Turbostars at 20
Many might still consider them to be a ‘new’ train, but December 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the first Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple unit entering passenger service. PIP DUNN looks back at their colourful careers
PIP DUNN looks back at the colourful career of the Class 170s as they pass 20 years in passenger service.
The Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple units (DMUs) are a familiar sight across the railway network, and have proved to be one of the successes of the glut of post-privatisation new train orders.
Overall, the production run of these popular units, all assembled at Derby’s Litchurch Lane works and considered as a development of the Class 165/166 Networker DMU, has run to 557 vehicles (if you include the original Class 168 Clubman units with the different cabs).
Their story starts in the late 1990s, when privatisation of the railways, while controversial, reinvigorated the market for new-build rolling stock. Just about every train operating company (TOC) formed in the late 1990s won their bids on the back of promising to order new trains.
Some of the new vehicles were to replace elderly ex-BR stock, some of which dated from the 1950s and 1960s, while others were ordered to allow more services to be introduced - and so grow business.
Initially, the main two players for new trains in the UK market were Adtranz (sold in 2001 to Canadian company Bombardier, including the Litchurch Lane assembly facility) and Alstom (a French company based at the old Metro Cammell works at Washwood Heath in Birmingham).
The word assembly is used because modern train building is just that - parts come from all over Europe (and beyond in some instances), and the vehicles are put together in the UK factory. The modular construction of many trains also means the bodies were assembled in the UK.
Adtranz won the first order for new trains after privatisation, famously ending a 1,064-
day hiatus in the ordering of new rolling stock. That was for Chiltern Railways, with its Class 168 Clubman diesel multiple units (effectively the precursor to the Class 170 Turbostar), ordered through Porterbrook.
As more and more of the shadow franchises were let to their new operators, so the new train orders came rolling in. Adtranz was quick to benefit, offering the Turbostar as well as the Electrostar electric multiple unit (EMU), which could be in 25kV AC, 750V DC or dual AC/DC options.
The Class 170 was a diesel-hydraulic multiple unit. Each vehicle, including centre cars, was fitted with an MTU 6R183TD13H engine of 422hp. There were some early issues with engine reliability that Adtranz had to address, but it did so rapidly and without too much detriment to the fleet.
The cab and bodyshell design was first seen in 1996, when Adtranz built a demonstrator ‘Classic’ that went to market offering a wholly new bodyshell. It would be fitted on an existing EMU chassis as a proposed replacement for the many Mk 1 slam-door EMUs in use on former Southern Region commuter lines. This concept didn’t take off, but the design of the body wasn’t wasted!
The cab of the ‘Classic’ was used on the ‘170s’, although surprisingly the first Chiltern Clubmans (168001-005) had a slightly different cab design, albeit one which obviously had some similarities to the cab that Turbostars used.
The trains were designed for both commuter and longer-distance ‘cross-country’ work, and so had two pairs of automatic doors onethird and two-thirds along the body, which did nothing for the effective operation of the air-conditioning! They did not have corridor connections, which proved ‘annoying’ to operators wanting to pair the trains to form six-car sets.
The first Class 170 Turbostar order was placed by Midland Mainline (MM), via Porterbrook, soon after it was awarded its tenyear franchise in 1996. This was for 34 vehicles that would form 17 two-car Class 170/1 sets.
The trains were for use on the St PancrasNottingham/Derby route, and would enable the company to increase its service dramatically by running the ‘170s’ on semi-fast trains in between faster High Speed Trains (HSTs) used on the London to Sheffield timetable. The HSTs could also benefit from having certain intermediate stops south of Leicester (such as Wellingborough,
Kettering and Bedford) taken out. The first of the new trains, numbered 170101 with individual vehicles 50101 and 79101, appeared from Litchurch Lane in the summer of 1998 and entered traffic in December, allocated to Derby Etches Park. It was joined by its classmates through to 1999.
In the meantime, other Turbostar orders were placed. Anglia Railways ordered eight three-car sets (170201-208, which were delivered in 1999), and later added four twocar units to its fleet (170270-273, in 2002). Again, Porterbrook financed all Anglia’s ‘170s’.
