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Pace Yourself - photos of the final(?) Pacer countdown


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A visit out to Brighouse today to photograph a GBRf class 60 also yielded 144009 working 2W13, 11.36 Bradford Interchange to Huddersfield.

1847019976_1440092W13Brighouse030320201-RMweb.jpg.eb7734e158c4400208eb73b6e25abacc.jpg

 

1603286732_1440092W13Brighouse030320202-RMweb.jpg.8eb01cbbb156090734093a446210d9b7.jpg 

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The pictures show 144's cos they are taken in Yorkshire.

 

The 142 pictures tend to be in Lancashire (Greater Manchester), so there might still be some in service.

 

Regards,

 

John P

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12 hours ago, jools1959 said:

Just a quick question, have all the Northern Class 142’s been taken out of service now as all the pictures show Class 144’s?

The spotters' forum over at railforums has a thread on 142 sightings:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/northern-class-142-sightings.173851/page-65

indicating the 142s are still hanging on around Manchester.

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Faded glory? Well, certainly faded - I think this is the old red West Yorkshire Metro livery with a Yorkshire rose starting to show through, on a 144 today at Rotherham.

Faded.jpg.4d0448b019aed591df70edd3a9c38749.jpg

 

Also today, at Moorthorpe on the midday Sheffield-York and return, a 5-car consisting of 144021 (north end) and 144017. 144021 is one of the 3-car units, but is missing its centre car.

I caught it on the way south, and 5 cars was definitely an over-provision. In fact the 2-car was locked out, and even then there was plenty of room. 

70-75mph between Moorthorpe and Swinton, and a perfectly smooth ride.

Sheffield-York.jpg.e38e87bbe1e0f00947d97dd5ba615ce8.jpg

 

York-Sheffield.jpg.49d44300dcea8a019b82c35e8b7377e3.jpg

Edited by eastwestdivide
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Whilst waiting at Deighton this morning for a light engine movement of a Colas class 56, Northern Trains 144003, with a very pronounced wheel flat, passed through with 2W04, 08.35 Huddersfield to Bradford Interchange.

70997018_1440032W04Deighton090320201-RMweb.jpg.1f19c5a4204ee9b9d263cb66cc16300b.jpg

 

141476569_1440032W04Deighton090320202-RMweb.jpg.70ad7a859f9ed439833f2b5609ec7ad2.jpg

 

A couple of hours later at Brighouse and 142045 and 142051 pass through on their way to storage with 5Z85, 10.28 Newton Heath TMD to Gascoigne Wood Sidings.

 

They may well be the final class 142s that I get to photograph on this part of the network, as there can't be many Pacers left now on the west side of the Pennines to go for storage.

313950933_1420451420515Z85Brighouse09032020-RMweb.jpg.c7992c810c01cf11fb80a8ad89123723.jpg

 

983423215_1420511420455Z85Brighouse09032020-RMweb.jpg.e375d164339c49a4cdd0237a49eb8f42.jpg 

 

 

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4 hours ago, 4630 said:

Whilst waiting at Deighton this morning for a light engine movement of a Colas class 56, Northern Trains 144003, with a very pronounced wheel flat, passed through with 2W04, 08.35 Huddersfield to Bradford Interchange.

 

 

 

 

A couple of hours later at Brighouse and 142045 and 142051 pass through on their way to storage with 5Z85, 10.28 Newton Heath TMD to Gascoigne Wood Sidings.

 

They may well be the final class 142s that I get to photograph on this part of the network, as there can't be many Pacers left now on the west side of the Pennines to go for storage.

313950933_1420451420515Z85Brighouse09032020-RMweb.jpg.c7992c810c01cf11fb80a8ad89123723.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

There was a 142 in the Maintenance Road (behind platform 2) at York station today.  I didn't investigate - only went there to use the cashpoint! - but suspect it was on the York-Scarborough route learning that has been going on for a few weeks.  I haven't seen one in passenger service at York for quite a while now.

 

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That’s correct, there’s no services worked by class 142’s either to or from York anymore, or anywhere on the East Side either. Just that tiny number in the NW and Wales. 
 

Rob.

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5 minutes ago, Market65 said:

That’s correct, there’s no services worked by class 142’s either to or from York anymore, or anywhere on the East Side either. Just that tiny number in the NW and Wales.

 

None left in Devon? :o

 

Hurrah! :D

 

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On 27/02/2020 at 13:52, newbryford said:

Are there any 142s still running?

They seem to have disappeared from the Rochdale-Clitheroe service.

Hi There,

 

One worked through to Southport last evening,09/03/20, as I waited at the level crossing at New Lane, Lancashire late evening at about 18:30.

 

Gibbo.

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I was passing through Sheffield last week and 144s were still prevalent on West Yorkshire services. At least 6-7 were spotted in 45 minutes

I was expecting a 150 on the Leeds via Barnsley service and the incoming service that was diagrammed to form my train pulled in as a 150. Then it was announced there was a platform alteration and a 144 operated the service instead.

