BRITISH Rail Engineering Ltd York Works delivered the first Class 165 DMUs to the Thames and Chiltern Division of BR’s Network SouthEast in 1990. The initial batch consisted of 28 two-car units (Nos. 165001-28) and 11 three-car sets (Nos. 165029-39).
The class sported NSE livery and, after some initial runs in the Thames sector, they transferred to Chiltern based at Aylesbury depot, from where they operate to this day as part of the Chiltern Railways fleet. They were known as ‘Network Turbos’, commonly abbreviated to ‘Turbos’, and by 1992 delivery had continued to include a further 17 three-car sets, Nos. 165101- 117, and 20 two-cars numbered Nos. 165118-137.