ScotRail ordered an initial batch of 24 threecar Class 170/4s that were put into traffic from 1999. It then put further three-car ‘170s’ into traffic - namely 170470/471 in 2001, 170425434 in 2003-05, 170450-461 in 2004-05, and 170472-478 in 2005. This gave the operator 55 Turbostars. All were secured through Porterbrook, apart from 170416-424 which were acquired through HSBC.
Central Trains also opted for the Turbostar, and ordered 23 two-car Class 170/ 5s and ten three-car ‘170/6s’ through Porterbrook. These also went into traffic in 1999 and 2000.
Of these orders, the ‘170/2s’ were again intended to provide additional trains in the timetable, while the ‘170/4s’ were in part for extra services but also to enable a cascade to eliminate the last slam-door DMUs from the ScotRail franchise. The Central units were to replace other units which were cascaded elsewhere.
While Chiltern’s original build of Class 168/ 0s were classed as Clubmans, later orders by the TOC were the same as Class 170s in all but numbers - so while they were still classed as ‘168s’, the later sub-classes ‘168/1’ and ‘168/2’ were identical in design and look to ‘170s’. The ‘168s’ were a mix of two-, three- and four-car units. Chiltern’s units were secured through Porterbrook, apart from 168111-113 which were acquired from HSBC.
In 2000, South West Trains (SWT) took delivery of eight two-car units (170301-308), financed by Porterbrook. These were later joined by 170392 in 2003.
Three interesting units were three-car 170397/398 and two-car 170399, which were initially ordered by Porterbrook as ‘demonstrators’ and not ordered with a specific TOC in mind. All three initially went into use with Central Trains to supplement its Class
170/ 5 and ‘170/6’ units, and the two three-car sets have remained essentially as ‘170/6s’ ever since, while 170399 has moved here, there and everywhere!
In 2003, Southern ordered nine two-car and six four-car Turbostars through Porterbrook to replace its elderly slam-door Class 205/207 diesel electric multiple units (DEMUs). Because these new units were fitted with Dellner couplings, which differed to the BSI couplers of a standard Class 170, it meant they were registered on the Rolling Stock Library as Class 171s - the short units were ‘171/7s’ and the longer units ‘171/ 8s’.
Hull Trains was an open access operator that started operations using hired Anglia Class 170/2s from September 2000, until it was able to take delivery of its own four three-car units (170393-396) in March 2004.
While the early Turbostars were Class 170/171s (apart from those with Chiltern, which were Class 168s), in 2009 the first Class 172s appeared. All previous Turbostars had been diesel-hydraulic units, but the ‘172s’ were a diesel mechanical version, and were taken by three operators.
London Overground took the first eight sets (172001-008, all two cars) from Angel Trains for use on the Gospel Oak-Barking route, although 172002 has since transferred to West Midlands Trains for staff training and the other seven units will follow suit for use by WMT.
Also sourced through Angel Trains, Chiltern took four two-car Class 172/1s in 2009. These units have proved not to be as reliable as the ‘168s’, with which they are rarely combined, and they tend to stick to their own Marylebone-Oxford diagrams because they don’t have tripcocks fitted. There is talk of their being converted to diesel hydraulics units, presumably as Class 168s.
WMT itself, through its predecessor, also took two fleets of Class 172s - the 12 two-car ‘172/2s’ and 15 three-car ‘172/3s’. These units differed noticeably by having cab-end corridor connections, and were procured through Porterbrook.
The Midland Mainline units worked on semi-fast trains from St Pancras to Derby and Nottingham. They were a big hit and led to passenger growth, so much so that in 2001 the company ordered ten additional centre cars ( 55101-110), to be inserted into the first ten of its ‘170/1s’ to make them three-car sets. The ‘170/1s’, while in the main used south of Derby, also worked some summer trains to York and Scarborough.
The Central units worked on long-distance trains from Liverpool to Norwich and Birmingham New Street to Norwich. They also worked from Nottingham to Cardiff via Birmingham New Street, and on other services in the Central area.
