Heating on class 158s.

[greyman42]

I travelled on the 1336 from Carlisle to Leeds on 9/1/25. There did not seem to be any adequate heating on the train on a very cold day. Is there usually an issue with the heating on these trains?

 

[jamiearmley]

Some Northern 158s have the interior saloon doors isolated for whatever reason.

This means that heat escapes quickly into the unheated vestibule areas.

Could this account for your experience?

 

[greyman42]

Some Northern 158s have the interior saloon doors isolated for whatever reason.

This means that heat escapes quickly into the unheated vestibule areas.

Could this account for your experience?

One end of the coach did have the doors isolated but there did not seem to be any heat coming from the heaters in any of the four coaches.

 

[Belperpete]

The problem is usually getting them cool on a hot day!

Did you try the other coach? In case it was just faulty heating in one coach.

The usual issue is when a unit comes off depot without being preheated (say because of a short notice set swap due to a failure). It can take a long time to get up to a comfortable temperature.

 

[greyman42]

Did you try the other coach? In case it was just faulty heating in one coach.

Yes, i checked all four coaches.

 

[greyman42]

The usual issue is when a unit comes off depot without being preheated (say because of a short notice set swap due to a failure). It can take a long time to get up to a comfortable temperature.

The engine was turned off when till just before departure but it will have come in from Leeds earlier and it got no warmer on the two and a half hour journey to Leeds.

 

[Lewisham2221]

AFAIK the heating for each carriage is independent. So for a fault to affect all 4 carriages would be extremely unusual. Sounds more like someone simply hasn't turned on the heating.

 

[Belperpete]

The engine was turned off when till just before departure but it will have come in from Leeds earlier and it got no warmer on the two and a half hour journey to Leeds.

Did noone come through checking tickets during that two and half hours who you could have complained to?

 

[LowLevel]

The micropacks that control the heating can be extremely temperamental (perhaps unsurprising given they're 30 plus years old tech) and can get stuck in preheat mode for literally hours at a time. If this happens the coach won't warm up until they decide to remain in a heating mode. You can trip them manually into a heating mode but they'll only stay in it for 20 minutes at a time before reverting to auto control, at which point they'll hopefully either kick themselves into heating or drop back to preheat.

I've had units refuse to come out of preheat for over 6 hours after engine start without an intermediate shut down.

 

[Failed Unit]

That makes sense from my experience of the 158 in winter (including Scotrail) sometimes the are cold others they are lovely and warm. Better then the 170s which open and close frequently letting all the heat out. The 156s i tend to find the coldest

 

[jamiearmley]

The micropacks that control the heating can be extremely temperamental (perhaps unsurprising given they're 30 plus years old tech) and can get stuck in preheat mode for literally hours at a time. If this happens the coach won't warm up until they decide to remain in a heating mode. You can trip them manually into a heating mode but they'll only stay in it for 20 minutes at a time before reverting to auto control, at which point they'll hopefully either kick themselves into heating or drop back to preheat.

I've had units refuse to come out of preheat for over 6 hours after engine start without an intermediate shut down.

Any chance you could explain how to trip into heating mode? Is it just the cab MCB, or the full ACIS trip, or a manual panel reset, or something else?

Any additional string to my bow is always greatly appreciated!

 

[WirralLine]

Any chance you could explain how to trip into heating mode? Is it just the cab MCB, or the full ACIS trip, or a manual panel reset, or something else?

Any additional string to my bow is always greatly appreciated!

On the panel in the vestibule enter the maintenance pin, select output mode and arrow up or down to the one you want (heat). Were told to do this in the summer if we open windows due to poor AC and put it into "vent" mode.

*Edit* - assuming the systems are the same as the ones we have, although they look original to me!

 

[yorksrob]

I was on a chilly 158 last night. Ended up wearing my bobble hat.

 

[LowLevel]

Any chance you could explain how to trip into heating mode? Is it just the cab MCB, or the full ACIS trip, or a manual panel reset, or something else?

Any additional string to my bow is always greatly appreciated!

Depends which Micropaks they have, Ebac or Westinghouse (or both if they're anything like ours!).

 

[jamiearmley]

Depends which Micropaks they have, Ebac or Westinghouse (or both if they're anything like ours!).

Both indeed! Ebac seems more reliable however

 

[greyman42]

Did noone come through checking tickets during that two and half hours who you could have complained to?

They did a ticket check but i never mentioned it, but it must of been obvious that the coach was very cold.

 

[Flying Snail]

I am constantly surprised that on board staff put up with faulty heating and AC in their everyday workplace, maybe the cab systems work more reliably and they are happy enough to stay in there.