page_title: British Rail Class 150
section_title: Prototypes
hierarchical_section_title: British Rail Class 150 / Prototypes
caption_attribution_description: English: 150001 at St Pancras after a publicity run from Derby. This unit is now operated by First Great Western on services between Reading and Basingstoke.
context_page_description: The British Rail Class 150 Sprinter is a class of diesel multiple-unit passenger trains built by BREL York from 1984 to 1987. A total of 137 units were produced in three main subclasses, replacing many of the earlier first-generation "Heritage" DMUs.
context_section_description: In 1984, BREL built two prototype, three-car Class 150/0 units, numbered 150001 and 150002. 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.
  The design specifications of the prototypes were similar to the later production units, but they were to remain as the only Class 150s to be built as three-car units. Additional three-car units were created later by re-marshalling a 150/2 car in the middle of a 150/1 set, but only the prototypes had purpose-built centre cars without driving cabs. Both cab doors are air-operated, unlike the Class 150/1 production model but seen later on in the 150/2 variant.
  150002 proved to be the worse of the two for reliability and was consequently chosen for use as the testbed for the Class 158, being re-geared to a maximum speed of 90 mph (140 km/h) and fitted with Cummins engines and Voith transmission, and with a Class 158 interior. One car was fitted with the Class 151 Twin Disc 'hot-shift' transmission, which it used successfully, once the control software was sorted out. To distinguish this unit, it was reclassified as the Class 154. It has since been returned to the standard configuration and reverted to its original number.  Both prototypes were still in service with London Midland until 2011. 150001 entered service with First Great Western in January 2012, with 150002 to follow after refurbishment and re-livery.  150001 & 150002 then operated for Great Western Railway. 150001 was based at Bristol's St. Phillips Marsh Depot, primarily working the Bristol Parkway-Weston Super Mare route. 150002 was based at Exeter St. Davids Depot and mainly operated the Riviera Line alongside Class 143 Pacers. In April 2020, both units transferred to Northern's Newton Heath Depot.
  At the same time that BREL built the 150/0s, Metro-Cammell built two prototype Class 151 units at its Washwood Heath plant. The two types of unit were exhaustively tested, with a view to placing further orders for the more successful. In the event, the two Class 150 units proved to be more reliable and, as a result, an order for 50 two-car units was placed with BREL.
caption: During a demonstration run in the summer of 1985, unit 150001 stands in Platform 7 at St. Pancras
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