The units were based at Tyseley, and would also be used to fill in for ‘150s’, ‘156s’, ‘158s’, and even ‘323s’ if required.
The initial eight Anglia units were ordered for use on the Peterborough to London Liverpool Street route via Ipswich. Again, this mainly entailed the regional service being extended to the capital - no one would realistically travel from Peterborough to London via Ipswich! Four additional two-car ‘170/2s’ were ordered for a new Cambridge to Norwich direct service.
The ‘170/2s’ also worked a new crossLondon service from Colchester to Basingstoke until 2002.
ScotRail’s units were intended for the Edinburgh-Glasgow Queen Street service, but as extra units came on stream they also took over trains on the Highland Main Line to Inverness from both Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as working Glasgow Queen StreetAberdeen and Aberdeen-Edinburgh trains.
The SWT units were for a new service from Southampton to Salisbury via Chandlers Ford, but they also worked Waterloo-Salisbury semi-fast services to supplement the Class 159 fleet and on Reading to Brighton. However, workings to Exeter were rare.
Southern’s Class 171s were to replace DEMUs on the Ashford-Hastings and Uckfield secondary lines, the latter working through to London Bridge and Victoria.
Hull Trains’ units were used on three daily return services between Hull and King’s Cross, sometimes running as six cars.
Class 170s have been moved between operators and routes over the years. Some have been as a result of franchise changes - for example, Central Trains and Midland Mainline no longer exist! Other units have been displaced either due to growth requiring new trains or due to electrification.
You won’t see a Class 170 on the Midland Main Line south of Wigston Junction any more. The MML’s ‘170/1s’ all passed to Central Trains in 2004, when displaced by Class 222 Meridians, with the branding replaced by the logos of the new users.
In 2007, Central was carved up. Some operations went to CrossCountry, others were added to the new East Midlands Trains franchise (which included the Midland Main Line), and other parts went to the new London Midland franchise.
Of the Central Turbostars, all the ‘170/ 5s’ went to CrossCountry, along with 170397/398, 170518-523 and 170636-639. The other CT units (170501-517, 170630-635) moved to London Midland and were later joined by the Class 172/2s and ‘172/3s’.
The new CrossCountry franchise used the 170s on two main routes - Nottingham to Cardiff and Birmingham New Street-Leicester/ Stansted Airport. The Norwich operation was part of EMT, which had no Turbostars.
The Hull Trains units moved to ScotRail in
May 2005, when four new four-car Class 222/1 ‘Pioneer’ units (the same as MM’s Meridians) were acquired by the open access operator. This gave Scotland 59 units (an all-time high).
The SWT units were probably the shortestlived of any fleet. The new units were needed to work new services, but running a mixed fleet was never good, and Salisbury had its ‘159s’ and ‘170s’ to look after.
The solution was for SWT to take some Class 158s from TransPennine Express and convert them to ‘159/1s’ and ‘158/8s’, and then take the ‘170/3s’. The logic of this was perhaps confusing, as it meant TPE now had ‘158s’, ‘170s’ and its new Class 185s (although the ‘158s’ were soon moved away from its fleet).
170392 moved to Southern in 2007, and after conversion to Dellner couplers was renumbered as 171730.
More recently, in 2015 Southern gained four three-car ex-ScotRail Class 170/4s (170421-424), which it reformed as two twocar sets (171201/202) and two four-car sets (171401/402).
170399 had a spell with Central until 2007, when it was renumbered to 170309 to join the ex-SWT units that had moved to TPE. These nine two-car trains were intended to run - usually as pairs - on Manchester to Hull trains via Huddersfield. They didn’t last exceptionally long in the North, as in 2015 they moved to Chiltern and were renumbered as 168321-329 - proof (if proof were needed) that a ‘168’ is actually a Turbostar!
The operations of the Anglia Railways Turbostars have remained relatively unchanged, although they no longer work to Liverpool Street unless there is a real stock shortage. Today, most of their work emanates out of Norwich on the routes to Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Cambridge, as well as from Ipswich to Lowestoft and Peterborough.
