British Rail Class 155

The BR Class 155 Super Sprinter was a fleet of forty-two two-car DMU sets built in 1987–88 by BREL Derby in conjunction with Leyland Bus, forming part of the wider Sprinter family that BR introduced from the mid-1980s to replace ageing first-generation DMUs on regional services. The Class 155 was a step up from the Class 150 in terms of interior specification and body length, with 23-metre cars and a higher-quality passenger environment intended for inter-regional express rather than purely suburban work.

The sets were powered by two Cummins NT855R5 diesel engines per power car, giving a 75 mph maximum speed and sufficient power for the cross-country and inter-regional services they were designed to work. The interior offered an improved seating layout compared to the Class 150, with a mix of first and standard class accommodation in the original configuration.

The history of the Class 155 is unusual in that most of the fleet did not survive intact for long. In 1991–92, thirty-five of the forty-two sets were rebuilt as Class 153 single-car units by splitting the two-car sets and fitting each half with a new cab at the cut end. This conversion was carried out to provide a large fleet of single-car units for very lightly-used branch services, where even a two-car formation was uneconomic. The seven remaining Class 155 sets were retained for West Yorkshire PTE services and continue in service as of 2026, operated by Northern Trains on Yorkshire local routes.