Home > British Rail Class 166

The British Rail Class 166 "Network Express Turbo" diesel multiple units were built by ABB at York Works from 1992-93. These units are the express version of the Class 165 "Network Turbo" units.

Twenty-one 3-car units were built, numbered 166201-221. Each unit was formed of two outer driving motors, and an intermediate motor. The technical description of the formation is DMCL+MS+DMCL. Individual carriages are numbered as follows:

• 58101-58121 - DMCL
• 58601-58621 - MS
• 58122-58142 - DMCL

They units were built to replace elderly Class 117 , Class 119 and Class 121 "Heritage" DMUs, and locomotive-hauled trains on services from London Paddington along the Great Western Main Line. Their main destinations included fast-trains to Reading, Newbury and Oxford, with some services continuing beyond Oxford to Banbury and Stratford-upon-AvonStratford-upon-Avon is a town in Warwickshire, England. In 2001 the town had a population of 23,676. Stratford is known worldwide as the birthplace of William Shakespeare. It is also the administrative centre of Stratford-on-Avon District. Stratford has A, or along the Cotswold Main LineThe Cotswold Main Line is a railway line running from Oxford to Worcester, serving the intermediate towns of Moreton-in-Marsh, Evesham and Pershore. British railway lines. to Evesham1904 Evesham is a middle-sized, rural market town in Worcestershire, England. It is roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon and was originally built within a loop of the River Avon, which flows through the Vale of Evesham, Worcester, Great MalvernGreat Malvern is a town in Worcestershire, England positioned at the foot of, and partly on the sides of, the Malvern Hills. The hills give the town a steep incline that makes getting around the town centre relatively tricky. There are many shops includin and HerefordThis article is about Hereford in England. There are also Hereford, Pennsylvania, Hereford, Texas, and Hereford (cattle). Hereford ( Welsh: Henffordd is an historic city in the west of England, close to the border with Wales and on the River Wye it is the. Additionally, units were also used on the Reading to RedhillRedhill can refer to several places: Redhill, Somerset, England Redhill, Surrey, England Redhill, Singapore. to Gatwick Airport services.

When built, these units were operated by the Thames Turbo and North Downs subdivisions of Network SouthEast, and therefore these units carried NSE blue, red and white livery.

Following privatisation, the units passed to the Thames Trains franchise, who introduced a new blue, white and green livery. There were two variants of this livery; the Express livery carried by Class 166 units had full-height green swish over the doors, whereas the Class 165 units had smaller green circles over the doors.

In April 2004, operation of the Thames Trains franchise passed to the First Group, who now operate the company as First Great Western Link. The livery remains the same, but FGW Link branding has been applied over the obsolete Thames Trains logo.