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

[eastwestdivide]

The mostly-unloved Pacers are due for mass extinction by the end of the year, so perhaps now is a good time to go and photograph them in their twilight.

Here's three of mine in the sunshine of the first half of Feb 2019.

 

Two from Penistone - where the mainstay of the line is the 3-car 144:

 

 

And one at Rotherham, on a Bridlington-Hull-Sheffield semi-fast, more usually a 158:

 

Over to you.

Photos taken this year preferably. Interiors would be interesting too.

[iands]

24 minutes ago, eastwestdivide said:

The mostly-unloved Pacers are due for mass extinction by the end of the year, so perhaps now is a good time to go and photograph them in their twilight.

Here's three of mine in the sunshine of the first half of Feb 2019.

 

Two from Penistone - where the mainstay of the line is the 3-car 144:

 

 

And one at Rotherham, on a Bridlington-Hull-Sheffield semi-fast, more usually a 158:

 

Over to you.

Photos taken this year preferably. Interiors would be interesting too.

Excellent idea eastwestdivide. Not everyone's favourite mode of transport, but they have served a purpose and lasted a lot longer than most would have envisaged (or hoped?). Good to record their swansong as it were.

['CHARD]

56 minutes ago, eastwestdivide said:

 

 

 

 

 

Wind-powered units, their environmental credentials have been cruelly overlooked all these years....

[Bucoops]

Happy to chip in for a gallon of petrol and a box of matches.

[Northmoor]

The might be departing from Northern, but isn't Wales getting their left-overs?

[eastwestdivide]

19 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

The might be departing from Northern, but isn't Wales getting their left-overs?

That's the plan, but only in the very short term - as far as I understand it, they're still all due for withdrawal by 2020 under accessibility regulations. 

[eastwestdivide]

Interior shots.

Two of the refurbished 144, with LED lighting, a decent-sized toilet and no luggage racks:

 

And a Northern 142, with the "laid back" seats (from the original Arriva days around the year 2000?)

[Rivercider]

To say I love Pacers is probably an overstatement, but in the absence of anything better I was quite happy to commute on them for many years. Once refurbished I thought the class 143 sets were quite acceptable. 

As I have mentioned on threads before, when I was stood on Bristol Temple Meads waiting for a train home with 200 other passengers I would much rather 2 x class 143 sets arrive in the platform than a single class 150 or 158.

 

cheers   

[Market65]

It can’t come soon enough, sadly. A bad train in all ways which will not be missed by me. I hope I never see another one.

They really should not have been put into service on anything of more than ten miles, Bridlington to Hull and Sheffield is totally unacceptable. Run a bus, it’s much more comfortable than a dreaded Pacer.

The seats in 144012 are worse than the original bus seats. I had the great misfortune to have to grin and bear them on a journey from Hull to York in early October of last year. I can see why they are commonly referred to as ‘ironing board seats’.

I have some photo’s of them, which I will dig out and post in due course and some videos.

But I’ll not miss them. 

 

Best regards,

 

Rob.

[Rivercider]

Here is a pair of class 143s at Exeter St Davids last year, where they still perform useful service to Exmouth, Paignton, and Barnstaple.

 

Set 143619 and a classmate at Exeter St Davids 5/9/2018

 

cheers

[HillsideDepot]

And just occasionally, as on 10th January, they get to pretend to be HSTs!

[Ramblin Rich]

50 minutes ago, HillsideDepot said:

And just occasionally, as on 10th January, they get to pretend to be HSTs!

Pretending to be an HST? 'Delusions of adequacy'

Did not know you could get seat reservations in a Pacer

Edited February 18, 2019 by Ramblin Rich
typos

[caradoc]

Fortunately I have never had to commute on Pacers, but based on occasional journeys I find them OK, as long as they are not too crowded and do not have the dreadful low-backed bus type seats; A trip from Carlisle to Newcastle on such a set was not much fun, those seats should have been replaced years ago.

 

[Rivercider]

Replacement of the bus type seats made a big difference to the sets in my opinion. For a while in 2011 both class 142 and 143 units were operating on services out of Exeter allowing a direct comparison. I much preferred the refurbished class 143s over the bus seats still fitted to the 142s.

 

cheers

[bgman]

10 minutes ago, Rivercider said:

Replacement of the bus type seats made a big difference to the sets in my opinion. For a while in 2011 both class 142 and 143 units were operating on services out of Exeter allowing a direct comparison. I much preferred the refurbished class 143s over the bus seats still fitted to the 142s.

