I don’t get to have a go on British railways a lot these days, so any excuse to feature them on this blog is a good excuse. A recent visit to northern England, the first in many years, took me to Manchester for a dinner engagement. Now I was based in Leeds for the night, and I didn’t fancy a nighttime ride back on a bus. That was how I ended up spending some time on a Northern-operated British Rail Class 158 service that night, something that I was more than happy to do.

Departure from Salford Central station

My trips to and from Manchester typically involve one of its three major stations – Piccadilly, Victoria, or Oxford Road. This wasn’t to be one of those trips. It so happened that my dinner engagement was within walking distance of Salford Central, technically located in a different city altogether and a station I’d never used despite having spent a year living in the adjacent city.

The station first opened in May 1838 as a terminus but was later connected to Victoria in 1843. At street level, the station entrance is marked by the presence of Greek-style colonnades carrying three separate sets of viaducts across New Bailey Street. A glassy frontage sitting unassumingly underneath these 200+ year old viaducts is the entrance, and the contrast is quite a sight when lit at night.

Inside, the compact departure concourse leads to a passage between platforms that runs under the viaducts’ arches. Floor recessed lighting give the arches a rather dramatic illumination, and is a rather suitable vibe to fit in with all the new tower blocks nearby.

Salford Central wasn’t a very busy place that night, and I had a pleasant wait in the cool air as I took it the modern developments around the station.

My train pulled into Platform 1 on scehdule and the sight of it idling under the summer Mancunian skies gave me an instant déja vù moment, taking me back nearly a decade ago to a different period of my life. So much for a relaxing holiday.

What was the British Rail Class 158?

The Class 158 Express Sprinter was one of the many trainsets designed and built locally by BREL during the British Rail era. Hailing from the late 1980s, this type was intended for British Rail’s Regional Railways division which handled regional routes outside London. Typical services involved longer distance running over non-electrified tracks and less densely populated areas – naturally, the Class 158s are diesel multiple units (DMU). Services in the non-London parts of Britain, and particularly in the north of England were served by decades old, ageing DMUs that were becoming decidedly not-fit-for-purpose. The Class 158 was their replacement and introduced new standards of comfort to regional rail travel. Who says travelling between provincial towns had to be unpleasant?

Onboard the British Rail Class 158

Class 158 trainsets are typically operated in a single class configuration with a 2-2 layout. Northern’s are no different, and this set retained their older, plusher seats with upholstery in the updated moquette.

The rest of the interior had been refurbished – there were new carpets, warmer lighting, and each pair of seats had two USB-A charging ports; Legroom, as usual, is not great, and the seatback tray tables were the same old small sized ones. Not great for productivity, but the train is from a different era after all.

A subset of the fleet have also been refurbished with what I like to call iron board seats, which are obviously not as comfortable as the older style seats. I’m not sure why Northern’s refurbishment plans worked out that way, but I’m just glad my train had the better seats.

Arrival at Leeds station

Much of the journey took place in the darkness, and there really was nothing much to see until we pulled into the bright lights of Leeds station. I had spent most of the journey doom-scrolling and reading the LCD information screens (of “This train terminates customers” fame).

Of course, I had to get the complete British railways and Northern rail experience. I’m pleased to report that my train arrived 10 minutes later than scheduled. Not much has changed since I was last in England!

To round things up, Leeds station now has a modern and presentable station frontage, an upgrade from the time I caught the Intercity 125 to King’s Cross from the same station.

Final Thoughts

This was a comfortable enough way to travel across northern England, and it was nice to spend time on a legacy British Rail era trainset once again. There is much to like about these older sets, but the reality is they have become unsuited for the expectations of modern rail travel. Hop onboard a legacy British Railways set while you can!