British Rail Class 165

British Rail Class 165 Networker Turbo

Chiltern Railways refurbished Class 165/0 No. 165001 at London Marylebone

The refurbished interior of a Chiltern Railways Class 165/0
In service 1990 - present
Manufacturer BREL York
Family name Networker
Constructed 1990 - 1992
Refurbishment 2003–2005 (165/0)
Number built 39 trainsets (165/0)
37 trainsets (165/1)
Number scrapped 1 trainset
(due to the Ladbroke Grove Rail Crash)
Formation 2 or 3 cars per trainset
Fleet numbers 165001 - 165039
165101 - 165137
Operator(s) Chiltern Railways
Great Western Railway
Line(s) served Great Western Main Line and branches
Chiltern Main Line and branches
Specifications
Car body construction Welded aluminium
Car length DMS/DMSL - 22.91 m (75 ft 2 in)[1]
MS - 22.72 m (74 ft 6 in)[1]
Width 2.81 m (9 ft 3 in)[1]
Height 3.79 m (12 ft 5 in)[1]
Maximum speed 75 mph (121 km/h) (165/0)
90 mph (145 km/h) (165/1)
Weight 2 Car - 74 tonnes (73 long tons; 82 short tons)[1]
3 Car - 111 tonnes (109 long tons; 122 short tons)[1]
Prime mover(s) One per car, Perkins 2006-TWH Diesel[1]
Power output 350 hp (261 kW)
Transmission Voith Hydraulic T211r
2 axles driven per car
Safety system(s) AWS, TPWS
ATP, Tripcock system (165/0)
Coupling system BSI[2]
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The British Rail Class 165 Turbo is a fleet of suburban diesel multiple units (DMUs), originally specified by and built for British Rail. They were built by BREL York Works between 1990 and 1992.[3] The trains belong to the Networker family of trains, and were originally known as Networker Turbos to distinguish them from the electrically propelled members of that family. An express version was subsequently built in the form of the Class 166 Turbo Express trains.

The class is still in service, and is operated by Great Western Railway on services out of London Paddington station and by Chiltern Railways on services out of London Marylebone station. The trains operated by Great Western Railway, along with that operator's Class 166 trains, are often known as Thames Turbos, while the units operated by Chiltern Railways are known as Chiltern Turbos.

Description

Two batches of units were built for different subdivisions of Network SouthEast to replace elderly "Heritage" DMUs as well as locomotive-hauled trains on services out of London Paddington and London Marylebone. The fleet is wide-bodied to take advantage of the gauges of the former Great Western Railway and Great Central Railway on whose lines it runs. As a result, it is restricted to these routes.

Both have a 350 horsepower (261 kW) Perkins 2006-TWH diesel engine on each car, Voith Turbo-transmissions, and Gmeinder final drive.

When new, the units were branded as either Chiltern Turbo or Thames Turbo between the two first class windows of the DMCL carriage.

Class 165 units were some of the first trains in Britain to be designed for Driver Only Operation- in cases where a Guard is required, the Guard must carry out their door operation duties via a bell system to signal the Drivers to close doors and start the train. This requires the Guard to return to a vacant cab at each station to carry out these duties. Examples of this include Chiltern Railways services north of Banbury or Great Western Railway services on the Cotswolds and Reading to Gatwick lines.

Class 165/0

Thirty-nine Class 165/0 Turbo trains were built in 1990-91 for the Chiltern subdivision of Network SouthEast, numbered 165001-039. Both 2-car and 3-car variants were built. Units 165001-028 were delivered as 2-car units, and were followed by eleven 3-car units numbered 165029-039. These vehicles have a top speed of 75 mph (121 km/h). They are fitted with tripcocks for working over the London Underground lines between Amersham and Harrow-on-the-Hill. Automatic Train Protection is also fitted, making them one of the few classes to have both these features in Britain.

165029-039 were temporarily allocated to the Thames line in 1992. This was necessary as resignalling of Paddington station meant that Network SouthEast could no longer run locomotive-hauled trains to and from Paddington. Insufficient numbers of Class 165/1 Turbo trains had been delivered by this date to operate all the locomotive-hauled services, so all the 3-car Class 165/0 Turbo trains were diverted to the Thames line as replacements. Once sufficient Class 165/1 Turbo trains had been delivered, 165029-039 were returned to the Chiltern line.

Each unit was formed of two outer driving motors, with an additional intermediate motor in the 3-car units. The technical description of the formation is DMSL+MS+DMS. Individual carriages are numbered as follows:[1]

Class 165/1

No.165119 at Didcot Parkway. This unit is painted in the original Network SouthEast livery.

Thirty-seven Class 165/1 Turbo trains were built in 1992 for the Thames line subdivision of Network SouthEast, numbered 165101-137. Like the Chiltern units, both 2-car and 3-car variants were built. Units 165101-117 were delivered as 3-car units, followed by the 2-car units 165118-137. They are re-geared and fitted with bogie yaw dampers to allow top speed of 90 mph (145 km/h), more suitable for mainline use.

