The Class 153 has been and still continues to be a formidable backbone of rural branchlines and has helped boost capacity on our railways since the 1990s.
In partnership with the Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway, we introduce 153 374 to the Rail Tags fleet. Our first rail car and the first line of tags to debut a revised design.
1: Pre History & Conversion:
Initially built as two carriage Class 155 Super Sprinters for Regional Railways by Leyland Bus, the Class 153 is a railcar which was converted for use on rural branch lines to replace the Class 121 and 122 `Bubble Car` units of the late 50s and 1960s.
Our unit, Class 153 374 was built as a part of 155 324 based on the West Of England Line in 1988 prior to conversion works which the unit went through in 1992.
Conversion work was undertaken by British Rail in Kilmarnock, Scotland between 1991 & 1992 which yielded x70 Class 153 units from x35 Class 155s for use in different parts of the country. Out of the original 42 units built, only x7 remain in their original Class 155 unmodified configuration.
Work saw the retrofit of a narrow drivers cab in the B-end of the vehicle which housed luggage racks with a reduction in the size of the vestibule area.
Unit 155 324 emerged from Kilmarnock Works split into Class 153 324 & 374.
Post conversion 153 374 served on services in Cornwall and Devon leading all the way up until circa 2006-2008 during the First Great Western era when the unit was later transferred to East Midlands Trains.
Seen above is Class 153 units 153372 and 153373 at Exeter St. Davids which reflects 374s condition during the same time period prior to a TOC Transfer
2: Operational History:
The Class 153 has so far had a very decorated operational career serving many corners of the United Kingdom, from the depths of Cornish and Welsh branch lines to the busy peak commuter services of Manchester & Leeds.
They continue to see regular service with Transport for Wales as either single car units or as two car `Active Travel Sets`.
Class 153s also are regularly seen supplementing Class 156s on the West Highland Line with ScotRail boosting capacity. As well as this, Three Class 153s are used by Network Rail as Infrastructure Monitoring Units.
Two units: 153 308 + 371 are preserved at the Grand Central Railway which is primarily used to train staff for East Midlands Railway and Cross Country whilst several more survive in storage at Angel Trains’ Ely Papworth Sidings for reactivation by potential open access operator Go-op Co-operative Ltd which plans to run refurbished Class 153s on services between Weston-super-Mare, Taunton and Swindon.
Whilst Go-op Co-operative Ltd’s proposals have been approved by the Office of Road and Rail it is yet to be seen when work will start to commence operation. It would certainly be rather poetic to see Class 153s serve their former stomping ground which is testament to their continued potential and viability as demand for rail travel grows pre-covid.
Seen above is a prime example of the Class 153’s continued versatility. Unit 153 371 is seen at Bedford preparing to work a service to Bletchley over the Marston Vale Line in the 2010s, this line is now destined to become part of East West Rail.
3: Class 153 374’s withdrawal and transition.
From the late 2000s, 153 374 served the East Midlands Trains network until 2020 when due to PRM-TSI regulations the fleet was with gradually withdrawn from service with the last one leaving in December 2021 following the fate of Class 142, 143 and 144 units elsewhere.
374 would return to Angel Trains’ Ely Papworth Sidings where it would then transfer to Landore TMD to act as a spares donor unit for Transport for Wales’ Class 153 fleet to keep their units going well into the future.
Once the unit was fully gutted, the bodyshell was donated by Transport for Wales to the Llaneli and Mynydd Mawr Railway with the intention to convert 153 374 into a community café.
Work started in January 2023 and was finished in 2025 which included the removal of a window pane and section of bodyside metal to fit a café entrance.
This is where we were approached to work with the Llaneli and Mynydd Mawr Railway to make tags from said removed sections which could be sold as a unique souvenir to visitors to the railway and café.
Edition 11 has been planned since early 2025 with work starting after our hiatus post The Greatest Gathering.
It has taken us a while to get to this stage buy we are proud to release Rail Tags Edition 11: Class 153 374 in partnership with the Llaneli and Mynydd Mawr Railway + Caffi Super Sprinter Café.
Featuring a fresh new tag design fit for our future and four variants, the tags are now available from Our Shop and exclusively at Caffi Super Sprinter Café.
Rail Tags Edition 11 is out now.
See you again soon for Edition 12, work has already commenced.
