Class 159 'South Western Turbo' Profile and Models

159011 at Keynsham in July 2018. ©Hugh Llewelyn

The British Rail Class 159 is a class of British diesel multiple unit passenger trains of the Sprinter family, built in 1989–1992 by British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL)'s Derby Litchurch Lane Works as Class 158. Before entering traffic, the original 22 units were modified at Rosyth Dockyard to Class 159 to operate services from London Waterloo to Salisbury and Exeter St Davids, replacing various locomotive-hauled passenger trains. The units were originally branded by Network SouthEast as South Western Turbo. With the UK economy in decline in the early 1990s, it was found that Regional Railways had over-ordered Class 158s at the same time as Network SouthEast was looking for a similar number of new diesel trains. NSE agreed to take on the surplus Class 158s. Currently, the Class 159s operate mainly from London Waterloo to Salisbury/Exeter in formations of six, eight, or nine coaches (2 × Class 159, 2 × 159 plus 1 × 158, or 3 × 159 respectively) and between Salisbury and Exeter in three- or six-coach formations. (Information provided via Wikipedia)
Type of Unit	Diesel Multiple Unit
Builder	Derby Litchurch Lane Works
Build Dates	1989 to 1993
Total Built	22 sets + 8 converted from 158
Coaches Per Unit	3-car
Power Output	1,050 to 1,200 hp
Top Speed	90 mph
Passenger Capacity	169
Operated By	British Rail South Western Railway
Main Duties	Regional & Express Passenger
In Service Until	Present
Surviving Examples	All in service