Each unit was formed of two outer driving motors, with an additional intermediate motor in the 3-car units. The technical description of the formation is DMSL+MS+DMS. Individual carriages are numbered as follows:[1]

Two coaches of no. 165115 were destroyed in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash. The remaining driving motor carriage remains as a spare vehicle.[5][6]

165128 is currently in service with 58609 (MSO vehicle from 166209) inserted in the middle, this is due to one of its driving vehicles having fire damage from an engine fire on the North Downs line in November 2015, rendering it out of service, and so to provide another 3-car train in service.[7][8]

Operations

Chiltern lines

Chiltern Railways refurbished three car Class 165/0 No. 165032 at London Marylebone

The 165/0 units were originally delivered in Network SouthEast livery for used on routes including fast services from London Marylebone to Princes Risborough, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Solihull and Birmingham Snow Hill, and local services from Aylesbury to London and Princes Risborough. In this role they replaced the Class 115 DMUs

Two units (165003 and 165005) were later repainted into Thames Trains livery.

Chiltern Railways inherited 34 Class 165/0 units from Network SouthEast, and the remaining five others were transferred from Thames Trains in 2004 - leaving Chiltern Railways operating the whole subclass.

After privatisation they continued to work similar services as before, but with the arrival of the faster Class 168 Clubman units the 165 Turbo trains have been pushed down the pecking order, are found less often on expresses to Birmingham, instead generally working on shorter routes, such as stopping services to Aylesbury, High Wycombe, and Stratford-upon-Avon and also the Birmingham Moor Street - Leamington Spa short services.

A new depot built at Aylesbury for the maintenance for these trains has been enlarged since its inception during British Rail days. Light maintenance and refuelling is carried out at Wembley LMD and Tyseley Depot and can occasionally be found at Stourbridge LMD. Units are also regularly stabled at Marylebone and Banbury.

All Chiltern units were refurbished between late 2003 and early 2005.[3] Air conditioning was added and the opening hopper windows replaced with sealed units. A new passenger information system similar to that on the Class 168 Clubman trains, CCTV cameras, and an area designated for the use of wheelchair-users were added, and the first-class section was removed as Chiltern became a standard-class only railway in 2003. The original 3+2 seating at the outer ends of the driving vehicles was replaced by new 2+2 seating. 3+2 seating was retained in the centre areas of the driving vehicles and throughout the centre vehicles of the three-car units. A cycle/wheelchair area with tip up seats was also added to each unit.

Thames lines

A First Great Western service from Paddington pictured at Twyford

The Class 165/1 fleet were built for local services from London Paddington along the Great Western Main Line; their main destinations included local trains to Reading, Greenford, Newbury, Bedwyn, Oxford, and Banbury, and services along the branch lines to Windsor & Eton Central, Henley-on-Thames, Marlow and Bicester Town.

Following privatisation of British Rail, the franchise was won by the Go-Ahead Group who operated it as Thames Trains from 1996 to 2004 and inheriting the all the Class 165/1 Turbo trains as well as the first five Class 165/0 Turbo trains produced. As part of the franchise change they introduced a new blue, white and green livery. There were two variants of this livery; the Class 165 Turbo carried the non-express variant.

In April 2004, operation of the Thames Trains franchise passed to First Great Western Link. The livery remained the same, but First Great Western Link branding was applied over the Thames Trains logo.

In 2004, due to deliveries of new Class 180 Adelante units on sister company First Great Western, the five Class 165/0 Turbo units became redundant and were transferred to Chiltern Railways.

During 2007, the Class 165/1 Turbo trains were re-liveried with the First Great Western Neon Dynamic Lines livery.

In January 2010, First Great Western announced an £8 million refresh programme for its fleet of Classes 165 and 166 Turbo DMU trains,[9] undertaken by Dartford Composites Ltd at the then Cow Lane Depot in Reading:

In 2012, First Great Western took delivery of Class 180 Adelante units for Cotswold Line service, and three-car Class 150 Sprinter units for Reading to Basingstoke Line services, allowing Class 165 and 166 units to be used to reinforce Thames Valley services.[10]

In late 2015, as part of the rebrand to GWR, the Class 165 fleet had all first class sections removed to increase capacity.[11]

Function and Features

The main duties for the Class 165 are stopping services around the Thames Valley and Chiltern networks. Originally branded as Network SouthEast under British Rail they replaced services formerly made up either of older diesel multiple-units, or locomotive-hauled Mark 1/Mark 2 carriages. The two Networker Turbo classes provide many improvements over some of the trains that they replaced:

The second batch of 165/1s and their sister Class 166 allowed for an increase of top speed to 90 mph (145 km/h), allowing the trains to be used on Great Western stopping and semi-fast services.

Current fleet details

Class Operator No. Built Year Built Cars per Set Unit nos. Notes
Class 165/0 Chiltern Railways 28 1990-91 2 165001 - 165028
11 3 165029 - 165039
Class 165/1 Great Western Railway 16 1992 3 165101 - 165114
165116 - 165117		 165115 destroyed in Ladbroke Grove rail crash
20 2 165118 - 165137 165128 has 58609 from fire damaged 166209 in the centre

Gallery

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Colin J Marsden. "Technical Data: Class 165". Retrieved 2010-03-17.
  2. ↑ "Mechanical And Electrical Coupling Index". Rail Safety and Standards Board. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
  3. 1 2 "Chiltern Railways: About us - Our train fleet". Chiltern Railways. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ "Thames Trains fined £2m for Ladbroke Grove crash". The Daily Telegraph (London). 2004-04-05. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  6. ↑
  7. ↑
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ First Great Western - Train operator gives Thames Valley Trains an £8million makeover
  10. ↑ "Return of Adelantes to First Great Western confirmed". Railnews.co.uk. 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
  11. ↑ "First Great Western gets rid of First Class on Reading trains". Rail. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2016.

Further reading

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