Background
At the beginning of the 1980s, British Rail (BR) had a large fleet of ageing "Heritage" DMUs built to many different designs in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Some of the more reliable types were retained and refurbished. BR decided to replace many of the non-standard or unreliable types with new second-generation trains, built to modern standards. Two different types were developed; low-cost "Pacers", built using bus parts and intended for short-distance services; and "Sprinters", based on BR's Mark 3 bodyshell design, for use on longer-distance services.
Read more about this topic: British Rail Class 150
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