The London Midland fleet is now all part of the West Midlands Trains operation, with their duties dictated by the types of unit. Because the Class 172s have corridor connections, they can run as four-, five- and six-car sets on local commuter trains. They tend to work on the Kidderminster to Birmingham Moor Street to Stratford/Leamington routes.
The remaining 17 two-car and six threecar ‘170s’ in its fleet are used on trains from Birmingham to Hereford, although the local services to Bromsgrove are now worked by Class 323s following the recent electrification of this section.
There has been lots of electrification in Scotland of late, which along with the introduction of HSTs on key inter-city routes is rendering many Class 170s as surplus to requirements.
Accordingly, so far ten units have transferred to Northern, where they will enable the cascades of other units - ending with an elimination of the Class 142/144 railbuses that have been the scourge of Northern commuters for way too long! ScotRail also lost four units to Southern for conversion to ‘171s’.
The only other cascade of note has been the move of the London Overground ‘172/ 0s’ to WMT, a process that is still ongoing.
In terms of liveries, the Class 168-172s have been a truly colourful class over the years, with some liveries better than others!
The Chiltern units appeared in a white livery with blue stripes, which has since been changed to a silver livery.
The Midland Mainline units were outshopped in a bit of a ‘Marmite’ livery of teal and tangerine with orange stripes and a leaping deer motif close to the cabs.
Central’s units benefited from one of the better liveries - all two-tone green with blue and yellow embellishments.
Anglia’s initial livery was pretty awful - a turgid dark turquoise and white livery.
ScotRail’s initial livery was also pretty horrific - a purple, orange, dark green and white striped scheme. Later, ScotRail units 170470-748 were delivered in the attractive carmine and cream livery, while a change of franchisee led to the original livery on the other units being changed to FirstGroup’s predominately blue livery, which looked a lot better. This has since been changed to the blue ‘Scotland’s railway’ Saltireinspired colour scheme.
The ‘171s’ were mostly white with green cabs and First Class areas, while the ‘170/3s’ were delivered new in SWT’s mostly white livery with red, orange and blue additions. When they moved to TPE they were treated to FirstGroup’s ‘wavy lines’ livery, which looked pretty smart.
When the ‘170/1s’ moved to Central, the Midland Mainline branding was removed and CT’s ‘C’ logos’ were added by the cabs, but none were every painted in CT’s green livery. All moved to CrossCountry and gained the latter’s insipid brown and silver scheme.
When Anglia Railways was rebranded as ‘one’ (much ridiculed at the time), the livery was also of debatable quality. Essentially, it was an all-over deep blue with multi-coloured squares on the cab pillars.
More recent liveries have been London Midland’s dark green and white, Northern’s purple and white, LOROL’s orange, white and blue, Greater Anglia’s all over white (probably the most impractical livery ever seen on a train!), and more recently West Midlands’ gold and metallic purple - now applied to ‘170/ 5s’ and ‘172s’. 172339 was the pilot in this livery, and was then tweaked for other units.
There has also been a number of advertising liveries - too many to mention, although ScotRail and Central were both proponents of using their trains as travelling billboards. Because the units could be wrapped rather than repainted, intricate designs could be applied for short periods, sometimes on the whole unit or just on individual vehicles.
ScotRail had the centre cars of 170414/415 running to advertise Scottish newspapers
The Sunday Herald and The Herald in 2000. Central Trains had 170397 advertising Qjump (in an attractive blue livery) in 2002, while 170513 was used to promote the Robin Hood line in 2003, 170505 advertised the revamped Birmingham Bull Ring shopping centre in 2003, and 170399 carried two different advertising liveries - Derwent Valley Mills Partnership in 2004 and Birmingham’s bid to be the European City of Culture for 2008 (which went to Liverpool).
In more recent times, 170414 was wrapped to promote the reopened Borders Railway, while 170407 has been flying the flag to promote calling the British Transport Police if you see anything suspicious.