Class 165 Air Conditioning

[Surreyman]

Travelled on 165104 today (Very Hot day) went to open a window (all windows in the carriage were closed) window firmly locked and a notice in yellow, along the lines of 'carriage is air conditioned, windows can only be unlocked by guard' etc, thinking "since when have 165s had air conditioning"?
Sure enough the train moved off and I could feel the Air-Con' working, when I got off at Reading I looked at the roof and noticed extra 'shapes' on roof compared to 165 in adjacent platform.
Can anyone add more info to this story?

 

[Siemens Staines]

It has been work in progress for over a year now. All GWR 2 car 165s have air-cooling fitted, and all bar three of the 3 cars (165112-114) do also, with two more in Wolverton undergoing modification (165108 & 165109). The air-cooling of the 165s works a lot better than the air-conditioning of the 166s.

 

[Mikey C]

Sitting in one of the units was like being in an industrial fridge, very cool but also incredibly noisy!

 

[paulravuslante]

Often see water streaming down the sides of these trains from the vents when I have been on them in hot weather. Are they supposed to do that?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Often see water streaming down the sides of these trains from the vents when I have been on them in hot weather. Are they supposed to do that?

You can get a lot of condensation in aircon/air cooling units on a hot day, so probably, yes.

 

[edwin_m]

Especially with the sort of humidity we usually get on hot days in the UK (today feels like no exception). Cooler air can hold less moisture so it condenses out, like a small version what you get when hot and cold air meet at a weather front.

 

[paulravuslante]

Thanks both

 

[Goldfish62]

Same system as on Chiltern's 165s, I believe. Certainly a lot better than the aircon on 166s!

 

[F Great Eastern]

165s is much better than the 166s, the 166 I was traveling on, on Saturday was so weak it was woeful. All the windows were opened up but that didn't help the poor passengers in seats ahead of the window which were like a sauna, alhtough at least the back of the carriage was better.

 

[stj]

We have had Air Con for years why were these classes of unit not fitted with it from new?

 

[Terry Tait]

Shame that the 465, 466 and 365 were not fitted with air conditioning too.

 

[swt_passenger]

We have had Air Con for years why were these classes of unit not fitted with it from new?

IIRC it was generally assumed that units with that door layout and regular stops would end up spending so much time with the doors fully open to the passenger compartment and the aircon wouldn’t cope. End door carriages generally had the vestibule separated from the rest of the coach.

 

[Mikey C]

Shame that the 465, 466 and 365 were not fitted with air conditioning too.

As their aircon would have presumably have been the same hopeless type as on the 166, I'm glad they weren't!

 

[jimm]

As their aircon would have presumably have been the same hopeless type as on the 166, I'm glad they weren't!

a. The 165s are fitted with air cooling equipment, not air conditioning, whatever the GWR stickers may say - presumably from a job lot of stickers produced for the 166s.
b. The air conditioning system on the 166s was an afterthought, that BREL had to fit in as best it could on the existing 165 design when it was decided that Network South East's area of operation would expand to include the Cotswold Line and a 'long-distance' version of the 165 was developed as a result.

 

[Goldfish62]

a. The 165s are fitted with air cooling equipment, not air conditioning, whatever the GWR stickers may say - presumably from a job lot of stickers produced for the 166s.
b. The air conditioning system on the 166s was an afterthought, that BREL had to fit in as best it could on the existing 165 design when it was decided that Network South East's area of operation would expand to include the Cotswold Line and a 'long-distance' version of the 165 was developed as a result.

Passengers wouldn't understand the difference between air cooling and air conditioning anyway so changing the wording on the label would be pointless. Most of the population seems to think that air conditioning is something that simply blows cool air at you anyway. They don't even understand why it needs to be an enclosed system to work properly.