British Rail Class 159

The British Rail Class 159 is a class of diesel multiple unit passenger trains of the Sprinter grouping, built from 1989 to 1992 by the Derby Litchurch Lane Works of British Rail Engineering Limited as Class 158 units and modified at Rosyth Dockyard by Babcock Rail before entering traffic. The 22 original units, fitted with first-class accommodation and retention toilets, were taken on by Network SouthEast to replace locomotive-hauled passenger trains on the West of England Main Line, where the Class 50 diesels had proved poorly suited to the stop-start working. The first unit was handed over on 6 January 1993 and the sets were first branded South Western Turbo. Eight further units were created in 2007 from surplus Class 158 sets displaced from TransPennine Express. The class mainly works from London Waterloo to Salisbury and Exeter.