Great Western's unique three car Class 150 units 150001 and 150002 will move to Northern when their lease expires tomorrow. They are the oldest in use on the mainline and are prototype Sprinters. They have different bogies and their bodies are slightly longer than their classmates. While they have served in Devon over the years, they've recently been working in the Bristol area based at St Philips Marsh.
150001 seen at Bodmin Parkway in 2016
Both 150001 and 150002 were built by British Rail Engineering Ltd (BREL) in 1984. 150001 was fitted with Cummins engines and Voith hydraulic transmission, and 150002 was fitted with Perkins (Rolls-Royce) engines and a fully automatic gearbox developed by the Self-Changing Gears company. 150001 was tested on the Marlock branch in Derbyshire and in the summer of 1985 was part of the GWR 150 celebrations. The unit was used as a shuttle service between Cardiff Central and Cathays stations on the anniversary special weekend. Then there were more demonstations runs in Scotland based at Inverness before it entered service.
The two prototype 3-car units transferred from London Midland Region in 2012 to replace the Class 165 and 166 Turbo units used by Great Western Railway on the Reading to Basingstoke Line, which allowed the Turbo units to reinforce Thames Valley services.