 

cheers

 

I've added a "like" to this as it's my main form of transport ( as you well know ! ) and to be honest, if they are not crowded they it can be reasonably pleasant. That said, I find the "crews" make the journeys I make just as enjoyable.

 

G

[woodenhead]

Would a refurbished 144 with disabled toilet need to be withdrawn?

 

It looks like pleasant environment to sit in, it's what's inside that matters.

[Bucoops]

As part of my work shadowing, I followed a chap quite high up at ABB Derby - and after a Meeting in Crewe we shared the journey back to Derby with a senior Regional Railways manager. The booked 15x didn't turn up but a 14x did. He spent the whole journey hiding his ID badge from the fuming punters.

[Market65]

47 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Would a refurbished 144 with disabled toilet need to be withdrawn?

 

It looks like pleasant environment to sit in, it's what's inside that matters.

 

Sorry but after that abominable trip to York from Hull on those ironing board seats yes! It’s terrible, the seats really hurt my back, and I was walking round York in agony. It’s just not on that such an abomination should be on the rails.

I will never change my mind and I’m not the only one to hate those units.

 

Sorry,

 

Rob.

['CHARD]

53 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Would a refurbished 144 with disabled toilet need to be withdrawn?

 

It looks like pleasant environment to sit in, it's what's inside that matters.

 

That meets the required standards, so will be able to remain in service.  It's the only one.

[dvdlcs]

With the Class 140 and 141 units long gone, is there any appreciable difference between ride qualities of the Class 142, 143, and 144 units or are they all as bad as each other because they are 2-axle rather than bogie vehicles?

 

Is there any difference with ride quality in, for example, the centre car of the 144s that have them compared to an end (driving) car?

[4630]

Thanks for starting this thread.

 

Personally, I'll regret their departure from the current railway scene but have to admit that Northern at the moment, until the arrival of their new DMUs into service later this year, are using some of their 142s on some pretty lengthy and to my mind inappropriate services - Leeds to Southport anyone - which would previously have been in the hands of 158s.

 

There is a rumour that Northern are re-vinyling one of their 142s into a 'heritage' livery for its last year of service.

 

Here are a few recent photos of Northern 142s and 144s plying their trade around the Calder Valley and also at Doncaster.

 

142062 at Heaton Lodge Junction on 8th January 2019 with 1J06, 09.24 Southport to Leeds.

 

142047 approaching Ravensthorpe on 23rd January 2019 with 1J04, 08.55 Wigan North Western to Leeds.

 

 

142024 at Heaton Lodge Junction on 5th February 2019 with 1J15, 12.20 Leeds to Southport.

 

 

142050 departing Doncaster on 12th February 2019 with 2C60, 08.36 Beverley to Sheffield.

 

144012 departing Doncaster on 12th February 2019 with 2C68, 12.53 Hull to Sheffield.

 

 

 

[Market65]

They are all as equally as bad  just because they have four wheels rather than proper suspension from bogies. You only have to look at models of wagons and carriages that have  bogies. You can see the difference even there.

BR tried buses on rails in the early fifties, and it didn’t work out owing to that very problem, plus, of course, a lack of capacity and flexibility that the traditional first generation DMU was able to provide.

 

Regards,

 

Rob.

[eastwestdivide]

I use the Northern 142s and 144s a fair bit, and I don't notice any difference in ride quality.

They're usually OK on decent track, but can be "sensitive" to poor track, to put it politely.

Interior trim is another thing:  many 142s are really tatty, with leaky windows, bits held on with gaffer tape and cable ties, compared to the 144s which are generally in reasonably good order. So much so that if I'm lucky enough to get a choice, I'll go for the 144, even if the leg room is a bit on the small side.

The 142s also have more variations in seating that you can shake a stick at, from the old bus-style to the sloping Arriva type I photographed near the start of the thread, to the horrible Mersey 3+2 sit up and beg type that kills my back. And probably more varieties I haven't seen.

Edited February 19, 2019 by eastwestdivide
typo

[woodenhead]

37 minutes ago, 'CHARD said:

 

That meets the required standards, so will be able to remain in service.  It's the only one.

Didn't realise it was the only one - looked like an effective piece of work.

['CHARD]

4 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Didn't realise it was the only one - looked like an effective piece of work.

 

It was a wee bit of a costly folly TBF.  It was rolled out for the world to see a couple of weeks before the DfT mandated removal of non-bogied passenger vehicles from the new Northern franchise, thus killing the project at a stroke.  Just one minor shortcoming of the current industry structure.