Graham Farish Class 158
◆GAUGE ‘N’ ◆MODEL 371-857 Class 158 2-car DMU, 158766 GWR (First Group) green ◆PRICE £259.95 (DCC ‐ready), £369.95 (DCC sound)
◆AVAILABILITY Bachmann stockists Web www.bachmann.co.uk
I've been thinking a lot about British Rail’s various Class 15X ‘Sprinter’ trains recently, especially as some of the earlier examples are now reaching a ripe old age. It soon dawned on me that I have spent significantly longer riding on Class 150/156/158 units during my lifetime than on any other form of traction, with the ‘158s’ easily trumping the others in terms of geographical coverage.
They have carried me across the Scottish Highlands, North and mid ‐Wales, and across huge swathes of Northern England, the South West and into East Anglia. I’ve even caught a few to and from Brighton on the Southern’s electric ‘Coastway’ route.
I’ve certainly lost count of all the post-privatisation franchises that have operated ‘158s’ over the years, with all manner of liveries and branding coming and going. They still provide my regular transport from my local station and show no signs of being replaced any time soon.
Such a ubiquitous, long-lived prototype surely deserves a top quality RTR model. Yet it was only in 2020 that a high ‐fidelity ‘OO’ version finally arrived, thanks to Bachmann Branchline’s all-new model, offering a huge improvement on its previous tooling, which dated back to the 1990s. The existing Farish tooling was also 30 ‐plus years old and ripe for replacement, which has finally happened with the initial release of six all-new, two-car ‘158s’ in ‘N’ gauge. The models encompass BR’s original Regional Railways scheme, plus ScotRail’s current ‘Saltire’ livery, plus East Midlands Trains (Stagecoach), the latest Northern white/blue, Arriva Trains Wales (revised) and First Group’s GWR green.