has become the air con on the 158s - there are not infrequent occasions now when you see the hopper windows opened because the air con has failed.

We still have the 156s on the West Highland Line,refurbished with power points and wifi now. Scotrail mooted cascading the 158s to us from the Far North Line (Wick/Thurso that you mentioned in the video) but said they hadn't been route tested - they never tried to test them on our route (Oban/Fort William/Mallaig)