Our railways have witnessed many different types of passenger train in the recent past. Standard diesel units cover the last remaining first-generation vehicles in use (the two Class 121s at Chiltern Railways), the various four-wheel Pacer railbuses, now on borrowed time, of Classes 142-144, second-generation BR sets of the Sprinter and Turbo designs, through to many types introduced since privatisation, starting with the Class 168 and going through to the newest Class 172. Diesel-electric long-distance units of Classes 220-222 ( Voyager and Meridian) are also included as well as High Speed Trains (the famous Inter-City 125 sets), as they effectively operate as multiple units and were regarded as such when first built. Electric units show similar variety from the BR-built inner-suburban units derived from the PEP prototypes of the early 1970s, through the many Mk3 designs introduced throughout the 1980s, with various improvements as time progressed, followed by the Networkers and Class 323s. Since privatisation many new Classes have been introduced, many of foreign manufacture.
While most electric units are for rather mundane work, the same cannot be said of the Virgin Pendolino 390 tilting trains operating between London and Scotland. This book provides a pictorial review of the wide variety of passenger train operations in recent years.