Chiltern Trains

petermakosch · Post by **petermakosch** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 11:21 am

Hi!
This may sound like a silly question because i traveled on one last Wednesday, but, what Classes do Chiltern Trains Operate?

I know 168's, and dont they have two types of those? The ones that have the prototype 170 cab and the old style cab?
Cheers,
Pete

n863dwt · Post by **n863dwt** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 11:50 am

chiltern Railways operate the following.

Class 165/0 Units between 165001-165030 but i think upto 5 are leased to thames trains/first great western .

Class 168/0 Networker style cab Not 100% sure of unit numbers
Class 168/1 Turbostar Style cab mainly 3 Car Units.
Class 168/2 Turbostar Revised front Cab, Mainly 2 car units with 1 3 car unit in traffic but more have been ordered.

and class 121020 aka 55020 Bubble car .

also 1x dedicated class 117 DMU classified as a class 930 (I think) for sandite duties and watercannon duties etc...

and they service/operate other buble car units for Network Rail

petermakosch · Post by **petermakosch** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 4:54 pm

Thanks!
I like 165's! Their 168/1's are kinda quite posh, well, the seats seem to be in the nice dark Blue, better than MML or CT.

The 165's are great!
They are used for what i think they should. Urban Stoppages. Not every stop, but many Big Cities and Places. Went from Solihull-Moor Street on one, very nice indeed!
Pete

allypally · Post by **allypally** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 5:55 pm

165001 is definately at TT, saw it at reading not long ago, it looks terrible! still in NSE, with the black thing round the light off on one light on one end. it looks like a black eyed tramp

Tomnick · Post by **Tomnick** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 6:51 pm

petermakosch wrote:Urban Stoppages

Sounds painful...

nightbeaver911 · Post by **nightbeaver911** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 8:38 pm

They are refurbishing their 165 and 166's so seating is 2+2 throughout and no first class. The idea is to have a Club class which is surposed to be posher than standard but not first.

jjules · Post by **jjules** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 8:51 pm

Who are? Chiltern?

TT have the majority of 165 and 166s. Fantastic unit, the 166. So much so I'm developing a fansite!

ForburyLion · Post by **ForburyLion** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 9:00 pm

jjules wrote:Fantastic unit, the 166. So much so I'm developing a fansite!

I'll sign up!

LucaZone · Post by **LucaZone** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 9:45 pm

Chiltern dont have any 166's? nd as far as i know TT have no plans to update their stock to be 2+2. The commuter volumes are to large to warrent removing seats!

mattvince · Post by **mattvince** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 10:21 pm

165001-005 are with Thames Trains, supposedly to work the Ealing-Greenford, Slough-Windsor, Maidenhead-Marlow, Twyford-Henley and Oxford-Bicester Town branches. Home-based at Reading. Chiltern operate 165/0s, no other kind of 'Turbo' (although you could be forgiven for being confused, both Chiltern and TT have large numbers of Turbos still in NSE livery!). Both Chiltern and TT are refurbing their Turbos (link time: http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/pages ... er0103.pdf).

As far as Clubmans go, Chiltern's are exceptional - great trains for a great railway, my experiences of Clubmans have always been good, nearly always spot on time (I think my average lateness on Chiltern is in negative figures!). Chiltern are a single-class operator, quality of journey merely depends on what train you catch. That said, Chiltern are also a Top-Class operator.

nightbeaver911 · Post by **nightbeaver911** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 10:23 pm

Sorry! I meant 2 and 3 car 165s, i thought the 3 car version is a 166 (but I have found out it isnt)

Its not TT that are removing 2 + 3, I read in Rail that Chiltern were in the process of doing it to much of their stock though.

petermakosch · Post by **petermakosch** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 10:43 pm

Well, i not care!
I love 'em!

JJULES- I will sign up to!! I might even write off to them and see if i can get some sounds!!

jjules · Post by **jjules** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 10:57 pm

Thanks for your support ForburyLion and Pete!

I'm writing the site as I type this reply. To begin with, its home will be in the Project H2P website, which is getting close to upload status.

I admit I was surprised to hear interest in it already. There are obviously more 166 fans than I originally thought!

(Pete, I'll send you an evaluation copy of the page next week via MSN)

ForburyLion · Post by **ForburyLion** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 12:18 pm

I've got a stack of mostly poor quality photo's of 165's making their debut runs at Reading in the early 90's which are in my "to scan" pile, I'll let you take your pick of them for the site once I get round to scanning.

nightbeaver911 · Post by **nightbeaver911** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 12:46 pm

I am so glad Chiltern got that 20year franchise! They have done alot with that line and the only time I have experienced a late Chiltern Train is when they were double tracking that single track stretch. Also arent Chiltern the only operator to say 'f*** you railtrack' (back when it was railtrack) and built their own station instead of waiting for Railtrack to do it for them. Maybe Scotrail has done some of its own building too but still God bless Chiltern.