165/6s won't be able to run Portsmouth-Cardiff

[whole diary]

[bobm]

I don't know which platforms they used but there was an Oxford-Bristol TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context) through service operated by 165/66s for a while.

[grahame]

I don't know which platforms they used but there was an Oxford-Bristol TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context) through service operated by 165/66s for a while.

Indeed ... and there were timetable proposals to extend them into Oxford - Weston-super-mare too ...

[anthony215]

Wouldnt mind seing a retun of the Oxford - Bristol services, might be a good idea too if they ran to Weston Super Mare.

[willc]

They seem to be working ok each time i have been on them, but in the case of teh class 166's as has been reported before teh air con does need work.

Chilterns class 165's are lovely to travel on, certainly wouldnt mind if they ordered some more class 172's perhaps for the London Marylebone - Oxford services and displaces some class 168's for the Alyesbury route so that we could have a few of them down in Bristol (providing they fit of course.)

Mind you, i doubt they would fit  at the platforms at Bristol TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context)  which are under the large roof.

Chiltern plan more loco push-pull working for Birmingham services to release 168s for Oxford, not more dmus.

The 168s have a different body profile to the 165/166s, as the 168 is basically a class 170 configured to couple to 165/166 type-stock, so the body is five inches narrower.

And the extra width in the 165/166 body is at waist height, not at solebar level, so unlikely to be any reason why they would not fit on the platforms in the Temple Meads train shed, given that HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units))/Voyager vehicles are allowed, unless something below the floor fouls the platform walls.

I don't know which platforms they used but there was an Oxford-Bristol TM through service operated by 165/66s for a while.

Was normally worked only by two-car 165s. If Oxford was short of a two-car set for other duties the Bristols were liable to get cancelled. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80rvyApl0M&feature=player_embedded

Wouldnt mind seing a retun of the Oxford - Bristol services, might be a good idea too if they ran to Weston Super Mare.

I've said it before, so I'll say it again. For all the people that say what a good thing it would be, the actual numbers using those trains when they existed were low, often pitifully so. Such a service would only make sense if there were intermediate stations, unlikely to be served by high-speed services, such as Milton Park, Wantage Road, Wootton Bassett and Corsham. Current connections at Didcot certainly leave a lot to be desired much of the time but there has never been a groundswell of opinion demanding the return of direct trains, nor was their loss much mourned.
 

[IndustryInsider]

I don't know which platforms they used but there was an Oxford-Bristol TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context) through service operated by 165/66s for a while.

Was normally worked only by two-car 165s. If Oxford was short of a two-car set for other duties the Bristols were liable to get cancelled. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80rvyApl0M&feature=player_embedded

There were definitely restrictions on which platforms at Temple Meads could be used too - can't remember exactly what they were but at least two platforms were no-go areas.

[JayMac]

Possibly platforms 3 and 5. They have the greatest curvature.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Apart from the poor business experience of the Oxford/Bristol Turbo service I understood that a major problem was fitting the services into the paths between Didcot and Bristol. 90 mph Turbos got in the way of 125 mph HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)). This was also at the time when FGW^▸ (First Great Western) was introducing the Adelantes on the Paddington/Cardiff service to increase that service frequency. All this resulted in pathing problems that were difficult to solve so the poor economics Turbo service had to go!

[ChrisB]

That, and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) failed to include it in the current franchise spec, so FGW^▸ (First Great Western) had to fund it themselves if they wished it to run.

[hornbeam]

165/6s are in not to bad a condition, but comparing to Chilterns are not as well kept.

They are better than they were a few years ago, not nearly as many with an engine down, or engines knocking and kicking out black smoke. Still makes me laugh how they strain when fully loaded and, as on Friday, as soon as it rains they struggle to get a grip.