The History of the Networkers

Hello everyone! :D

By popular demand, today we look over the complex history of the Class 165, 166, 365, 465 and 466 units developed during the late 1980s and early 1990s for the London commuter network, better known as the Networkers.

Proposed to replace the aging slam-door electric and diesel multiple units of the 1950s and 60s, the Networkers were an ambitions scheme to present a new, high quality commuter train both for existing and proposed rail corridors within the London area, but a mixture of poor timing, a lack of government investment, and the onslaught of privatisation meant that this promising proposal failed to meet its overall intended goal.

Also, I realise I haven't mentioned the Class 325 postal units, and while they have the exterior body design of the Networker class, they do in fact share more in common with the Class 319 Thameslink units. However, the Class 325s will be getting their own dedicated video in the future, so stay tuned! :D

The views and opinions expressed in this video are my personal appraisal and are not the views and opinions of any of these individuals or bodies who have kindly supplied me with footage and images.

If you enjoyed this video, why not leave a like, and consider subscribing for more great content coming soon.

Thanks again, everyone, and enjoy! :D

References:
- Kent Rail (and their respective sources)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)

[prime]

Love these videos, they must take ages to get all of the facts and figures together, ease consider doing one on the history and rolling stock of the Gatwick express

[bahnspotterEU]

Could you perhaps do a video on Mail operations by rail in the UK? I’d love to see that!

[abedekok]

There's something about Industrial design of the Late-80s into the Early-90s that has always fascinated me, I'm surprised how well the looks have held up over the past 30 years.

[dan]

Please do a video on the turbostars/electrostars next

[olly]

Neither the Mk1s nor the units derrived from them and involved at clapham, they were all steel construction.

[owenchuarbx]

I've ridden a 365 before from Cambridge to Kings Cross (Evening Direct Non-Stop) back in 2016. Splendid even for an early 90s train.

[jamesplanesgaming]

30 odd years and still in pristine/immaculate/perfect condition

[mallardtheduck]

Some issues:

Chiltern services did not serve Birmingham until after privatisation and these services use Cl168 "Clubman" units (predominantly). A note that these units (and the class 170/171 Turbostars) are a direct decedent of the Cl165/166 design would have been nice.

Crediting the Desiro with fully replacing slam-door stock and not mentioning the more numerous Electrostar units seems strange, particularly since the Electrostar design is also somewhat based on the Networkers (they're unrelated to the Electric Networkers, but do use a bodyshell design derived from the Cl165).

I'd hardly call the Networkers a "failure" since, while budgetary issues prevented NSE from fully realising their goals, Networker-derived units do now dominate the former NSE area (with the exception of the South-Western subsector that ordered Desiros instead) and can be found well beyond.

[glitch]

The picture at 11:12 is mine, I took it from an old train magazine and uploaded it to another website. The magazine quotes it as a "class 481", 4xx-implying a Southern Reigon DC unit. There are no pictures of the class 342, although I think that whatever train they were going to make for Thameslink, was intended to be used on the CTRL, as part of BR's orginal CTRL plan was to run Thameslink trains onto the high-speed line to Ashford.

[techstudio]

Thank you for not flooding these excellent presentations with annoying ads .

[Teddystream.]

The class 442 unit 2401 is the worlds fastest 3rd rail train at 108 mph on.11th April 1988 I suppose that it will be scrapped just like fastest 4th rail the A Stock pioneer A60 5000-5001 86 mph 1960 outside Rickmansworth during safety brake testing for B R Great Central main line

[idriszakir]

Amazing how the networker trains still look modern and fresh even though they are nearly 30 years old!!

[limeyfox]

EPBs didn’t have wooden frames. The oldest units were pre-MK1 design (those with the top lights above the drop light windows and slightly more angled front cabs) being based on Bulleid suburban stock and had less strong bulkhead design than the MK1 units. Hence in an accident such as Cannon St the MK1 variants tended to override and crush the pre-Mk1 types.

[haymids]

I have a good video suggestion, Do the PEP's!, there are alot to talk about them.

[ZaphodHarkonnen]

I remember catching quite a few of those around the Reading area when I lived there just a few years ago. Noisy little DMUs.

[geraiswaiya]

Love the 365s, wish they had not been facelifted, a timeless look.

[thornimation]

Just to mention:
The West Ealing to Greenford branch line (since 2016 or 2017 has operated as a shuttle), still uses Networker Class 165 DMUs to this day.
I won't be surprised if they continue to operate on that line until electrification of that line: I've heard of no plans for that as of yet.
Living in West London, prior to the electrification of the Great Western Mainline from beyond Hayes and Harrington from 2016 onwards, the Class 165 have been a bit part of my travel into Central London and back to my neighbourhood again for most of my life. In my experience they have been fairly reliable.

[JacobsTrainVideos]

10:30 so this is why crossrail is so late

[DTPORT]

When they were up in Scotland doing routes we loved them, was such a strange sensation seeing a London networker speeding up and down.

[eottoe]

Everyone was so in love with neoliberal economics in the 1980s and 1990s here in the states and in the UK but as a economic model it certainly made things more complicated particularly in terms of standardization of materials, parts and equipment. I was surprised that prior to the privatization that there were preliminary efforts to break up the various rail services preparing the way. Thanks for the video. I learn so much.