What Train Is This?
I took these pictures of a train coming from Barnstaple to Exeter.
But what type if train is it?
The last picture shows it is Class 150 train built in the 1980s by British Rail.
It is certainly a high quality refurbishment of 150263.
I’d much rather travel in this train, than a new Class 700 train.
Consider.
- The seats were comfortable.
- There were several tables in each car.
- The toilet was one of the best I’ve seen.
- The information system, tip-up seats and grab handles were all excellent.
The train even had it’s own wheelchair ramp stowed away in a secure metal cupboard.
I can’t find anything on the web about who did the refurbishment of this train.
My only thought, is that it was an in-house job and came from Laira with love!
The Truth About The Refurbishment
The August 2017 Edition of Modern Railways has a long article entitled Great Western Improvement Imminent, where on page 75, this is said.
The Class 150/2s are going through a refurbishment and repaint at Wabtec’s Doncaster plant
If all the 137 trainsets end up like this no-one will complain.
The Anonymous Widower 
pictures?
best David
Comment by David Collier | April 6, 2017 |
[…] Coming back down, the train was almost empty, so I took a pit stop at Yeoford station in a local pub called the Mare and Foal, before catching the next train back to Exeter. That train was a refurbished Class 150 train, that I wrote about in What Train Is This? […]
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[…] about all, like all Mark 3-based stock, it scrubs up well to any desired standard. In What Train Is This?, I showed the interior of a refurburbished thirty-year-old Class 150 train. Unrefurbished examples […]
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[…] In What Train Is This?, I show a refurbished Great Western Railway Class 150 train. This picture shows the quality that can be achieved, by refurbishing a thirty-year-old Mark 3-based train. […]
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[…] tables and comfortable seats. Even some refurbishments of forty-year-old trains have tables. In What Train Is This?, I described a high class refurbishment of a Class 150 train. Here’s a […]
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Well it certainly is a high quality refurbishment……. above the solebar. But then again passengers don’t get to look down there do they?
Comment by fammorris | February 17, 2023 |
There were a lot of good things on that train, like the stainless steel cupboard for the wheelchair ramp. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Fat Controller said here’s a wedge of fivers see what you could do. It had a certain naval feel, so was it done in Plymouth, which I suspect because of the Royal Navy has some very high class craftsmen?
Comment by AnonW | February 17, 2023 |
‘fraid not, from my experience Laira TMD pre Hitachi was a level 4/5 maintenance depot and very accomplished at wheel turning, exchanging major power equipment, running gear with an aptitude for dealing with crash repairs and renovating HST Cabs. So far as I recall coaching stock and DMU C6 overhauls have never been done at any GWR’s depots.
The Class 150 refurb, it depends which leasing company owned the units that GWR were running. It could have been WabtecK but it could have been Knorr Bremse Rail Services, now run by Gemini Rail in Wolverton. As an outside bet I wouldn’t ignore Arriva Traincare in Bristol or Crewe .
Comment by fammorris | February 17, 2023
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[…] In What Train Is This?, I show the standard of interior, that can be achieved by refurbishing a Class 150 train, but unlike the RS ZERO, the train won’t be zero-carbon. […]
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