GWR Class 165/166 air conditioning / use of hopper windows

[Annetts key]

On the GWR trains that I travel on, the only stock that has automatic self closing doors are the 800 series IET.

The doors on the 165 and 166 only close when either someone presses the close button or just before it departs the platform.

 

[windnoise69]

On the GWR trains that I travel on, the only stock that has automatic self closing doors are the 800 series IET.

The doors on the 165 and 166 only close when either someone presses the close button or just before it departs the platform.

There is a setting where 165/6 doors close after a couple of minutes automatically without the use of a door close button however it isn’t used

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

On the GWR trains that I travel on, the only stock that has automatic self closing doors are the 800 series IET.

Class 387 doors also close on a timer.

 

[Ashley Hill]

There is a setting where 165/6 doors close after a couple of minutes automatically without the use of a door close button however it isn’t used

Is there? Where is it. It'll be handy for the winter.

 

[Annetts key]

Maybe I should add that most of the time, my GWR journeys are not under any OHL. Unless I’m going to Swindon, Didcot, Reading or London, in which case I’m on a 800 series IET. I’ve never been on a 387.

 

[MattRat]

If the air con is powered by the engine as some users have said, no wonder they break. Opening windows + using air con make engines work harder, it's why in a car when you do that the MPG nose dives. If the engine gets overworked and breaks, there goes your air con.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If the air con is powered by the engine as some users have said, no wonder they break. Opening windows + using air con make engines work harder, it's why in a car when you do that the MPG nose dives. If the engine gets overworked and breaks, there goes your air con.

Are engine failures on 185s common? I doubt it.

 

[MattRat]

Are engine failures on 185s common? I doubt it.

They don't have opening windows.

 

[Bletchleyite]

They don't have opening windows.

Sorry, I was confusing this thread with the 185 aircon failure thread.

OK, back on topic then, are engine failures common on 165s and 166s? My experience is of bad aircon, not of engine failures.

 

[MattRat]

Sorry, I was confusing this thread with the 185 aircon failure thread.

OK, back on topic then, are engine failures common on 165s and 166s? My experience is of bad aircon, not of engine failures.

Well, even with a good engine, if you over work it, it'll start to have problems.

 

[skyhigh]

If the air con is powered by the engine as some users have said, no wonder they break. Opening windows + using air con make engines work harder, it's why in a car when you do that the MPG nose dives. If the engine gets overworked and breaks, there goes your air con.

Opening windows causes increased drag, which reduces the efficiency of the vehicle. Don't think it would make the engine run faster.

Any sensible system will have a limit on the current draw of the aircon to stop it over working the electrical system. I'd be really surprised if opening windows on a 16x would cause increased engine failures.

 

[Mikey C]

I rode a couple of GWR 165s yesterday, on the Marlow and Henley branches. The (noisy) Air cooling seemed to be working fine, though the trouble with those short shuttle branches as that they regularly sit at either end with most of their doors open, letting the warm air in, as opposed to a service where the journey time is longer, and the carriages are mainly "sealed"

Of topic, but I was in a BREL 465 last Saturday, and pleasantly surprised that the eyeball vents were actually working

 

[Bletchleyite]

Given the benefits of moving air even if the aircon is not working, and given how they give the option of adjusting the environment to personal taste, I really don't get why eyeball vents, present on almost all aircraft and road coaches, aren't provided on more trains.

 

[fgwrich]

Journey with 165133 (Slow thing) + 166210 last night. 165 Air Cooling working, 166 all windows open and in full Oven Mode. Both in a shabby internal state now present on the Turbo fleet.

 

[gallafent]

There is a setting where 165/6 doors close after a couple of minutes automatically without the use of a door close button however it isn’t used

I rode a couple of GWR 165s yesterday, on the Marlow and Henley branches. The (noisy) Air cooling seemed to be working fine, though the trouble with those short shuttle branches as that they regularly sit at either end with most of their doors open, letting the warm air in, as opposed to a service where the journey time is longer, and the carriages are mainly "sealed"

Definitely time to start using that feature again then! Any idea why it has been switched off? I guess it was in use way back in the last millenium, which is probably when I remember the doors auto-closing from …

 

[FenMan]

I'm not sure it has been switched off?

Pre-COVID, I've boarded loads of Turbos that have extended dwelling times at Reading before heading towards Redhill/Gatwick and the doors have shut after a while, but could be reopened in the usual way so others can board. I'm not convinced it was the guard who was shutting them.

This sniffs of a non-issue.

 

[73128]

With 158s it works reasonably well to have the guard open the windows. The trouble with 166s on Thames Valley services is that they are DOO so getting someone to open them is near impossible. Now they are guard worked, the guard can open them if needs be so that should work.

As I said above it would be better if trains had personal vents above the seats which would still provide moving air even if the cooling failed, potentially even passively from roof "scoops".

most TV Turbo services are not DOO, Reading to Gatwick and Basingstoke for example. Whilst the short branch services are DOO there is time for the driver to take action either end.

 

[Mikey C]

Definitely time to start using that feature again then! Any idea why it has been switched off? I guess it was in use way back in the last millenium, which is probably when I remember the doors auto-closing from …

But then there will always be people getting on the train as it waits on the platform, so unless the auto close happens really quickly after the door has been opened, the doors will still be open for a lengthy amount of time.

 

[gallafent]

But then there will always be people getting on the train as it waits on the platform, so unless the auto close happens really quickly after the door has been opened, the doors will still be open for a lengthy amount of time.

In my (possibly faulty, clearly ) memory, most of the doors would be closed most of the time when this system was operating at any terminus (clearly for intermediate stations the dwell time is short enough that generally all those that were opened by a passenger would then just be closed for departure before the timer kicked in) … it felt more like 30 seconds without any ingress/egress of passengers past the “beam” that the doors would close, certainly shorter than 2 minutes … it made/makes a big difference to the internal ambience of the train, regarding both noise levels and temperature.