 

Probably my last 144 trip.

 

This was a few minutes earlier as the sun sets on 144016 in Sheffield.

144016.jpg.b2aa84446eb8d4b65e54e5c2fe598062.jpg

 

 

 

 

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An afternoon on York station, 11-3-20. These two units i presume are used for the driver training, 142 065 was sat there all day, 142 071 arrived about 2.45pm.  At the other end of the station 144 011 seemed to be sat there a while but was in use later in the afternoon.

2020-03-11 12.40.21.jpg

2020-03-11_15_56_14.jpg

2020-03-11_15_05_42.jpg

2020-03-11 12.35.18.jpg

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On 10/03/2020 at 12:16, Glorious NSE said:

There haven't been 142s in Devon for several years....

 

 

Thanks for the correction.

 

Quote

The 142s that were (briefly) allocated to Cornwall, in the mid-1980s, were officially known as "Skippers". They were transferred to the north when the Cornish branch lines proved unsuitable for the Class 142, the tight bends caused excessive screeching and caused the wheels to become damaged, all skippers left the West country in the late 1980s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_142

 

Well, that's the official story, except for the photo evidence (m'lud)?

 

image.png.995f1413420486e19c332926afab6e69.png

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacer_(train)

 

Sneaky Skippers Darn Sarf?

 

Maybe I was thinking of other/related classes?

 

Quote

 

As of 1 March 2020, 77 units of classes 142, 143 and 144, that were upgraded in the 1990s with more reliable mechanical parts followed by the older standard of wheelchair access, are still in service with three National Rail operators: Northern Trains, Great Western Railway and Transport for Wales. All of those operators intended to retire their allocations of the long-standing former amount of 140 National Rail Pacer trains by the end of 2019 in line with the statutory instrument to improve accessibility on trains. However, with replacement rolling stock delayed, all three National Rail Pacer operators are continuing to operate their remaining units in the first half of 2020 under dispensation from law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacer_(train)

 

 

 

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I think you're confusing things - here's a potted Devon pacer history:

A batch of 142s were delivered new to the South West in the mid 1980s - they left the region again in the late 80s as they were found not compatible with some of the branches further West.

Fast forward to 1996, and the predominantly South Wales based fleet of Pacers (a mix of 142 and 143) became part of a franchise called Wales and West.

W&W deployed some of their 143s to the Bristol area. In 2001 the W&W franchise was split in two, with the Welsh part of it becoming Wales and Borders and the English services becoming Wessex Trains. 

The 142s all stayed in the valleys, but the 143 fleet was split between the two franchises, the Wessex 143s continued to work Bristol area trains.

Some early morning Bristol area commuter trains started from Exeter (and worked back there overnight) in this period - so 143s didn't work many services locally, but were seen in Exeter again regularly at this time.

In 2006 Wessex Trains ended and First Great Western took over.

FGW had capacity issues soon after taking over, and the only units available to them at short notice were 12x class 142 which had just been withdrawn by Northern which arrived in 2007 - they deployed all of those to Exeter to work Exmouth/Paignton/Barnstaple services. 

The previously Bristol based 143 also gradually moved down to Exeter, eventually concentrating all of FGWs Pacers on Exeter.

By 2011 FGW had sourced additional class 150s and 153s, and all the 142s were taken off lease again, the last ones leaving in late 2011, ironically back to Northern who were also now having capacity issues!

So there have not been class 142 operating in Devon for more than 9 years. 

The 143s however are still working Exmouth to Paignton trains for the moment, in conjunction with 150s.

Hope that helps disentangle!

As a bonus - here's 142028 near Polsloe Bridge on the Exmouth branch, back in 2008...
 

142028_Whipton_010308a




 

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1 hour ago, ColinK said:

Hi, does anyone have a photo of the inside of a GMPTE liveried pacer?  I’m upgrading a Hornby Pacer but am unsure of the interior colours. Cheers.

 

I would expect the seats moquette to be the same as the busses but not sure about the panels however I would expect them to be the same as the Regional ones!

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I thought they were like one of these

 

class%20142%20Keighley.jpg

 

or

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:141113Interior.JPG

 

The second one is a Class 141 interior so 2+2 seating rather than 2+3 found in the 142s, but I thought the seat moquette was brown and orange and like that in the GMPTE ones. I cant quite remember what was used in the Provincial and Skipper versions or whether the outside colour meant a different moquette inside

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To accompany the bike rack pics from earlier in the thread:

Here are the bike "slots" on a 144 from yesterday, with car-type seatbelt visible in the 2nd photo:

 

144 bike rack a.jpg459703099_144bikerackb.jpg.5b5995434e1ca12672f21c2dcbed9656.jpg

Edited by eastwestdivide
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