The Class 168 ''Clubman'' is a British

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

(DMU) passenger

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used on

Chiltern Line The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham ( Moor Street and Snow Hill), the United Kingdom's two largest cities, by a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa and Solihull. It is one of tw ...

services between

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and the

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. One unit has been converted to

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operation as of 2022.

Description

The trains were built in several batches from 1998. The first batch was classified 168/0 under

TOPS Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) is a computer system for managing railway locomotives and rolling stock, known for many years of use in the United Kingdom. TOPS was originally developed between the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), S ...

and resembled the Class 165 units previously built by

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. The Networker-design cab was an interim solution pending the design of a completely new cab for further Turbostar batches. Subsequent builds, subclassed as 168/1 and 168/2, were constructed at the same time as the Class 170 Turbostar and thus are part of the

Turbostar The Bombardier Turbostar (sold as the ADtranz Turbostar until 2001) is a family of diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger trains that was built by ADtranz and later Bombardier Transportation at Derby Litchurch Lane Works in the United Kingdom ...

family of trains. The first batch of Clubman 168/0 carriages ordered by Chiltern Railways were the first units ordered by any

train operating company A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating Passenger Trains, passenger trains on the Rail transport in Great Britain, railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the Privatisation ...

since the privatisation of the UK industry in 1996. They were delivered as 3-car sets but later lengthened to 4-car sets.

Seating

A typical Class 168 consists of 2+2 standard-class seating throughout, arranged either around tables or in airline-style seating with pull-down tables. The majority of seats are facing seats. The Class 168 is carpeted throughout with luggage racks, air conditioning, and two or more toilets per set (one for disabled users, with baby changing facilities). Passenger information systems are fitted in every car and on the outside of class 168/2 cars.

Variants

Three different variants of the 168 were produced - 168/0, 168/1 and 168/2. Both Classes 168/1 and 168/2 are actually of the same design as the Class 170 Turbostar DMU trains, mainly due to the redesigned cab ends. The nine Class 170s that Chiltern obtained from

First TransPennine Express First TransPennine Express was a British train operating company jointly owned by FirstGroup and Keolis which operated the TransPennine Express franchise. First TransPennine Express ran regular Express regional railway services between the major ...

were converted by

Brush Traction Brush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England. It is a subsidiary of Wabtec. History Hughes's Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works Henry Hughes had been operating at the Falcon Works since t ...

to operate with the Class 168 fleet, and redesignated as Class 168/3. 168329 has been converted by Porterbrook into a diesel/battery hybrid. It was tested in 2021 on the

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is a long heritage railway in Derbyshire. The headquarters of the railway centre on Wirksworth station, and services operate in both directions between Wirksworth and Duffield and from Wirksworth to Rave ...

and entered service as "HybridFlex" in February 2022.

Operations

Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the netwo ...

(NSE) originally planned the Class 168 for its expansion of service on the

Chiltern Main Line The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham ( Moor Street and Snow Hill), the United Kingdom's two largest cities, by a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa and Solihull. It is one of tw ...

to Birmingham Snow Hill or New Street. These units were planned to have a higher top speed of and better acceleration than the Class 165 Network Turbo DMU trains. In the event, privatisation intervened before NSE acquired any units;

Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Railw ...

operates these units, in similar diagrams to those originally planned by NSE.

Named units

The following units have been assigned names: *168001 ''

Adrian Shooter Adrian Shooter (22 November 1948 – 13 December 2022) was a British transport executive. Career Shooter joined British Rail in 1970 as a management trainee. He became maintenance engineer at Bletchley in the mid-1970s, then depot manager at ...

Description

Seating

Variants

Operations

Named units

References

Further reading