Graham Farish Class 158 DMU
In the late 1980s, British Railway's Provincial Sector needed a large fleet of DMUs for the outer suburban and cross-country trains. The competitive tender was won by BREL who built both 2-car and 3-car formations at BR Derby. The first set arrived on the network for testing in the Autumn of 1989. However, problems were discovered that had to be rectified in the design and the first service set arrived the following year. Rail adhesion problems were discovered which delayed further the completion of the programme until 1992.
Many variations exist in the fleet which can be found in many parts of the country. The Provincial livery that the units originally carried had its own variations. Since privatisation, the fleet has been owned by Porterbrook and Angel Trains and units are leased to several TOCs. Our review sample is in Northern Rail livery and is 371-556. The set is numbered 158791 while the cars carry the numbers 52791 and 57791.
