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GWR Class 150 (Coach 1)

Great Western Railway is a train operating company that runs services from London to the South West of England and South Wales. The eastern limit of the network is London Paddington station. As for the western limit, I would say it's either Penzance or Carmarthen. GWR was formed by completely rebranding First Great Western in September 2015. FGW had started as earlier as February 1996, under the name Great Western Trains. Back then they only ran High Speed Trains (or Intercity 125's) on intercity services, such as London to Penzance. At the time, there was a separate company running the local/regional services that are now part of GWR's network - such as Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour.

Today GWR's fleet consists of the following classes:

Class 08
Class 43 (or Intercity 125)
Class 57
Class 143
Class 150/0
Class 150/2
Class 158
Class 165
Class 166
Class 387
Class 800
Class 802

Interestingly, GWR are one of only two train operating companies to use Class 165's, with Chiltern Railways being the other operator. They are also one of only two TOC's to use Class 143's, with Transport for Wales being the other one.

GWR is set to take over the Heathrow Express service in December 2019. That's the train service that runs from Paddington station to Heathrow Airport. For this service, they are modifying twelve of their Class 387 units, which will take over from the Class 332's, which have been running the Heathrow service since it launched in 1998. In terms of future rolling stock acquisitions, they will soon take on nineteen Class 769 units to cover for the 387's that will run the Heathrow service. The 769's are actually Class 319 units that have been fitted with underfloor diesel engines, therefore making them electro-diesel or 'bi-mode' units. Curiously the GWR 769's are set to retain both their pantographs (for 25kv AC overhead wires) and pick-ups (for 750v DC third rail) as well as the diesel engines. This will make them 'tri-mode' units.

At the time of uploading, there isn't a single Class 769 in the GWR livery yet. Hopefully that will change in the future.

The HST's were completely replaced by Class 800's and 802's on Intercity services in July 2019. As of September 2019, a small number of HST power cars and Mk3 coaches are still in use on shorter 4-car formations to run local services from Exeter to Plymouth and Penzance. These are referred to as 'Castle' sets by GWR. Dare say they're trying to reference the 'Castle' class 4-6-0's, which started entering service on the original Great Western Railway in 1923.

Class 800 and 802 units now form the sole motive power on GWR's Intercity services. Regional trains are typically formed of Class 150/2 or 158 units; the latter are often used on the Cardiff to Portsmouth runs. The Class 150/2's are the primary motive power on the branch lines west of Plymouth, such as the Liskeard to Looe branch. Great Western's Class 143 Pacers are generally only used on suburban services from Exmouth to Paignton or Barnstaple, and hardly ever stray away from those services.

The Class 57's in GWR's fleet are used to haul the 'Night Riviera', which is an overnight sleeper train running from London Paddington to Penzance. This is currently one of only two sleeper trains still running in the UK, with the other one being the Caledonian Sleeper. This service runs from London Euston to Edinburgh, where it is split into different portions, each of which going to a different place in the Scottish Highlands. One such portion goes along the West Highland Line to Fort William.

GWR uses Class 08 shunters to move coaches around at some of their depots, such as Long Rock in Penzance.

The specific unit this reskin is based on is Class 150/2 No. 150247.